2025 Best Mathematics Bachelor's Degree Schools in California

Mathematics is of the hottest bachelor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #25 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

College Factual looked at 26 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Mathematics Bachelor's Degree Schools in California ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 2,504 bachelor's degrees in mathematics to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Mathematics School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Your choice of mathematics for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality math program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

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

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to mathematics students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other mathematics students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
• 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.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for mathematics to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized mathematics related body.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

The math school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Mathematics Bachelor's Degree Schools in California.

To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

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

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

10 Top California Schools for a Bachelor's in Math

1

University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

198 Annual Graduates

$38,449 Median Starting Salary

University of California - Los Angeles is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in mathematics. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a very large student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the math program earn about $38,449 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a bachelor’s in mathematics from University of California - Los Angeles

2

University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley, CA

96 Annual Graduates

$46,674 Median Starting Salary

University of California - Berkeley is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in mathematics. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the city of Berkeley.

Mathematics bachelor's degree recipients from University of California - Berkeley get an earnings boost of around $7,351 above the typical earnings of mathematics graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in mathematics from University of California - Berkeley

3

University of California - San Diego
La Jolla, CA

227 Annual Graduates

$52,339 Median Starting Salary

Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in mathematics has to take a look at University of California - San Diego. UCSD is a fairly large public university located in the large city of La Jolla.

Bachelor's recipients from the mathematics program at University of California - San Diego get $13,016 above the average college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in mathematics from University of California - San Diego

4

University of California - Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA

123 Annual Graduates

$46,447 Median Starting Salary

$38,091 Median Student Debt

University of California - Santa Barbara is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in mathematics. Located in the medium-sized suburb of Santa Barbara, UCSB is a public university with a very large student population.

Those mathematics students who get their bachelor's degree from University of California - Santa Barbara earn $7,124 more than the typical math student.

More information about a bachelor’s in mathematics from University of California - Santa Barbara

5

University of California - Davis
Davis, CA

84 Annual Graduates

$29,300 Median Starting Salary

Located in the small suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public university with a very large student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the math program state that they receive average early career earnings of $29,300.

More information about a bachelor’s in mathematics from University of California - Davis

6

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

14 Annual Graduates

USC is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles.More information about a bachelor’s in mathematics from University of Southern California

7

Santa Clara University
Santa Clara, CA

27 Annual Graduates

Located in the medium-sized city of Santa Clara, SCU is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a bachelor’s in mathematics from Santa Clara University

8

University of California - Irvine
Irvine, CA

250 Annual Graduates

$45,924 Median Starting Salary

$20,340 Median Student Debt

UC Irvine is a fairly large public university located in the city of Irvine.

Those mathematics students who get their bachelor's degree from University of California - Irvine receive $6,601 more than the average math student.

More information about a bachelor’s in mathematics from University of California - Irvine

9

University of California - Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA

96 Annual Graduates

$40,798 Median Starting Salary

$23,541 Median Student Debt

UC Santa Cruz is a fairly large public university located in the city of Santa Cruz.

After graduation, math bachelor's recipients generally make an average of $40,798 in their early careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in mathematics from University of California - Santa Cruz

10

University of California - Riverside
Riverside, CA

172 Annual Graduates

$27,227 Median Starting Salary

$17,615 Median Student Debt

Located in the city of Riverside, UCR is a public university with a very large student population.

After graduating, math bachelor's recipients usually make around $27,227 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a bachelor’s in mathematics from University of California - Riverside

Best Mathematics Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Washington	226	385
Oregon	185	333
Nevada	129	101
Hawaii	112	54
Alaska	75	14

View All Rankings >

Mathematics Related Rankings by Major

Mathematics is one of 4 different types of Mathematics & Statistics programs to choose from.

Math Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
General Mathematics	2,213
Other Mathematics	291

Most Popular Majors Related to Math

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Applied Mathematics	1,416
Statistics	1,131
Applied Statistics	6
Other Statistics	6

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). More about our data sources and methodologies.