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Best Value Physics Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Physics Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

16 Colleges
$17,321 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$41,268 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Physics School for You

With 483 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, physics is the #52 most popular major in California.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

The Best Value Physics Schools in California ranking is one of many tools that Grad Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 16 schools in California to see which programs offered the best value experiences for physics students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. 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.

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

2023 Best Value Physics Schools in California

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Physics Colleges.

Top 10 Best Physics Schools

$6,846 Average Tuition & Fees

Our 2023 rankings named California State University - Long Beach the best value school in California for physics students. CSULB is a very large public school located in the large city of Long Beach.

CSULB undergraduate students pay an average of $6,846 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Physics at California State University - Long Beach Report

#2

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA
$8,136 Average Tuition & Fees

The excellent programs at San Diego State University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best physics schools in California. Located in the large city of San Diego, SDSU is a public school with a very large student population.

SDSU undergraduate students pay an average of $8,136 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Physics at San Diego State University Report

$14,417 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 16 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Santa Barbara landed the # 3 spot on the list. UCSB is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Santa Barbara.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UCSB are $14,417 per year.

In addition to its great value ranking, UCSB is in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Physics Schools in California list.

Read full report on Physics at University of California - Santa Barbara

$6,976 Average Tuition & Fees

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means California State University - Fullerton is a great value for physics students. Cal State Fullerton is a very large public school located in the large suburb of Fullerton.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Cal State Fullerton are $6,976 per year.

Read More…

$6,785 Average Tuition & Fees

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means California State University - Los Angeles is a great value for physics students. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, Cal State LA is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Cal State LA are $6,785 a year.

Full Physics at California State University - Los Angeles Report

$7,043 Average Tuition & Fees

California State University - Northridge did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for physics students. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the city of Northridge, CSUN is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at CSUN are $7,043 a year.

Full Physics at California State University - Northridge Report

$13,258 Average Tuition & Fees

University of California - Los Angeles did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for physics students. It came in at #7 on the list. UCLA is a fairly large public school located in the city of Los Angeles.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UCLA are $13,258 per year.

In addition to its great value ranking, UCLA is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Physics Schools in California list.

Read full report on Physics at University of California - Los Angeles

$14,700 Average Tuition & Fees

University of California - San Diego did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for physics students. It came in at #8 on the list. Located in the large city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public college with a fairly large student population.

UCSD undergraduate students pay an average of $14,700 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Physics at University of California - San Diego Report

$14,226 Average Tuition & Fees

University of California - Berkeley landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value physics programs. UC Berkeley is a very large public school located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UC Berkeley are $14,226 per year.

UC Berkeley also made our Best Physics Schools in California list, coming in at #3.

Full Physics at University of California - Berkeley Report

$13,657 Average Tuition & Fees

University of California - Merced ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Physics Schools in California list. Located in the rural area of Merced, UC Merced is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at UC Merced are $13,657 a year.

Read full report on Physics at University of California - Merced

Best Value Physics Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Physics Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 74
Oregon 63
Nevada 13
Hawaii 3
Alaska 1

More Physics Rankings in California

Physics is one of 8 different types of programs to choose from.

Majors Similar to Physics

Related Major Annual Graduates
Chemistry 5,005
Geological & Earth Sciences 2,491
Materials Sciences 448
Astronomy & Astrophysics 371
Atmospheric Sciences & Meteorology 342

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 16 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 A. T. Service.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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