Astronomy & Astrophysics at California Institute of Technology

Every astronomy and astrophysics school has its own distinct culture and strengths. We've pulled together some statistics and other details to help you see how the astronomy program at California Institute of Technology stacks up to those at other schools.

Caltech is located in Pasadena, California and approximately 2,240 students attend the school each year. In the 2020-2021 academic year, 5 students received a bachelor's degree in astronomy from Caltech.

Want to know more about the career opportunities in this field? Check out the Careers in Astronomy & Astrophysics section at the bottom of this page.

Caltech Astronomy & Astrophysics Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Astronomy
• Master’s Degree in Astronomy
• Doctorate Degree in Astronomy

Caltech Astronomy & Astrophysics Rankings

The following rankings from College Factual show how the astronomy progam at Caltech compares to programs at other colleges and universities.

Note: While rankings may be a good starting point when you're researching a school, they don't necessarily highlight all of a school's strengths. Don't forget to check out the other details that are available for a school to see if it has what you're looking for in a program.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The astronomy major at Caltech is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Astronomy & Astrophysics. This could be for a number of reasons, such as not having enough data on the major or school to make an accurate assessment of its quality.

Ranking Type	Rank
Most Focused Astronomy & Astrophysics Master’s Degree Schools	1
Most Focused Astronomy & Astrophysics Schools	2
Most Popular Astronomy & Astrophysics Master’s Degree Schools	2
Most Popular Astronomy & Astrophysics Doctor’s Degree Schools	5
Most Focused Astronomy & Astrophysics Bachelor’s Degree Schools	8
Best Astronomy & Astrophysics Master’s Degree Schools	26
Best Value Astronomy & Astrophysics Master’s Degree Schools	27
Best Astronomy & Astrophysics Bachelor’s Degree Schools	39
Best Astronomy & Astrophysics Schools	43
Best Value Astronomy & Astrophysics Bachelor’s Degree Schools	47
	52

In 2021, 16 students received their master’s degree in astronomy from Caltech. This makes it the #2 most popular school for astronomy master’s degree candidates in the country.

There were 7 students who received their doctoral degrees in astronomy, making the school the #5 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

Astronomy Student Demographics at Caltech

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the astronomy majors at California Institute of Technology.

Caltech Astronomy & Astrophysics Bachelor’s Program

Of the 5 students who earned a bachelor's degree in Astronomy & Astrophysics from Caltech in 2020-2021, 20% were men and 80% were women. The typical astronomy bachelor's degree program is made up of only 41% women. So female students are more repesented at Caltech since its program graduates 39% more women than average.

Prospective students may be interested in knowing that this school graduates 33% more racial-ethnic minorities in its astronomy bachelor's program than the national average.*

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from California Institute of Technology with a bachelor's in astronomy.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	1
Black or African American	1
Hispanic or Latino	0
White	0
International Students	2
Other Races/Ethnicities	1

Caltech Astronomy & Astrophysics Master’s Program

Of the 16 students who graduated with a master’s in astronomy from Caltech in 2021, 38% were men and 63% were women.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from California Institute of Technology with a master's in astronomy.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	2
Black or African American	0
Hispanic or Latino	2
White	7
International Students	5
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

Caltech also has a doctoral program available in astronomy. In 2021, 7 students graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Related Majors

• Geological & Earth Sciences
• Chemistry
• Physics

Careers That Astronomy Grads May Go Into

A degree in astronomy can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for CA, the home state for California Institute of Technology.

Occupation	Jobs in CA	Average Salary in CA
Natural Sciences Managers	7,870	$168,790
Physicists	3,200	$115,970
Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Professors	1,310	$124,250
Physics Postsecondary Professors	1,190	$138,250
Astronomers	280	$113,130

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• Image Credit: By Canon.vs.nikon under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.