Education Atlas

College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

University of California-Davis

Davis, CA · Public · Bachelor-granting · 32,253 undergrads · 42% admitted

Do students finish?
86% complete

Most students who start here finish.

What does it cost?
$41,238/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$164,952 over four years if you finish on time.

What former students go on to earn

The middle 50% of students who received federal aid, measured 10 years after they entered (an earlier entering class — not a guarantee, and not limited to those who graduated). Earnings vary enormously by field of study.

$80,838 median, 10 yrs after entry
25th pct $53,021 median $80,838 75th pct $122,634

84% earn more than a typical high-school graduate (the dashed line above, $28,000 — a fixed, somewhat dated federal benchmark) ten years on.

Your major matters more than your school

The school-wide figure above blends every major together — but pay varies enormously by program. Pick a degree level (and search your major) to compare like-for-like.

Read these on their own terms. Program pay is measured 1 year after completing the program (early career, graduates only) — not the same as the school-wide number above, which is 10 years after a student first enrolled. Don't compare a program figure to the school figure; use the programs to compare majors to each other.

59 Bachelor's programs · $20,210 to $81,487 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt
Computer Engineering.Bachelor's $81,487 $12,703
Computer and Information Sciences, General.Bachelor's $76,488 $14,000
Engineering, General.Bachelor's $74,487 $14,939
Mechanical Engineering.Bachelor's $64,370 $13,867
Civil Engineering.Bachelor's $64,244 $16,000
Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering.Bachelor's $60,999 $18,748
Chemical Engineering.Bachelor's $57,536 $15,750
Materials Engineering.Bachelor's $55,386 $18,777
Biomedical/Medical Engineering.Bachelor's $51,679 $15,979
Business/Managerial Economics.Bachelor's $47,453 $12,917
Statistics.Bachelor's $47,204 $14,917
Economics.Bachelor's $44,249 $12,500
Mathematics.Bachelor's $43,801 $11,932
Biotechnology.Bachelor's $43,600 $12,843
Chemistry.Bachelor's $43,205 $13,000
Food Science and Technology.Bachelor's $42,648 $14,666
Pharmacology and Toxicology.Bachelor's $40,455 $12,072
Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $38,895 $13,000
Design and Applied Arts.Bachelor's $38,040 $14,924
Cognitive Science.Bachelor's $36,727 $15,000
Public Administration and Social Service Professions, Other.Bachelor's $35,754 $14,171
Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology.Bachelor's $35,570 $11,000
Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.Bachelor's $35,536 —
Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences.Bachelor's $35,137 $16,000
Natural Resources Conservation and Research.Bachelor's $34,746 $15,000
Philosophy.Bachelor's $34,697 $13,000
Environmental Design.Bachelor's $34,527 —
Physiology, Pathology and Related Sciences.Bachelor's $34,098 $14,154
Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.Bachelor's $33,621 $14,235
Agricultural Production Operations.Bachelor's $33,073 $10,999
Genetics.Bachelor's $33,038 $13,848
Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration.Bachelor's $32,847 $13,065
East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.Bachelor's $32,689 $14,500
Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $32,542 $13,687
Natural Resources and Conservation, Other.Bachelor's $32,303 —
International Relations and National Security Studies.Bachelor's $32,132 $12,500
Sociology.Bachelor's $31,674 $12,600
Nutrition Sciences.Bachelor's $31,513 $14,166
Microbiological Sciences and Immunology.Bachelor's $31,340 $11,000
History.Bachelor's $31,189 $13,312
Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies.Bachelor's $30,450 $14,000
Cell/Cellular Biology and Anatomical Sciences.Bachelor's $30,441 $12,000
Research and Experimental Psychology.Bachelor's $29,860 $12,866
Biology, General.Bachelor's $28,791 $13,000
Zoology/Animal Biology.Bachelor's $28,474 —
Neurobiology and Neurosciences.Bachelor's $28,232 $12,917
Applied Mathematics.Bachelor's $28,025 $13,000
Animal Sciences.Bachelor's $27,988 $13,000
Psychology, Other.Bachelor's $27,609 $14,059
English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $25,495 $13,500
Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services.Bachelor's $25,416 $13,798
Physics.Bachelor's $25,226 $14,354
Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.Bachelor's $25,006 $13,000
Anthropology.Bachelor's $24,992 $14,000
Music.Bachelor's $24,793 $16,500
Ecology, Evolution, Systematics, and Population Biology.Bachelor's $24,504 $19,591
Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $23,318 $13,981
Wildlife and Wildlands Science and Management.Bachelor's $23,267 $15,000
Film/Video and Photographic Arts.Bachelor's $20,210 $17,500

The Dept. of Education omits programs with too few graduates (to protect privacy), so not every major appears. Pay is a median for federally-aided graduates. Full program detail on the official Scorecard.

Typical federal loan debt
$11,000
≈ 14% of one year's typical earnings here

This counts federal student loans only — not private loans, Parent PLUS loans, or family savings, so the true cost of borrowing is usually higher.

What these numbers are — and are not

Every figure here is an institution-wide median from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. It is not a prediction of what you would earn or owe — a computer-science and a fine-arts graduate of the same school can earn wildly different amounts, and your field of study matters more than your school. It is not a figure for any one program, not proof the school caused the outcome (selective schools admit students who would earn more anyway), and not a "best college" ranking. Earnings and debt cover federally-aided students.

→ The number that actually answers "worth it" is earnings by major — see the by-major breakdown above (74 programs at this school).

Also available: structured data (JSON-LD) · plain text · JSON. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (2026-06-10 release). · school website