College Azimuth

Research brief & institution hub

San Francisco State University

CALarge public institution · Overall rank #51 nationally

Data snapshot Updated

Mobility in the 97th percentile for economic mobility.

Who it’s a good fit for

San Francisco State University suits a student who wants a large public campus in California and expects to work after the degree. Most graduates are estimated to go into jobs rather than on to further study.

The degree mix is led by Business, followed by Visual & Performing Arts and Communication & Journalism. Graduates out-earn what predicts for students like them.

The model attributes more of that gain to a remainder it does not explain than to the factors it measures. So the advantage is not simply a story of program choice.

Students who arrive with Pell Grants finish at a rate above the entering cohort as a whole, and mobility is among the highest we track. The lowest income band pays well below the published cost, while the highest band pays closer to it, so the price case turns on income.

The admission rate is above the median for comparable schools, and the largest programs are not the best-paid ones. A student drawn to Business or Psychology should know that the highest earnings come from Nursing and Engineering, which award far fewer degrees.

SF State at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate[1]
96.4%
Six-year completion[2]
50.4%
Four-year earnings[3]
$67,804

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income[6]
$11,825
Median student debt[4]
$15,371
Median Parent PLUS debt[7]
$19,732

SF State rankings: how Azimuth assesses value[5]

San Francisco State University is a public university in San Francisco, California, enrolling 18,639 undergraduates. Its composite standing is near the top of the Azimuth ranking, in the 97th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

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 96.4% of applicants, well above the 78.1% median for comparable institutions of the same type and size.

Of students who start full time, 82.7% return for a second year and 50.4% finish within six years. The peer medians are 83.1% for retention and 65.0% for completion.

An estimated 52.4% of undergraduates arrive as transfers or part-time students, so the six-year rate describes a minority of the student body. Mobility leads the four pillars at the 97th percentile, with affordability and access also strong at the 92nd and 88th percentiles.

Return is the weakest of the four, at the 82nd percentile. The pillars are not far apart, but the gap between mobility and return is the widest on the page.

Azimuth ranks San Francisco State University #51 among 1,467 nonprofit four-year institutions. The university's strongest pillar is mobility, at the 97th percentile.

Affordability follows at the 92nd percentile, and access at the 88th percentile. The return pillar, at the 82nd percentile, is the weakest of the four.

42.2% of undergraduates at San Francisco State University receive Pell Grants. Azimuth ranks San Francisco State University #177 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Pell recipients complete at 66.2%, 15.8 percentage points above the overall six-year graduation rate (50.4%). Azimuth ranks the university #45 for mobility. Graduates earn about $17,264 more than the model expects for similar students.

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

SF State rankings in context
GeographyRank
National#51
California#19
West#21

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility
National percentile: 97
Access & reach
National percentile: 88
Affordability
National percentile: 92
Return on investment
National percentile: 82

Top-ranked majors

  1. Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing#3
  2. East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics#4
  3. Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies#7

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 / SF State briefing

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

San Francisco State University lists a published cost of attendance of $26,488 (an average across living arrangements). In-state tuition and fees are $7,950, and room and board runs $22,266.

Out-of-state students pay $20,550 in tuition and fees. The average net price for aid recipients is $12,278, which is $3,356 below the $15,634 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Financial aid reduces the published cost by $14,210 on average. Azimuth ranks the university #118 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions. That places the affordability pillar in the 92nd percentile.

The published cost of attendance at San Francisco State University is $26,488 (an average across living arrangements). Azimuth ranks the university #118 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $9,341 for families earning under $30,000, $9,867 for those earning $30,001 to $48,000, $11,825 for those earning $48,001 to $75,000, $14,556 for those earning $75,001 to $110,000, and $22,523 for families earning over $110,000. The spread between the lowest and highest bands is $13,182.

Aid covers about 54% of the published cost for the average aid recipient, bringing the across all bands to $12,278. That figure is $3,356 below the peer median of $15,634 for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Borrowers who finish carry a median of $15,371 in federal student loans, which is $4,705 below the peer median of $20,076. About 60.4% of federal aid recipients take federal loans.

Parents who borrow through Parent PLUS hold a separate median of $19,732. If repaid over ten years, the median federal student debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $175 a month.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$11,825

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at SF State

Undergraduates at San Francisco State University borrow federal loans at a rate of 60.4%, and among those who complete a degree the median federal debt is $15,371. That median runs below the $20,076 figure for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $4,705.

A separate population, parent borrowers, carries a median Parent PLUS loan of $19,732.

