Research brief & institution hub

California State University-Fresno

CALarge public institution · Overall rank #26 nationally

Data snapshot September 27, 2026Updated October 1, 2026

Earnings that outpace expectations.

Who it’s a good fit for

California State University-Fresno is a public university in Fresno, California, where the degree mix leans toward Social Sciences, Business, and Psychology. Mobility is among the highest we track.

Graduates out-earn what predicts for students like them, and the model attributes more of that to a remainder it does not explain than to the factors it measures. The typical graduate earns below the median at comparable schools, so the raw and adjusted pictures diverge.

Pell students finish at a rate above the entering cohort as a whole, and access is among the highest we track. Families at the bottom of the income scale pay well below the published cost, while those at the top pay closer to it.

The admission rate is above the median for comparable institutions, and most graduates are estimated to go into work rather than on to further study. A student drawn to the largest programs should know that the best-paid ones are much smaller.

Fresno State at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate^[1]: 95.3%
Six-year completion^[2]: 57.0%
Four-year earnings^[3]: $59,992

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income^[6]: $7,196
Median student debt^[4]: $14,505
Median Parent PLUS debt^[7]: $12,050

Fresno State rankings: how Azimuth assesses value^[5]

California State University-Fresno is a public university in Fresno, California, enrolling 21,605 undergraduates. Its composite standing sits near the top of the Azimuth ranking among nonprofit four-year institutions (98th percentile).

The university admits 95.3% of applicants, a rate well above the 78.1% median for comparable institutions of the same type and size. An estimated 48.9% of undergraduates arrive as transfers or part-time students.

Among first-time, full-time students, 81.6% return for a second year, against a peer median of 83.1%. The six-year graduation rate for that cohort is 57.0%, compared with a peer median of 65.0%.

The four sit far apart. Mobility is the strongest (98th percentile) and return is the weakest (62nd percentile).

Access and affordability are both high, so the shape is a broad-access public university where the strongest pillar and the weakest are separated by more than thirty points.

Azimuth ranks California State University-Fresno #26 among 1,467 nonprofit four-year institutions. The university's strongest pillar is mobility, in the 98th percentile, and its weakest is return, in the 62nd percentile.

Access and affordability also stand out: the access pillar reaches the 96th percentile, and affordability reaches the 97th percentile. The university has a Pell share of 57.0%.

57.0% of undergraduates receive Pell Grants. Azimuth ranks California State University-Fresno #66 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Pell recipients complete at 61.2%, 4.2 percentage points above the rate for the entering cohort as a whole. Azimuth ranks the university #31 for mobility. Graduates earn about $14,537 more than the model expects for similar students.

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

Fresno State rankings in context
Geography	Rank
National	#26
California	#13
West	#14

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility: National percentile: 98

Access & reach: National percentile: 96

Affordability: National percentile: 97

Return on investment: National percentile: 62

Top-ranked majors

Plant Sciences#2
Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Studies#10
Construction Engineering Technology/Technician#14

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 / Fresno State briefing

Fresno State cost & financial aid^[6]^[7]

The average net price for aid recipients at California State University-Fresno is $7,000, which runs below the median of $15,634 for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $8,634. That net price represents a savings of $13,095 against the published cost of attendance of $20,095.

The published cost includes in-state tuition of $7,350 and room and board of $11,960. Out-of-state students see a higher tuition figure of $19,950.

Azimuth ranks the university #50 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

California State University-Fresno publishes a cost of attendance of $20,095, with in-state tuition at $7,350 and room and board at $11,960. For aid recipients from families earning under $30,000, the average net price is $5,105, and for those in the $30,001–$48,000 band it is $5,429.

Aid recipients from families earning $48,001–$75,000 see an of $7,196, while the figure is $10,291 for the $75,001–$110,000 band and $16,899 for families earning over $110,000. Azimuth ranks the university #50 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Financial aid savings offset the sticker price by $13,095, bringing the average net price for first-time full-time Title IV aid recipients to $7,000. That average net price runs below the median of $15,634 for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $8,634.

In-state tuition is $7,350, and out-of-state students pay $19,950. The median federal student debt at completion is $14,505.

About 41.6% of federal aid recipients borrow federal loans. That median debt is below the peer median of $20,076 for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $5,571.

Median Parent PLUS borrowing stands at $12,050. If repaid over ten years, the estimated monthly payment for the median federal debt is $165.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$7,196

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at Fresno State

Among undergraduates at California State University-Fresno, 41.6% of federal aid recipients take federal loans. For those who borrow and complete a degree, the median federal student debt is $14,505.

That median is below the $20,076 median at comparable institutions (same type and size), a gap of $5,571. Parent borrowers, a separate population, carry a median Parent PLUS loan of $12,050.

The median earnings for California State University-Fresno graduates four years after completion are $59,992, placing the public university in the 51st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $14,537 more than the model expects for similar students.

