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Portland State University Complete Information Guide

97 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
91% Acceptance Rate

Get the facts about Portland State University. Learn how it ranks, what majors it offers, how diverse it is, and much more.

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* Rankings

How Does Portland State University Stack Up?

#811 Best Colleges in Nation
#12 Best Colleges in OR
Portland State University ranking badge

2026 Best Colleges Rankings

College Factual recognizes the best colleges and universities in its annual rankings. These rankings include categories for best overall colleges, best colleges for each major, best value schools, and much more.

Portland State University was awarded 97 badges in the 2026 rankings.

Overall Ranking

Portland State University is ranked #811 out of 3,449 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual’s 2026 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 20% of all schools in the nation.

Portland State University also holds the #12 spot on the Best Colleges in Oregon ranking.

See all of the rankings for Portland State University.

How Difficult Is Admission to Portland State University?

91% Acceptance Rate
92% Of Accepted Are Women
1% Submit SAT Scores

Admission Selectivity

With an acceptance rate of 91%, Portland State University is easier to get into than many other schools. But that doesn’t mean you can slack off on your application. Make sure to treat this school like any other when submitting requested materials and documents.

Learn more about Portland State University admissions.

Instructors at Portland State University

17 to 1 Student to Faculty
54% Full Time Teachers

Class Sizes

With a student to faculty ratio of 17 to 1, Portland State University is about average in this regard as the nationwide rate is 15 to 1. While this does not translate directly to class size, it’s a good indicator of how much time professors will have to spend with their students on a one-on-one basis.

Full-Time Instructors

Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.

The full-time faculty percentage at Portland State University is 54%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  54 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Portland State University

75% Freshmen Retention
53% On-Time Graduation Rate

First-Year Student Retention

The freshmen retention rate of 75% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Portland State University enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That’s certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  75 out of 100
0
100

Time to Degree

The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is typically four years. This rate at Portland State University for first-time, full-time students is 53%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  53 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Portland State University.

Student Demographics at Portland State University

13,619 Undergraduate Students
46.7% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
57.0% Percent Women

The current enrollment includes 13,619 undergraduates at Portland State University.

Get more detailed information on the diversity at Portland State University.

How Much Does Portland State University Cost?

$16,772 Net Price
32% Take Out Loans
$28,664 Total Student Loans

The average net price of Portland State University is $16,772. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.### Net Price by Income Group for Portland State University

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$11,558 $12,186 $13,162 $15,351 $19,412

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid. Note that the net price is typically less than the published price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Portland State University, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Debt

It’s not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Portland State University, approximately 32% of students took out student loans averaging $7,166 a year. That adds up to $28,664 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 4.2%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you’ll be able to pay back your student loans. Get more details about paying for Portland State University.

What Do Portland State University Alumni Earn?

$57,906 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost

Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Portland State University make around $57,906 per year during the early years of their employment. That’s great news for Portland State University students since it is 18% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.

See which majors at Portland State University make the most money.

Location of Portland State University

Oregon State
13,619 Undergraduate Students
Large City Campus Setting

Portland State University is a public institution found in Portland, Oregon. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life. Get more details about the location of Portland State University.

Location of Portland State University

Get in touch with Portland State University can be found below.

Contact Details
Address: 724 SW Harrison St., Portland, OR 97201
Phone: 5037253000
Website: www.pdx.edu
Facebook: www.facebook.com/portlandstatefans
Twitter: twitter.com/portland_state

Portland State University Areas of Study

27 Majors With Completions
12,260 Undergraduate Degrees

In the latest year of available data, students from 27 majors graduated from Portland State University. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Completions Average Salary of Graduates
Multi-Disciplinary Studies 6,130 NA
General Psychology 401 $30,278
Social Work 366 $45,509
Business Administration & Management 322 $57,492
Teacher Education Grade Specific 302 $48,242
General Social Sciences 277 $31,905
Computer Science 244 $97,990
Liberal Arts General Studies 241 $31,991
Public Health 181 $32,558
Marketing 164 $36,870

Learn more about the majors offered at Portland State University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Study Options at Portland State University

64% Take At Least One Class Online
20% Take All Classes Online

Online learning options are becoming more and more popular at American colleges and universities. Online classes are great for students who have busy schedules or for those who just want to study on their own time.

8,737 students took at least one online class at Portland State University.

Learn more about online learning at Portland State University.

Comparable CollegesWant to see how other colleges compare to Portland State University? Compare them side by side using College Combat, a free interactive tool for comparing colleges on the features you care about.

References and Footnotes

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

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