Best colleges for Civil Engineering in California
Program-level earnings — not school prestige — rank these. Among the California programs in the federal field-of-study file, University of California-Berkeley leads: its Civil Engineering graduates earn a median $108,548 four years after finishing, against the field's $86,517 national median. (Scorecard field-of-study, 2026.)
| # | College | Grad earnings, 4 yrs | Vs field median |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of California-Berkeley | $108,548 | +$22,031 |
| 2 | University of Southern California | $106,308 | +$19,791 |
| 3 | Santa Clara University | $105,594 | +$19,077 |
| 4 | Loyola Marymount University | $103,223 | +$16,706 |
| 5 | California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo | $101,072 | +$14,555 |
| 6 | California State Polytechnic University-Pomona | $97,790 | +$11,273 |
| 7 | California State University-Northridge | $97,123 | +$10,606 |
| 8 | University of California-Los Angeles | $97,092 | +$10,575 |
| 9 | University of California-Irvine | $96,354 | +$9,837 |
| 10 | University of California-Davis | $95,939 | +$9,422 |
How big is the earnings gap between California Civil Engineering programs?
$12,609 separates the top and bottom of this list — $108,548 at University of California-Berkeley against $95,939 at University of California-Davis, four years after finishing. Same field, same state, same federal measure: where you study moves pay by that much.
Do California Civil Engineering graduates earn more than the national median?
The state's strongest program pays $22,031 above the $86,517 national median for the field. Program-level medians come from federal tax records of graduates who received aid, so they track actual pay rather than advertised salaries.