College Azimuth

Research brief & institution hub

California State University-Chico

CALarge public institution · Overall rank #91 nationally

Data snapshot Updated

Graduates earn about $12,980 more than expects for similar students.

Who it’s a good fit for

California State University-Chico is a public university in Chico, California, where the degree mix is led by Business and Social Sciences. Mobility is among the highest we track, and most graduates are estimated to go into jobs rather than on to further study.

Graduates out-earn what the model predicts for students like them. The model attributes more of that to what it cannot explain than to the factors it measures — field of study, enrollment and the local labor market.

Students who arrive with Pell Grants finish at a rate above the entering cohort as a whole. The lowest income band pays well under the published cost, while the highest pays closer to it.

The admission rate is above the median for comparable schools, and the largest programs are not the best-paid ones. A student drawn to Social Sciences or Psychology should go in knowing that the highest earnings are in much smaller fields like Computer Science and Nursing.

Chico State at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate[1]
92.7%
Six-year completion[2]
62.8%
Four-year earnings[3]
$65,228

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income[6]
$12,961
Median student debt[4]
$16,552
Median Parent PLUS debt[7]
$17,585

Chico State rankings: how Azimuth assesses value[5]

California State University-Chico is a public university in Chico, California, enrolling 13,631 undergraduates. Its composite standing sits in the top tenth of the Azimuth ranking among nonprofit four-year institutions (94th percentile).

The shape is a broad-access public campus where mobility is the strongest and return the weakest, with access and affordability sitting between them. The university admits 92.7% of applicants, well above the 78.1% median for comparable institutions of the same type and size.

Of students who start full time, 81.6% return for a second year, against a peer median of 83.1%—the middle value for comparable institutions. The six-year graduation rate is 62.8%, compared to a peer median of 65.0%.

An estimated 49.5% of entrants arrive as transfers or part-time students. Mobility is the strongest pillar, while return is the weakest.

Access and affordability sit close together in the high eighties, so the pillars are not far apart, but the gap between the strongest and weakest is wide enough to notice.

Azimuth ranks California State University-Chico #91 among 1,467 nonprofit four-year institutions, with its strongest pillar being mobility at the 95th percentile. The access and affordability pillars both sit at the 87th and 87th percentiles, respectively.

The return pillar is the weakest at the 70th percentile, though graduates earn about $12,980 more than the model expects for similar students.

42.5% of undergraduates at California State University-Chico receive Pell Grants, a measure of financial access at this public university in Chico, California. Azimuth ranks California State University-Chico #186 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Pell recipients in the first-time full-time cohort complete at 68.2%, 5.4 percentage points above the rate for the entering cohort as a whole. The access pillar draws its shape from both the breadth of financial access and the completion result for those students.

For mobility, Azimuth ranks the university #68 among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $12,980 more than the model expects for similar students—the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students.

How value-added outcomes are assessed · How to interpret program rankings

Chico State rankings in context
GeographyRank
National#91
California#26
West#31

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility
National percentile: 95
Access & reach
National percentile: 87
Affordability
National percentile: 87
Return on investment
National percentile: 70

Top-ranked majors

  1. Engineering, Other#4
  2. Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Studies#4
  3. Agriculture, General#6

This school’s three highest-ranked programs nationally. Each rank compares bachelor’s programs in the same field; field sizes differ.

Explore major rankings

01 / Chico State briefing

Chico State cost & financial aid[6][7]

California State University-Chico publishes a cost of attendance of $26,283. In-state tuition and fees are $8,472, and room and board runs $16,500.

Out-of-state students face tuition and fees of $21,072. After grants and scholarships, the average net price for aid recipients is $14,480.

Aid reduces the published cost by an average of $11,803 for recipients. That net price is $1,154 below the $15,634 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Azimuth ranks the university #185 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

California State University-Chico publishes a cost of attendance of $26,283, with in-state tuition and fees of $8,472 and room and board at $16,500. For families earning under $30,000, the average net price is $9,902; it is $12,961 for the $48,001–$75,000 band and $23,566 for families earning over $110,000.