Graduates of San Francisco State University earn about $17,264 more than the model expects for similar students, a result that lands in the 94th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The median earnings four years after completion reach $67,804, which sits in the 72nd percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Earnings scenarios from the university's program mix point to a typical earnings level of $67,804, with a downside case of $53,482 and an upside case of $92,130. Borrowers finish with a median federal debt of $15,371, which is below the $20,076 median for comparable institutions (same type and size). The estimated monthly payment if repaid over ten years is $175.

Median Parent PLUS borrowing, a separate parent-borrower population, is $19,732. The estimated monthly student payment if repaid over ten years is $175.

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

Financial GPS

What does repayment look like?

Institution median student debt
$15,371
Institution Parent PLUS debt
$19,732

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

Estimated student payment · monthly
$175/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly
$251/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 / SF State briefing

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

Azimuth places the return pillar at the 82nd percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Four years after completing a degree, federally aided graduates who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $67,804, in the 72nd percentile.

That is $2,194 above the $65,610 median for comparable institutions (same type and size). Graduates earn about $17,264 more than the model expects for similar students, a result at the 94th percentile.

The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $8,348. The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain adds $8,916. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $1,524.

San Francisco State University records a median of $67,804 four years after completion among 6,658 federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled. That earnings level sits in the 72nd percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The figure runs above the $65,610 median at comparable institutions (same type and size) by $2,194. By the earnings-beyond-expectations measure, the same completers earn about $17,264 more than the model expects for similar students.

That result sits in the 94th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Earnings scenarios anchored on the university's program mix span from a downside of $53,482 to an upside of $92,130, with a typical scenario of $67,804.

Derived from program mix rather than observed enrollment, the model estimates a 28.9% graduate-school continuation rate.

Four years after completion, graduates of San Francisco State University earn a median of $67,804, which places the university in the 72nd percentile nationally. That figure is above the median of $65,610 for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $2,194.

Graduates earn about $17,264 more than the model expects for similar students, a result in the 94th percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $8,348.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain adds $8,916. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $1,524.

Azimuth ranks the university #267 for return on investment among nonprofit four-year institutions. Earnings scenarios grounded in the program mix show a downside of $53,482 and an upside of $92,130.

The largest program, Business Administration and Management, awarded 1,314 degrees and shows median earnings of $73,775 four years after completion, ranking #53 nationally in its field. Computer Science is the highest-earning among the largest programs, with 293 degrees awarded and median earnings of $105,166.

The university's highest-earning program overall is Nursing, which awarded 162 degrees and shows a median of $150,102. Nursing stands out for its combination of rank and earnings: it ranks #3 nationally, with median earnings of $150,102, which is 1.69x the national median for the field.

The earnings scenarios for San Francisco State University span from $53,482 to $92,130, reflecting the range of outcomes across the university's program clusters. The upside scenario is informed by programs such as Nursing, where completers earn a median of $150,102 four years after completion, and Electrical Engineering, where graduates earn $112,454.

Among the largest programs, Computer Science shows median earnings of $105,166, and Business Administration and Management graduates earn $73,775. These program-level figures illustrate the variation captured by the institution-wide scenarios.

Federal student debt for borrowers who finish at San Francisco State University stands at $15,371, a figure below the $20,076 median among comparable institutions (same type and size). If repaid over ten years, that balance requires a $175 monthly payment.

Graduates earn about $17,264 more than the model expects for similar students. The average net price for aid recipients is $12,278, landing below the $15,634 peer median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Aid covers about 54% of the published cost for the average aid recipient. For the lowest income band, the average net price falls to $9,341, and the spread between the lowest and highest income bands is $13,182. Parent PLUS borrowers form a separate population with a median debt of $19,732.

What explains value-added earnings?
Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.
+$8,348
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.
+$8,916
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.
+$17,264

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 / SF State briefing

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

San Francisco State University admits 96.4% of applicants, a rate that reflects broad access. The median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size) sits well below the university's figure.

Admissions
Admission rate
96.4%
Read the full admissions brief

04 / SF State briefing

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

San Francisco State University awards bachelor's degrees across 48 fields with published four-year earnings, and Azimuth ranks 42 of them nationally among nonprofit four-year institutions. The highest-earning ranked program, Computer Science, shows a median of $105,166 four years after completion, alongside 293 degrees awarded and an Azimuth national field rank of #75.

Among the largest programs, Business Administration and Management reports median earnings of $73,775 with 1,314 degrees awarded and an Azimuth national rank of #53. Psychology earns $55,902 and ranks #70 nationally on 398 degrees awarded.

Criminal Justice reaches $63,764 with an Azimuth national rank of #14 and 266 degrees awarded.

