Physics at University of California - Berkeley

What traits are you looking for in a physics school? To help you decide if University of California - Berkeley is right for you, we've gathered the following information about the school's physics program.

UC Berkeley is located in Berkeley, California and approximately 42,327 students attend the school each year. In 2021, 129 physics majors received their bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley.

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

UC Berkeley Physics Degrees Available

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

UC Berkeley Physics Rankings

Each year, College Factual ranks physics programs across the country. The following shows how UC Berkeley performed in these rankings.

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 physics major at UC Berkeley is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Physics. 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 Popular Physics Schools	3
Best Physics Doctor’s Degree Schools	48
Best Value Physics Doctor’s Degree Schools	48
Most Focused Physics Master’s Degree Schools	55
	64
Best Value Physics Schools	128

In 2021, 29 students received their master’s degree in physics from UC Berkeley. This makes it the #12 most popular school for physics master’s degree candidates in the country.

There were 39 students who received their doctoral degrees in physics, making the school the #3 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

How Much Do Physics Graduates from UC Berkeley Make?

The median salary of physics students who receive their bachelor's degree at UC Berkeley is $43,877. This is 14% higher than $38,470, which is the national average for all physics bachelor's degree recipients.

Physics Student Demographics at UC Berkeley

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the physics majors at University of California - Berkeley.

UC Berkeley Physics Bachelor’s Program

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 129 students earned a bachelor's degree in physics from UC Berkeley. About 25% of these graduates were women and the other 75% were men.

Prospective students may be interested in knowing that this school graduates 15% more racial-ethnic minorities in its physics bachelor's program than the national average.*

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from University of California - Berkeley with a bachelor's in physics.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	35
Black or African American	0
Hispanic or Latino	12
White	50
International Students	21
Other Races/Ethnicities	11

UC Berkeley Physics Master’s Program

During the 2020-2021 academic year, 29 physics majors earned their master's degree from UC Berkeley. Of these graduates, 76% were men and 24% were women.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from University of California - Berkeley with a master's in physics.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	3
Black or African American	0
Hispanic or Latino	3
White	13
International Students	8
Other Races/Ethnicities	2

UC Berkeley also has a doctoral program available in physics. In 2021, 39 students graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Related Majors

• Atmospheric Sciences & Meteorology
• Geological & Earth Sciences
• Astronomy & Astrophysics
• Materials Sciences
• Chemistry

Careers That Physics Grads May Go Into

A degree in physics 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 University of California - Berkeley.

Occupation	Jobs in CA	Average Salary in CA
High School Teachers	112,960	$80,510
Natural Sciences Managers	7,870	$168,790
Physicists	3,200	$115,970
Physics Postsecondary Professors	1,190	$138,250

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 LAgirl5252 under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.