Top Ranked Programs
California State University-Los Angeles's program mix is anchored in Business, which accounts for 14% of graduates — the largest concentration by field. Social Sciences follows at 10%, and Education at 8%, rounding out a portfolio oriented toward applied professional fields. The largest program by cohort is Business Administration with 726 graduates, followed by Teacher Education (391 graduates) and Sociology (350 graduates). Criminal Justice (348 graduates) and Psychology, General also enroll substantial cohorts, reflecting the university's breadth across business, social-service, and health-adjacent disciplines. The strongest earnings outcomes cluster in business and quantitative fields. Azimuth ranks Business Administration #145 among nonprofit four-year institutions for median earnings four years after enrollment, with graduates earning $62,716. Azimuth ranks Social Work #11 among nonprofit four-year institutions for median earnings four years after enrollment, with graduates earning $59,545. Public Health also delivers strong early-career pay at $56,466, and Azimuth ranks the program #49 among nonprofit four-year institutions. Criminal Justice ($54,695) and Teacher Education ($50,444) round out the highest-earning programs, each serving cohorts of 348 and 391 graduates respectively. Several of the university's largest programs — particularly Teacher Education and Sociology — feed into local-labor and social-service career pathways where four-year earnings reflect regional hiring markets rather than national mobility patterns. The business-side programs, by contrast, channel graduates into finance, accounting, and management roles with broader geographic reach. The College of Business and Economics lists research concentrations in areas such as Finance, Law and Real Estate, and offers an undergraduate certificate in Finance — infrastructure that supports applied learning in the institution's dominant field. The [supply-demand map](/analysis/supply-demand-map-college-degrees/) provides context for how these program families align with national labor-market demand.