Azimuth ranks the university #185 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions. The for first-time full-time Title IV aid recipients is $14,480, which reflects an average financial aid savings of $11,803 against the published sticker price.

That average net price sits below the peer median of $15,634 for comparable institutions (same type and size), a gap of $1,154. Out-of-state students face a published tuition and fees of $21,072 before any aid is applied.

74.4% of federal aid recipients take federal loans, and the median federal student debt at completion is $16,552. That figure is below the peer median of $20,076 for comparable institutions (same type and size), a difference of $3,524.

Median Parent PLUS borrowing stands at $17,585. If repaid over ten years, the estimated monthly payment on the median federal debt is $188.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$12,961

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at Chico State

Completers who borrowed federally left California State University-Chico with a median debt of $16,552. Against a comparable-institution median of $20,076 (same type and size), the university sits below by $3,524.

74.4% of federal aid recipients use federal loans. A separate parent-borrower population shows a median Parent PLUS debt of $17,585.

In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported that 27% of graduates borrowed from any source, averaging $5,715 per borrower. Of those borrowers, 26% held federal loans averaging $5,303 and 3% carried private loans averaging $11,844.

Graduates of California State University-Chico earn about $12,980 more than the model expects for similar students, placing that outcome in the 88th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Four years after completion, graduates who are working and not enrolled record median earnings of $65,228, a level in the 66th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Earnings scenarios anchored on the university's program mix suggest a typical outcome of $65,228, a downside scenario of $48,437, and an upside scenario of $92,168. The median federal debt among completers who borrowed is $16,552, a balance that sits below the $20,076 median for comparable institutions (same type and size). If repaid over ten years, the estimated monthly payment is $188.

Median Parent PLUS borrowing, a separate parent-borrower population, is $17,585. The estimated monthly student payment if repaid over ten years is $188.

How Financial GPS measures payment burden · The four risk-and-reward zones

Financial GPS

What does repayment look like?

Institution median student debt
$16,552
Institution Parent PLUS debt
$17,585

Federal loans only; private or institutional loans aren’t included.

Estimated student payment · monthly
$188/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly
$223/mo

Payments use school-wide median balances, not a specific major’s.

Payment assumptions

Payments are 10-year standard payments on the median balance, before loan fees, used as a yardstick. Rates for newly issued loans may differ, and loans made after July 1, 2026 can repay over a longer term; existing loans keep their original fixed rates.

Explore your own numbers in Financial GPS
Read the full cost & aid brief

02 / Chico State briefing

Chico State career outcomes & earnings[3][8][9]

Four years after graduating, California State University-Chico completers who are working and not enrolled post median earnings of $65,228, in the 66th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. That figure runs below the peer median of $65,610 by $382 for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Graduates earn about $12,980 more than the model expects for similar students, a level in the 88th percentile nationally. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $5,848.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain adds $7,132. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $999. Azimuth places the return pillar in the 70th percentile.

Four years after completing their degrees, graduates of California State University-Chico earn a median of $65,228, drawn from a cohort of 4,672 completers in the four-year earnings cohort. Graduates earn about $12,980 more than the model expects for similar students, a result that places the university in the 88th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Earnings scenarios, which reflect the university's program mix, point to a typical outcome of $65,228, with a downside scenario of $48,437 and an upside scenario reaching $92,168. An estimated 27.9% of programs' graduates continue to graduate study, a share derived from program mix rather than observed enrollment.

The median earnings figure sits below the $65,610 median at comparable institutions (same type and size) by $382.

Four years after completing their degrees, federally aided graduates who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $65,228 (measured among 4,672 completers), placing them in the 66th percentile. That is $382 below the $65,610 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Azimuth ranks California State University-Chico #437 for return among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $12,980 more than the model expects for similar students.

Earnings beyond expectations sit at the 88th percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $5,848.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain adds $7,132. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $999.

The fields shaping earnings include business, nursing, and several engineering programs alongside smaller cohorts in computer science. Estimated from the program mix, the downside earnings scenario, reflecting lower-earning clusters, is $48,437 and the upside, reflecting higher-earning clusters, is $92,168.