That performance ranks in the 91st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Azimuth models three earnings scenarios drawn from the program mix: a typical outcome of $59,992, a downside scenario of $46,584, and an upside scenario of $79,698.

Borrowers who complete leave with a median federal student debt of $14,505, a level below the $20,076 median observed for comparable institutions (same type and size). If repaid over ten years, the monthly payment is $165.

Median Parent PLUS borrowing, a separate parent-borrower population, is $12,050. The estimated monthly student payment if repaid over ten years is $165.

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

Financial GPS

What does repayment look like?

Institution median student debt: $14,505
Institution Parent PLUS debt: $12,050

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

Estimated student payment · monthly: $165/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly: $153/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 / Fresno State briefing

Fresno State career outcomes & earnings^[3]^[8]^[9]

Graduates earn about $14,537 more than the model expects for similar students, a level in the 91st percentile nationally. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $2,324.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain adds $12,213. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $484.

Four years after completion, the median earnings for the university's completers who are working and not enrolled stand at $59,992. That figure runs below the peer median of $65,610 by $5,618 among comparable institutions (same type and size).

Azimuth places the return pillar in the 62nd percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

At California State University-Fresno, the median earnings four years after completion is $59,992, drawn from a cohort of 5,394 federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled. That figure is below the $65,610 median at comparable institutions (same type and size) by $5,618.

Graduates earn about $14,537 more than the model expects for similar students, a result that sits in the 91st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Earnings scenarios anchored on the university's program mix point to a typical outcome of $59,992, a downside scenario of $46,584, and an upside scenario of $79,698.

An estimated 31.2% of programs' graduates continue to graduate study, a share derived from program mix rather than observed enrollment.

Four years after completion, graduates of California State University-Fresno earn a median of $59,992, which places the university in the 51st percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The median for comparable institutions (same type and size) is $65,610, so the university sits below that mark by $5,618.

Graduates earn about $14,537 more than the model expects for similar students, a result that lands in the 91st percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $2,324.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain adds $12,213. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $484.

Azimuth ranks the university #555 for return among nonprofit four-year institutions. Earnings scenarios grounded in the program mix show a downside of $46,584 and an upside of $79,698.

The largest bachelor's program is Business Administration and Management, with 655 degrees awarded and a median of $64,133 four years after completion. The highest-earning program is Nursing, which awarded 177 degrees and posts a median of $111,278, or 1.25x the national median for the field.

Electrical Engineering follows at $108,038 on 29 degrees awarded, and Computer Engineering reaches $103,896 with 30 degrees awarded. Together, these programs coexist alongside a broad set of 39 fields with published earnings data.

The earnings scenarios for California State University-Fresno span from $46,584 to $79,698, reflecting the range of outcomes across the university's program clusters. Nursing completers earn a median of $111,278 four years after finishing, while Electrical Engineering graduates earn $108,038.

The largest program, Business Administration and Management, shows median earnings of $64,133.

At California State University-Fresno, graduates earn about $14,537 more than the model expects for similar students. The median federal student debt among borrowers who finish a degree is $14,505, a figure that sits below the $20,076 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

If the median federal debt is repaid over ten years, the estimated monthly payment is $165. Parent PLUS borrowing, tracked separately from student loans, shows a median of $12,050.

Aid recipients at the university see an average net price of $7,000, a level that falls below the $15,634 median at comparable institutions (same type and size). For families in the lowest income band, that average drops to $5,105, while the spread between the lowest and highest bands is $11,794.

What explains value-added earnings?

Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.: +$2,324
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.: +$12,213
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.: +$14,537

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

Read the full outcomes brief

Read the full admissions brief

04 / Fresno State briefing

What are the largest majors at Fresno State?^[12]

Business Administration and Management is the largest program, with 655 degrees awarded. Azimuth ranks it #135 nationally among nonprofit four-year institutions in its field.

Its graduates earn $64,133 four years after completion. Nursing is the best-paid program, with graduates earning $111,278 four years after completion from 177 degrees awarded.

Azimuth ranks it #42 nationally. Psychology awards 552 degrees with median earnings of $51,526, and Azimuth ranks it #104 nationally.

Criminology awards 399 degrees with median earnings of $48,647, and Azimuth ranks it #27 nationally. Across all fields, 13.0% of degrees are in STEM.

California State University-Fresno has 33 nationally ranked bachelor's programs, and the strongest among them sit in agriculture and construction. Plant Sciences ranks #2 in its field, with 63 degrees awarded and median earnings of $77,034 four years after completion.

The largest programs tell a different story. Business Administration and Management awards 655 degrees a year, the most on campus, and its completers earn a median of $64,133.

The highest earnings come from a smaller program. Nursing graduates earn $111,278, from 177 degrees a year.

Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering also reach six figures, though each awards fewer than three dozen degrees annually.

California State University-Fresno awards degrees across 33 programs with an Azimuth national rank, and 39 programs have published four-year earnings data. The degree mix leans toward the social sciences: Social Sciences accounts for 13.2% of bachelor's degrees awarded, followed by Business at 12.6% and Psychology at 11.6%.

The largest single program is Business Administration and Management, at 655 degrees awarded a year, with Psychology next at 552 and Liberal Arts and General Studies at 529. The highest-ranked program is Plant Sciences, which awards 63 degrees a year and ranks #2 in California within its field.

Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Studies is another top-ten program, ranked #10 nationally and #5 in California, with 44 degrees awarded and median earnings of $56,336. The highest-earning program is Nursing, where graduates earn $111,278 four years out, from 177 degrees awarded a year.

Electrical Engineering follows at $108,038, though it is a much smaller program at 29 degrees. Construction Engineering Technology/Technician combines strong earnings of $95,072 with a national rank of #14 and #4 in California.

Plant Sciences stands out for its return: a benchmark ratio of 1.36x against the national median for its field. The pattern is one of concentrated strength in agriculture, engineering, and health-related fields, while the largest programs by degrees awarded sit in business, psychology, and general studies.

13.0% of degrees awarded are in STEM fields. The strongest earnings and ranks belong to programs that are not the largest on campus.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields

Business Administration, Management and Operations 655 degrees awarded: $64,133
Psychology, General 552 degrees awarded: $51,526
Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities 529 degrees awarded: $58,436
Criminology 399 degrees awarded: $48,647
Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness 231 degrees awarded: $54,849
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing 177 degrees awarded: $111,278

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 / Fresno State briefing

How does Fresno State serve students from different backgrounds?

California State University-Fresno's mobility pillar is in the 98th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The Pell completion rate of 61.2% runs above the six-year graduation rate of 57.0% by 4.2 percentage points.

Graduates earn about $14,537 more than the model expects for similar students, placing the earnings-beyond-expectations measure in the 91st percentile.

Azimuth places the access pillar of California State University-Fresno in the 96th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The public university admits 95.3% of applicants and enrolls 21,605 undergraduates.

Pell Grant recipients make up 57.0% of the undergraduate body, and an estimated 48.9% arrive as transfers or part-time students.

06 / Fresno State briefing

What colleges are similar to Fresno 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 Fresno State.

Admissions peerCalifornia State University-Stanislaus98.1% admitted

Comparison with Fresno State
Measure	Fresno State	California State University-Stanislaus
Peer earnings · 4 years	$59,992	$58,952-$1,040 vs Fresno State
Average annual net price	$7,000	$6,067-$933 vs Fresno State · lower cost
Admission rate	95.3%	98.1%

Explore California State University-Stanislaus →

Nearby alternativeCalifornia State University-StanislausNearby option · CA

Comparison with Fresno State
Measure	Fresno State	California State University-Stanislaus
Peer earnings · 4 years	$59,992	$58,952-$1,040 vs Fresno State
Average annual net price	$7,000	$6,067-$933 vs Fresno State · lower cost
Admission rate	95.3%	98.1%

Explore California State University-Stanislaus →

Higher-earnings alternativeUniversity of Maine at Fort Kent$74,979 earnings

Comparison with Fresno State
Measure	Fresno State	University of Maine at Fort Kent
Peer earnings · 4 years	$59,992	$74,979+$14,987 vs Fresno State
Average annual net price	$7,000	$7,482+$482 vs Fresno State · higher cost
Admission rate	95.3%	97.9%

Lower-cost alternativeCUNY Queens College$4,195 average net price

Comparison with Fresno State
Measure	Fresno State	CUNY Queens College
Peer earnings · 4 years	$59,992	$68,713+$8,721 vs Fresno State
Average annual net price	$7,000	$4,195-$2,805 vs Fresno State · lower cost
Admission rate	95.3%	64.4%

Explore CUNY Queens College →

Similar profileCalifornia State University-Los AngelesMatched across several measures

Comparison with Fresno State
Measure	Fresno State	California State University-Los Angeles
Peer earnings · 4 years	$59,992	$59,756-$236 vs Fresno State
Average annual net price	$7,000	$3,967-$3,033 vs Fresno State · lower cost
Admission rate	95.3%	91.3%

Explore California State University-Los Angeles →

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 September 27, 2026Governed hub narrative September 28, 2026Governed spoke corpus September 28, 2026

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.

Admission rate. Reported applicants admitted; not a transfer-specific or individual admission probability.
Source fields: ADM_RATE
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
First-year retention. Retention of the reported full-time cohort at four-year institutions.
Source fields: RET_FT4
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
Pell recipients. Share of undergraduates receiving a Pell Grant in the reported academic year.
Source fields: PCTPELL
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
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