Fresno State Career Outcomes: $60K Median Earnings (2026)

How much do Fresno State graduates earn?

The reported median is $59,992 four years after completion. The peer comparison uses $65,610 as its benchmark; the difference is -$5,618 per year.

Graduates earn about $14,537 more than 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.

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.

An estimated 31.2% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure derived from the university's program mix rather than observed enrollment. Because four-year earnings figures capture only those working and not enrolled, the median earnings understate the eventual earnings of the sizable share of completers who pursue advanced degrees.

Median earnings · four years after completion: $59,992
Rank for difference from expectations: 91st percentile

Four-year median earnings against two benchmarks

Fresno State reported median: $59,992
Peer schools comparable schools · $5,618 above Fresno State: $65,610
Model expectation what similar students would be expected to earn · $14,537 below Fresno State: $45,455

School and program earnings use pooled 2017–18 and 2018–19 completion cohorts, measured in 2022 and 2023 and expressed in 2024 dollars. Peer comparisons and model expectations are different benchmarks. How the model works.

How could earnings differ from the median?

Earnings four years after completion

Planning rangeReported median

Lower estimate: $46,584
Median · reported: $59,992
Higher estimate: $79,698

Downside shows a lower-earning scenario based on the college’s mix of programs; upside shows a higher-earning scenario. Typical is the school’s reported median four years after completion. These are planning scenarios, not a forecast of your salary or percentiles of individual graduates.

Why the downside matters explores the risk hidden by medians, using older ten-year entrant data. Read about the move to four-year earnings.

Do Fresno State graduates earn more than expected?

Azimuth models what we would expect graduates to earn based on who the college enrolls, how selective it is and its local economy. The difference between that expectation and reported earnings is what Azimuth calls value added.

Fresno State graduates’ reported earnings are $14,537 above that expectation, the 91st percentile for this measure. Unlike a peer comparison, it adjusts for who enrolls.

The breakdown separates the contribution attributed to observed factors from the remaining difference. Neither component establishes how much attending Fresno State caused a student to earn. Read how expected earnings are estimated.

Which fields at Fresno State report the highest earnings?

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.

Psychology follows with 552 degrees and median earnings of $51,526. 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.

The chart shows up to eight fields with the highest reported median earnings four years after completion. Compare the field names as well as the amounts: the school-wide median can conceal substantial differences between programs.

Further analysis

Earnings scenarios based on the program mix run from $46,584 on the downside to $79,698 on the upside, with $59,992 as the typical scenario. Nursing has the highest median at $111,278 four years after completion, while Criminology has the lowest among the largest programs at $48,647. That spread shows field-level variation.

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.

Data & methodology

A missing figure does not mean zero. Sources and reporting periods: methodology.

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

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

Figure notes link to sources and limitations. About College Azimuth.