An estimated 27.9% of graduates continue to graduate study, based on the program mix.

The earnings scenarios for California State University-Chico span from a downside of $48,437 to an upside of $92,168, reflecting the range of outcomes associated with different program clusters. The highest-earning programs shape the upside: Computer Science completers earn a median of $127,498 four years after finishing, while Nursing graduates earn $117,543 and Engineering graduates earn $103,272.

Graduates of California State University-Chico earn about $12,980 more than the model expects for similar students. They do so with debt that is lighter than the norm at comparable institutions.

The median federal student loan debt for borrowers who complete is $16,552, which is $3,524 below the peer median of $20,076 for comparable institutions (same type and size). If repaid over ten years, that debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $188 a month.

Parents who borrow through the separate Parent PLUS program hold a median of $17,585. The published cost of attendance is $26,283, but aid covers about 45% of that for the average aid recipient.

The average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $14,480, which is $1,154 below the peer median. The spread between the lowest and highest income bands is $13,664, a difference of averages rather than what any one family pays.

What explains value-added earnings?
Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.
+$5,848
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.
+$7,132
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.
+$12,980

These are statistical model components, not proven causal effects; the remainder is not a direct measure of teaching quality.

Read the full outcomes brief

03 / Chico State briefing

Chico State acceptance rate & admissions[1][10][11]

California State University-Chico admits 92.7% of applicants, well above the median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 22,091 applicants, 20,528 admitted, and 2,041 enrolled.

Admissions
Admission rate
92.7%
Read the full admissions brief

04 / Chico State briefing

What are the largest majors at Chico State?[12]

California State University-Chico's highest-earning bachelor's program is Computer Science, where completers earn a median of $127,498 four years after completion, with 81 degrees awarded. Nursing follows at $117,543 and 127 degrees awarded, while Engineering reaches $103,272 on 34 degrees awarded.

Among the largest programs, Business Administration and Management reports median earnings of $72,651 and an Azimuth national rank of #76 on 585 degrees awarded. Psychology and Liberal Arts and General Studies show more moderate medians of $52,621 and $55,008, with 346 and 216 degrees awarded respectively.

California State University-Chico has 38 nationally ranked bachelor's program and 45 programs with published four-year earnings. The largest program, Business Administration and Management, ranks #76 nationally and #16 in California, awarded 585 degrees and shows median earnings of $72,651 four years after completion.

The highest-earning programs are led by Computer Science (81 degrees awarded), where completers earn a median of $127,498 four years after completion, followed by Nursing (127 degrees awarded) at $117,543 and Engineering (34 degrees awarded) at $103,272. Computer Engineering (12 degrees awarded) and Mechanical Engineering (72 degrees awarded) round out the top five, with medians of $97,345 and $93,555.

California State University-Chico awards bachelor's degrees across 45 programs with published four-year earnings data, and 38 holds an Azimuth national rank. The program mix is led by Business, which accounts for 14.2% of degrees awarded, followed by Social Sciences at 9.8% and Psychology at 8.4%.

The largest single program is Business Administration and Management, at 585 degrees awarded, with Psychology next at 346 and Liberal Arts and General Studies at 216. Business Administration and Management is also the highest-ranked program, earning #16 in California within its field and a median of $72,651 four years after completion.

That is a benchmark ratio of 1.06x against the national median for the field. The highest-earning programs are a different set.

Computer Science leads at $127,498, from 81 degrees awarded. Nursing follows at $117,543 with 127 degrees awarded, and Engineering at $103,272 from 34 degrees awarded.

The pattern is one of concentrated strength in a few technical fields alongside a broad base of social sciences and business. The highest earnings come from programs that award relatively few degrees, while the largest programs sit closer to the national median for their fields. 16.1% of degrees awarded are in STEM fields.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields
Business Administration, Management and Operations 585 degrees awarded
$72,651
Psychology, General 346 degrees awarded
$52,621
Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities 216 degrees awarded
$55,008
Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness 196 degrees awarded
$52,978
Sociology 162 degrees awarded
$52,323
Criminal Justice and Corrections 139 degrees awarded
$58,464

Fields selected by reported completions. Counts describe credentials awarded, not unique students or the earnings sample. Bars show median four-year earnings.

