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Best Value Civil Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Civil Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

20 Colleges
$16,212 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$70,613 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Civil Engineering Master's Degree School for You

Civil Engineering is the #28 most popular major in California with 1,035 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

There are so many programs in today's world that it can tough to figure out which one is the right one for you. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent. Or you may find the programs at a trade school to be a better alternative for you.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Best Value Civil Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 20 schools in California to see which master's degree programs offered the best value experiences for civil eng students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.

For nationwide and regional rankings, we use out-of-state tuition and fees in our calculations. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

2023 Best Value Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Civil Engineering Master's Degree Colleges.

Top 10 Best Civil Engineering Master's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named San Jose State University the best value school in California for civil engineering students working on their master’s degree. San Jose State is a fairly large public school located in the large city of San Jose.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at San Jose State are $9,286 a year.

Full Civil Engineering at San Jose State University Report

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of San Luis Obispo.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo are $11,629 a year.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list.

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A rank of #3 on this year’s list means California State University - Long Beach is a great value for civil engineering students working on their master’s degree. CSULB is a fairly large public school located in the city of Long Beach.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at CSULB are $8,280 per year.

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State Polytechnic University - Pomona. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the large suburb of Pomona, Cal Poly Pomona is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Cal Poly Pomona graduate students pay an average of $8,873 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Civil Engineering at California State Polytechnic University - Pomona Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Fresno. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the large city of Fresno, Fresno State is a public college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Fresno State are $8,087 per year.

Full Civil Engineering at California State University - Fresno Report

#6

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA

San Diego State University landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree civil engineering programs. Located in the city of San Diego, SDSU is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at SDSU are $9,570 a year.

Full Civil Engineering at San Diego State University Report

California State University - Northridge did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for civil engineering students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #7 on the list. Located in the large city of Northridge, CSUN is a public school with a very large student population.

CSUN graduate students pay an average of $8,477 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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California State University - Sacramento did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for civil engineering students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #7 on the list. Located in the large city of Sacramento, Sac State is a public college with a very large student population.

Sac State graduate students pay an average of $8,826 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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University of California - San Diego came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking. Located in the city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UCSD are $13,564 a year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, UCSD also is in the top 20% of our Best Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking.

Full Civil Engineering at University of California - San Diego Report

University of California - Los Angeles came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking. UCLA is a very large public school located in the city of Los Angeles.

UCLA graduate students pay an average of $13,036 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, UCLA is ranked #4 for overall quality for civil eng in California.

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Best Value Civil Engineering Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Civil Engineering Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 209
Oregon 98
Nevada 55
Hawaii 23
Alaska 11

One of 39 majors within the area of study, civil engineering has other similar majors worth exploring.

Majors Similar to Civil Eng

Related Major Annual Graduates
Electrical Engineering 11,021
Mechanical Engineering 9,007
Computer Engineering 5,557
Biomedical Engineering 4,252
General Engineering 3,548

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 20 schools only.

  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Master Sgt. Roger Parsons.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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