UC Santa Cruz Career Outcomes: $67K Median Earnings (2026)

How much do UC Santa Cruz graduates earn?

The reported median is $67,085 four years after completion. The peer comparison uses $65,610 as its benchmark; the difference is $1,475 per year.

For federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled, University of California-Santa Cruz has earnings modestly above its comparable-institution median. Four years after completion, median earnings are $67,085, which Azimuth places in the 70th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Azimuth places the university’s return in the 64th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. For earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what expects for similar students, graduates earn about $4,331 more than the model expects for similar students.

Azimuth places that measure in the 69th percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $8,537.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $4,206. The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $65,610; the university sits $1,475 above it.

Program choice makes a wide difference in the modeled earnings picture at University of California-Santa Cruz. The downside scenario is $49,865, while the upside scenario is $110,656; both are earnings scenarios based on the program mix rather than observed groups.

At the higher end, Computer Engineering completers have median earnings of $124,641 four years after completion, Computer Science completers have $123,422, and Electrical Engineering completers have $118,290. The range makes the field selected central to interpreting the schoolwide figure.

An estimated 38.1% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix rather than observed enrollment. Because four-year earnings cover completers who are working and not enrolled, that estimate matters when reading the median as a snapshot rather than the outcome for every graduate.

Median earnings · four years after completion: $67,085
Rank for difference from expectations: 69th percentile

Four-year median earnings against two benchmarks

UC Santa Cruz reported median: $67,085
Peer schools comparable schools · $1,475 below UC Santa Cruz: $65,610
Model expectation what similar students would be expected to earn · $4,331 below UC Santa Cruz: $62,754

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

How many UC Santa Cruz students return and finish their degrees?

First-time, full-time bachelor’s cohorts · CDS 2025-26

Returned the following fall: 89.8%
Completed within six years: 73.8%
Pell recipients completed within six years: 70.4%

Source: University of California-Santa Cruz Common Data Set 2025-26, B22 retention; B4–B11 six-year completion. Retention and completion follow different entering cohorts.

How could earnings differ from the median?

Earnings four years after completion

Planning rangeReported median

Lower estimate: $49,865
Median · reported: $67,085
Higher estimate: $110,656

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 UC Santa Cruz 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.

UC Santa Cruz graduates’ reported earnings are $4,331 above that expectation, the 69th 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 UC Santa Cruz caused a student to earn. Read how expected earnings are estimated.

Which fields at UC Santa Cruz report the highest earnings?

Computer Science pairs the largest degree output with high earnings, making field choice especially consequential at University of California-Santa Cruz. Its completers have median earnings of $123,422 four years after completion across 607 degrees awarded, and Azimuth places the field at #45 nationally within its field.

Business/Managerial Economics posts $82,064 from 287 degrees awarded, with an Azimuth national field rank of #10. At more moderate earnings levels, Cell/Cellular Biology and Anatomical Sciences records $69,849 and 237 degrees awarded; Azimuth ranks the field #6 nationally.

Sociology has median earnings of $55,338 across 223 degrees awarded and holds an Azimuth national field rank of #63. The contrast between these fields shows that four-year earnings differ substantially across the university's larger programs.

National program rankings are distributed across several fields at University of California-Santa Cruz, rather than concentrated in a single large major. The university has 29 ranked programs, and earnings data for 32 programs.

Azimuth ranks Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology #3 nationally among nonprofit four-year institutions in its field; it awarded 49 degrees and its completers earned $88,305 four years after completion. Community Organization and Advocacy ranks #3 nationally, with 31 degrees awarded and $56,620 in earnings.

Cell/Cellular Biology and Anatomical Sciences ranks #6 nationally, awarded 237 degrees, and shows $69,849 four years after completion.

Further analysis

Earnings scenarios grounded in the program mix put the downside at $49,865, the typical scenario at $67,085, and the upside at $110,656. At the high end, Computer Engineering earns $124,641 four years after completion, while Sociology, the lower-earning field among the largest programs, earns $55,338. The range shows substantial variation by field.

At $67,085, University of California-Santa Cruz graduates have median earnings four years after completion that fall in the 70th percentile. Azimuth places that measure among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The earnings cohort includes 3,730 completers in the four-year earnings cohort. The median is $1,475 above the peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), of $65,610.

For earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, graduates earn about $4,331 more than the model expects for similar students. Downside and upside earnings scenarios based on the program mix are $49,865 and $110,656.

An estimated 38.1% continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix. Above-peer median earnings and higher-than-expected earnings point the same way.

Data & methodology

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.