Read the full majors brief

05 / Chico State briefing

How does Chico State serve students from different backgrounds?

Graduates of California State University-Chico earn about $12,980 more than the model expects for similar students, a result in the 88th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Azimuth places the university in the 95th percentile for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The university holds a mobility rank of #68 among nonprofit four-year institutions. Pell recipients in the first-time full-time cohort complete at 68.2%, above the overall six-year graduation rate of 62.8% by 5.4 percentage points.

Azimuth places the access pillar of California State University-Chico in the 87th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The public university admits 92.7% of applicants and enrolls 13,631 undergraduates.

Pell Grant recipients make up 42.5% of the undergraduate body, and an estimated 49.5% of undergraduates arrive as transfers or part-time students.

06 / Chico State briefing

What colleges are similar to Chico State?[15]

Azimuth groups alternatives by admissions, location, cost and earnings, then orders candidates within each group. Peer earnings use the matched four-year cohort. How matching works.

A shortlist for different decisions

Choose a row to compare the figures with Chico State.

Admissions peerCalifornia State University-Sacramento94.0% admitted
Comparison with Chico State
MeasureChico StateCalifornia State University-Sacramento
Peer earnings · 4 years$65,228$64,511-$717 vs Chico State
Average annual net price$14,480$9,338-$5,142 vs Chico State · lower cost
Admission rate92.7%94.0%
Explore California State University-Sacramento →
Nearby alternativeCalifornia State University-SacramentoNearby option · CA
Comparison with Chico State
MeasureChico StateCalifornia State University-Sacramento
Peer earnings · 4 years$65,228$64,511-$717 vs Chico State
Average annual net price$14,480$9,338-$5,142 vs Chico State · lower cost
Admission rate92.7%94.0%
Explore California State University-Sacramento →
Higher-earnings alternativeSan Jose State University$89,614 earnings
Comparison with Chico State
MeasureChico StateSan Jose State University
Peer earnings · 4 years$65,228$89,614+$24,386 vs Chico State
Average annual net price$14,480$13,760-$720 vs Chico State · lower cost
Admission rate92.7%84.6%
Explore San Jose State University →
Lower-cost alternativeCalifornia State University-Sacramento$9,338 average net price
Comparison with Chico State
MeasureChico StateCalifornia State University-Sacramento
Peer earnings · 4 years$65,228$64,511-$717 vs Chico State
Average annual net price$14,480$9,338-$5,142 vs Chico State · lower cost
Admission rate92.7%94.0%
Explore California State University-Sacramento →
Similar profilePortland State UniversityMatched across several measures
Comparison with Chico State
MeasureChico StatePortland State University
Peer earnings · 4 years$65,228$62,060-$3,168 vs Chico State
Average annual net price$14,480$9,552-$4,928 vs Chico State · lower cost
Admission rate92.7%90.9%
Explore Portland State University →

Each school is the first-ranked match in its category, not a recommendation across every measure. The same college may lead more than one category. Figures use the matching snapshot; earnings reflect the matched four-year cohort. — means unavailable.

Read the full similar schools brief

Data scope & methodology

Structured payloads generated Governed hub narrative Governed spoke corpus

Four-year earnings describe cohorts of completers. Figures for other horizons describe different cohorts and are not joined into a career-growth projection.

Azimuth's overall rank and pillar percentiles come from the school profile. Absolute pillar ranks, city, enrollment and official-site links are shown only when structured data supplies them.

Detailed earnings, cost, admissions and program values come from the endpoint responsible for each measure. Missing values are not replaced with zero. Value-added estimates are model associations, not causal effects.

Figures are refreshed with each data release, at most a quarter apart. The underlying source dates can be earlier than the release.

Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.

Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.

Read the ranking methodology, data definitions and limitations · About College Azimuth

Read the analysis behind value-added earnings and the change to four-year graduate earnings. These articles are published on collegeazimuth.com.

