Best Liberal Arts Colleges for Social Mobility in California (2025)

26 Liberal Arts colleges in California with strong social mobility outcomes. Average earnings: $65,760.

📊 Schools must be in the 60th percentile or above for social mobility, then ranked by graduate earnings.

Average Graduate Earnings: $65,760

All 26 Schools

Rank	School	Graduate Earnings	Student Debt	Student GPS	Parent Debt	Parent GPS	Mobility
#26	California State Polytechnic University-HumboldtPublic	$47,626	$18,000	Challenging	$18,257	High	87th percentile mobility

#26California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt

Arcata, CA • Public

💰

$47,626Graduate Earnings

🎓87th percentile mobility

116

Cohort

$18,000

Student Debt

$18,257

Parent Debt

GPS Affordability(What's this?)

21.2% burden

46.0% burden

📚

45.7%

Pell Share

👨‍👩‍👧

44.1%

First-Gen

View School →

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Showing 26–26 of 26 schools

How These Rankings Work

Our social mobility rankings answer: "Which schools deliver the best outcomes for students from low-income backgrounds?"

This is not simply "which schools admit the most low-income students" — it's which schools both serve low-income students and deliver strong earnings outcomes.

Two-Step Methodology

Filter for Accessibility: Schools must be in the 60th percentile or above for our mobility index. This filters out schools that don't meaningfully serve low-income students.

Rank by Outcomes: Among schools passing the filter, we rank by median graduate earnings. This surfaces schools with strong outcomes, not just high accessibility.

Mobility Index Components

• Pell Grant share: % of students receiving federal Pell Grants (proxy for low-income)
• First-generation share: % of first-generation college students
• Earnings mobility: How much graduates earn relative to their starting economic position

Important Caveats

• The 60th percentile threshold is a design choice — schools at 59th percentile are excluded
• Mobility index weights may not reflect every user's priorities
• Schools serving middle-income students well may be underrepresented
• Higher earnings doesn't always mean better outcomes (teaching, social work have high value but lower salaries)

Our Methodology →About Azimuth →

Data based on 2024-2025 Dept of Education reporting standards. Learn about our methodology →