San Francisco State University offers 42 nationally ranked bachelor's programs, with earnings data available for 48. The largest, Business Administration and Management, awarded 1,314 degrees and holds a national rank of #53, with graduates earning a median of $73,775 four years after completion.

Among the university's best-ranked programs, Nursing ranks #3 nationally and #3 in California, with 162 degrees awarded and median earnings of $150,102. East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics follows at #4 nationally.

Urban Studies/Affairs and Teacher Education also place in the top #8 and #9 nationally, respectively.

San Francisco State University awards degrees across 42 ranked programs, with earnings data available for 48. Business is the largest program family, accounting for 22.6% of bachelor's degrees awarded, followed by Visual & Performing Arts at 9.7% and Communication & Journalism at 7.6%.

The largest single programs are Business Administration and Management with 1,314 degrees awarded, Psychology with 398, and Biology with 362. The highest-ranked program is Nursing, which awards 162 degrees a year and ranks #3 in California within its field.

It carries a benchmark ratio of 1.69x against the national median for its field. East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics is a much smaller program at 29 degrees awarded, yet Azimuth ranks it #4 nationally and #3 in California within its field.

Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies, with 117 degrees awarded, ranks #7 nationally and #3 in California within its field. The highest-earning program is Nursing, and Electrical Engineering follows at $112,454 from 38 degrees awarded.

Computer Science, one of the largest programs, reports $105,166. Strength is concentrated in a few fields: the top-ranked programs span health, languages, and social sciences, while the highest earnings come from nursing and engineering.

Four-year earnings for fields where graduate study is common, such as some of the highly ranked social sciences, may understate later career paths. 19.2% of degrees awarded are in STEM fields.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields
Business Administration, Management and Operations 1,314 degrees awarded
$73,775
Psychology, General 398 degrees awarded
$55,902
Biology, General 362 degrees awarded
$74,204
Computer Science 293 degrees awarded
$105,166
Criminal Justice and Corrections 266 degrees awarded
$63,764
Communication and Media Studies 264 degrees awarded
$63,731

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 / SF State briefing

How does SF State serve students from different backgrounds?

Azimuth ranks San Francisco State University #45 for mobility among nonprofit four-year institutions. That places the mobility pillar in the 97th percentile.

The six-year graduation rate for the first-time full-time cohort is 50.4%, while Pell recipients complete at a rate of 66.2% — a figure that sits above the overall rate by 15.8 percentage points. Graduates earn about $17,264 more than the model expects for similar students, a result that sits in the 94th percentile nationally.

San Francisco State University enrolls 18,639 undergraduates and admits 96.4% of applicants, well above the peer median of 78.1%. Pell Grant recipients make up 42.2% of the undergraduate body, and an estimated 52.4% of students arrive as transfers or part-time students.

Azimuth places the access pillar in the 88th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

06 / SF State briefing

What colleges are similar to SF 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 SF State.

Admissions peerCalifornia State University-East Bay97.4% admitted
Comparison with SF State
MeasureSF StateCalifornia State University-East Bay
Peer earnings · 4 years$67,804$72,596+$4,792 vs SF State
Average annual net price$12,278$9,320-$2,958 vs SF State · lower cost
Admission rate96.4%97.4%
Explore California State University-East Bay →
Nearby alternativeCalifornia State University-SacramentoNearby option · CA
Comparison with SF State
MeasureSF StateCalifornia State University-Sacramento
Peer earnings · 4 years$67,804$64,511-$3,293 vs SF State
Average annual net price$12,278$9,338-$2,940 vs SF State · lower cost
Admission rate96.4%94.0%
Explore California State University-Sacramento →
Higher-earnings alternativeMichigan Technological University$84,560 earnings
Comparison with SF State
MeasureSF StateMichigan Technological University
Peer earnings · 4 years$67,804$84,560+$16,756 vs SF State
Average annual net price$12,278$14,182+$1,904 vs SF State · higher cost
Admission rate96.4%92.4%
Explore Michigan Technological University →
Lower-cost alternativeCalifornia State University-Sacramento$9,338 average net price
Comparison with SF State
MeasureSF StateCalifornia State University-Sacramento
Peer earnings · 4 years$67,804$64,511-$3,293 vs SF State
Average annual net price$12,278$9,338-$2,940 vs SF State · lower cost
Admission rate96.4%94.0%
Explore California State University-Sacramento →
Similar profileUniversity of California-Santa CruzMatched across several measures
Comparison with SF State
MeasureSF StateUniversity of California-Santa Cruz
Peer earnings · 4 years$67,804$67,085-$719 vs SF State
Average annual net price$12,278$17,890+$5,612 vs SF State · higher cost
Admission rate96.4%65.8%
Explore University of California-Santa Cruz →

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