Data notes & source fields

Scorecard field codes identify the underlying measure; Azimuth-derived values are labeled separately. Snapshot dates are not measurement years. Source populations and reporting periods differ across measures. Field definitions are in the U.S. Department of Education · College Scorecard documentation; notes with a different source link it below.

  1. Admission rate. Reported applicants admitted; not a transfer-specific or individual admission probability.

    Source fields: ADM_RATE

  2. Six-year completion. First-time, full-time students completing at the institution within 150% of normal time, typically six years for a bachelor’s degree.

    Source fields: C150_4

  3. Four-year institutional earnings. Median earnings of graduates in the reported cohort who are working and not enrolled, four years after completion.

    Source fields: MD_EARN_WNE_4YR

  4. Median federal student debt. Federal student-loan debt among completers in the reported borrowing cohort. Excludes Parent PLUS and is not total debt across all students.

    Source fields: GRAD_DEBT_MDN

  5. National, regional and state ranks; pillar percentiles; major ranks. Derived scores within the stated eligible comparison set, not raw Scorecard fields. Major ranks compare institutions within a field; their denominators differ.

    Source fields: Azimuth rankings

    College Azimuth · Ranking methodology

  6. Annual net price by family income. Average annual cost after grants and scholarships for the eligible first-time, full-time aid-recipient cohort. Public-school figures reflect in-state tuition. Includes living costs; these are averages, not medians or individual offers.

    Source fields: NPT4_PUB/PRIV; NPT41_PUB/PRIV through NPT45_PUB/PRIV

  7. Parent PLUS debt, payments and GPS illustration. Stored payments use Financial GPS loan and repayment assumptions. The adjustable spectrum applies the published framework to annual student payments divided by earnings minus an expense allowance; its initial allowance uses the frozen 2024 framework baseline. It is an illustration rather than a school rating. Parent PLUS uses the completer median where available, otherwise the all-borrower median; these describe different borrowing populations.

    Source fields: PLUS_DEBT_ALL_COMP_MD; fallback PLUS_DEBT_ALL_MD; Azimuth Financial GPS calculations

    College Azimuth · Financial GPS methodology

  8. Downside and upside earnings; yellow band. The band spans the modeled lower and higher scenarios. It is not the P25–P75 interval for individual graduates. The median marker is the separately reported institutional median.

    Source fields: Azimuth modeled program-mix scenarios

    College Azimuth · Earnings scenario methodology

  9. Value added and its components. Observed-factor attribution plus the unexplained remainder equals total modeled value added. These are associations, not proven causal effects; the remainder is not a direct measure of teaching quality.

    Source fields: Azimuth statistical model

    College Azimuth · Value-added methodology

  10. SAT score range and reported midpoint. Reported scores of enrolled score-submitters, not admission cutoffs. The midpoint field is not necessarily the middle of the displayed range.

    Source fields: SATVR25 + SATMT25; SATVR75 + SATMT75; SAT_AVG

  11. First-year retention. Retention of the reported full-time cohort at four-year institutions.

    Source fields: RET_FT4

  12. Program earnings, completion counts and major-mix dots. Included bachelor’s programs have at least five reported completions. Counts are aggregated credentials, not unique people or an earnings sample. Major-mix dots group those counts by field of study; excluded programs are not zero activity.

    Source fields: EARN_MDN_4YR; IPEDSCOUNT1; CIPCODE

    College Scorecard · Field-of-study technical documentation

  13. Pell recipients. Share of undergraduates receiving a Pell Grant in the reported academic year.

    Source fields: PCTPELL

  14. Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group. This is not an observed transfer-in rate. It includes part-time entrants and other entering-student attendance patterns.

    Source fields: 1 − PFTFTUG1_EF

  15. Peer earnings and signed differences. Differences are peer minus this school, from the same matching snapshot. A positive earnings difference does not mean the peer is better on every measure.

    Source fields: Azimuth peer model using MD_EARN_WNE_4YR

    College Azimuth · Comparison methodology

How to interpret program rankings