2025 Best Mathematics Doctor's Degree Schools in California

Mathematics is of the hottest doctor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #26 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 6 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Mathematics Doctor's Degree Schools in California ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 141 doctor's degrees in mathematics during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Mathematics School for Your Doctor's Degree

Your choice of mathematics for getting your doctor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality math program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

The overall quality of a doctor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor'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 doctor'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 much debt mathematics students go into to obtain their doctor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized mathematics related body.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Mathematics Doctor's Degree Schools in California list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Mathematics in California

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in mathematics.

Top California Schools for a Doctorate in Math

1

University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

26 Annual Graduates

University of California - Los Angeles is a good option for students interested in a doctor's degree in mathematics. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in mathematics from University of California - Los Angeles

2

University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley, CA

23 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a doctor's degree in mathematics needs to take a look at University of California - Berkeley. UC Berkeley is a very large public university located in the city of Berkeley.More information about a doctorate in mathematics from University of California - Berkeley

3

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

11 Annual Graduates

University of Southern California is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a doctor's degree in mathematics. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles.More information about a doctorate in mathematics from University of Southern California

4

University of California - Davis
Davis, CA

12 Annual Graduates

It is hard to beat University of California - Davis if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in mathematics. Located in the small suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in mathematics from University of California - Davis

5

University of California - Irvine
Irvine, CA

15 Annual Graduates

UC Irvine is a fairly large public university located in the city of Irvine.More information about a doctorate in mathematics from University of California - Irvine

6

University of California - San Diego
La Jolla, CA

11 Annual Graduates

UCSD is a fairly large public university located in the city of La Jolla.More information about a doctorate in mathematics from University of California - San Diego

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	122	18
Oregon	107	15
Nevada	84	3
Hawaii	53	4
Alaska	19	0

View All Rankings >

Mathematics Related Rankings by Major

One of 4 majors within the Mathematics & Statistics area of study, Mathematics has other similar majors worth exploring.

Math Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
General Mathematics	140
Other Mathematics	1

Majors Similar to Math

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Statistics	60
Applied Mathematics	51

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.