2025 Best Ecology Bachelor's Degree Schools in California

Ecology is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #296 most popular bachelor's degree program in the country. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Ecology Bachelor's Degree Schools in California ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 99 bachelor's degrees in ecology during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on ecology students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of ecology students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized ecology related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for ecology students working on their bachelor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Ecology Bachelor's Degree Schools in California ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Ecology in California

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in ecology.

Top California Schools for a Bachelor's in Ecology

1

University of California - Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA

68 Annual Graduates

It's hard to beat University of California - Santa Cruz if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in ecology. UC Santa Cruz is a fairly large public university located in the city of Santa Cruz.More information about a bachelor’s in ecology from University of California - Santa Cruz

2

University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

31 Annual Graduates

It's difficult to beat University of California - Los Angeles if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in ecology. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in ecology from University of California - Los Angeles

Best Ecology Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Washington	521	25

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Rankings in Majors Related to Ecology

Ecology is one of 12 different types of Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology programs to choose from.

Most Popular Majors Related to Ecology

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Marine Biology	220
Other Ecology, Evolution & Systematics Biology	105
Evolutionary Biology	50
Aquatic Biology/Limnology	44
Environmental Biology	29

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• 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 Ernst Haeckel. More about our data sources and methodologies.