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2025 Best Linguistics & Comparative Literature Schools in California

14 Colleges in California
1,534 Comparative Literature Degrees Awarded
$28,766 Avg Early-Career Salary
A degree in linguistics & comparative literature is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #96 out of 395 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 14 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Linguistics & Comparative Literature Schools in California ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,534 degrees in linguistics & comparative literature annually.

What's on this page: * Degree-Level Rankings

Choosing a Great Linguistics & Comparative Literature School

Best Linguistics & Comparative Literature Schools in California The comparative literature program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Linguistics & Comparative Literature rankings. For our Best Overall Linguistics & Comparative Literature School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.

In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.

Pick Your Linguistics & Comparative Literature Degree Level

Bachelor's Degrees in Comparative Literature
Master's Degrees in Comparative Literature
Doctor's Degrees in Comparative Literature

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Linguistics & Comparative Literature Schools in California list to help you make the college decision. If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

If you want to learn more about how we derive our rankings, see College Factual's Methodology.

Best Schools for Linguistics & Comparative Literature in California

If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the comparative literature degrees they offer, see the list below.

10 Top California Schools in Comparative Literature

1
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
145 Comparative Literature Degrees Awarded
$30,524 Median Starting Salary

University of California - Los Angeles is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in linguistics & comparative literature. UCLA is a very large public university located in the city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #28 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UCLA is a great university overall.

There were roughly 145 linguistics & comparative literature students who graduated with this degree at UCLA in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the comparative literature program state that they receive average early career earnings of $30,524.

More information about a degree in linguistics & comparative literature from University of California - Los Angeles

2
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
10th Most Popular In CA
40 Comparative Literature Degrees Awarded

University of Southern California is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in linguistics & comparative literature. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #13 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means USC is a great university overall.

There were roughly 40 linguistics & comparative literature students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in linguistics & comparative literature from University of Southern California

3
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
134 Comparative Literature Degrees Awarded
$27,629 Median Starting Salary

Any student who is interested in linguistics & comparative literature needs to take a look at University of California - Santa Barbara. UCSB is a very large public university located in the suburb of Santa Barbara. A Best Colleges rank of #47 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UCSB is a great university overall.

There were approximately 134 linguistics & comparative literature students who graduated with this degree at UCSB in the most recent year we have data available. After graduating, comparative literature degree recipients typically make an average of $27,629 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a degree in linguistics & comparative literature from University of California - Santa Barbara

4
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
203 Comparative Literature Degrees Awarded
$21,793 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in linguistics & comparative literature needs to check out University of California - Santa Cruz. Located in the small city of Santa Cruz, UC Santa Cruz is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #91 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UC Santa Cruz is a great university overall.

There were about 203 linguistics & comparative literature students who graduated with this degree at UC Santa Cruz in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the comparative literature program earn an average of $21,793 for their early career.

More information about a degree in linguistics & comparative literature from University of California - Santa Cruz

5
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
112 Comparative Literature Degrees Awarded
14.3% Growth in Graduates

Located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #14 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UC Berkeley is a great university overall.

There were roughly 112 linguistics & comparative literature students who graduated with this degree at UC Berkeley in the most recent data year. After graduating, comparative literature degree recipients generally make an average of $25,059 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a degree in linguistics & comparative literature from University of California - Berkeley

6
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
57 Comparative Literature Degrees Awarded
$22,965 Median Starting Salary

UC Davis is a fairly large public university located in the small suburb of Davis. A Best Colleges rank of #55 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UC Davis is a great university overall.

There were approximately 57 linguistics & comparative literature students who graduated with this degree at UC Davis in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the comparative literature program make an average of $22,965 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a degree in linguistics & comparative literature from University of California - Davis

7
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
71 Comparative Literature Degrees Awarded
11.3% Growth in Graduates

Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 36th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.

There were about 71 linguistics & comparative literature students who graduated with this degree at CSULB in the most recent data year. After graduating, comparative literature degree recipients typically earn around $18,393 in their early careers.

More information about a degree in linguistics & comparative literature from California State University - Long Beach

8
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
46 Comparative Literature Degrees Awarded
$20,212 Median Starting Salary

UCR is a very large public university located in the city of Riverside. This university ranks 28th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.

There were approximately 46 linguistics & comparative literature students who graduated with this degree at UCR in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the comparative literature program state that they receive average early career income of $20,212.

More information about a degree in linguistics & comparative literature from University of California - Riverside

9
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
44 Comparative Literature Degrees Awarded
9.1% Growth in Graduates

Located in the large city of San Diego, SDSU is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 25th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.

There were about 44 linguistics & comparative literature students who graduated with this degree at SDSU in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the comparative literature program earn about $22,001 for their early career.

More information about a degree in linguistics & comparative literature from San Diego State University

10
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
70 Comparative Literature Degrees Awarded
$19,809 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #49 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UCSD is a great university overall.

There were about 70 linguistics & comparative literature students who graduated with this degree at UCSD in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the comparative literature program make an average of $19,809 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a degree in linguistics & comparative literature from University of California - San Diego

Best Linguistics & Comparative Literature Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Linguistics & Comparative Literature Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Washington 300 126
Oregon 266 106
Nevada 192 21
Hawaii 164 21
Alaska 119 24

View All Rankings >

One of 18 majors within the Foreign Languages & Linguistics area of study, Linguistics & Comparative Literature has other similar majors worth exploring.

Comparative Literature Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
Linguistics 626
Comparative Literature 320
Modern Languages 270
Language Translation 155
Other Linguistic, Comparative, & Related Language Studies & Services 127
Applied Linguistics 36

View All Comparative Literature Focus Areas >

Related Major Annual Graduates
Romance Languages 2,753
American Sign Language 609
East Asian Languages 587
Second Language Learning 138
Classical Languages & Literature 103
Germanic Languages 86
Middle Eastern Semitic Languages 85
Foreign Language, Literature & Linguistics (Other) 72
Slavic, Baltic & Albanian Languages 38
Southeast Asian & Pacific Languages 5

View All Comparative Literature Related Majors >

Notes and References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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