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Best Civil Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Civil Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California

20 Colleges
$70,613 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Civil Engineering Master's Degree School for You

Civil Engineering is the #41 most popular major in California with 3,198 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for students. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Civil Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 20 schools in California to see which master's degree programs offered the best educational experiences for students. The factors used to develop this ranking include those related to how in-demand the school is, the overall quality of the school, and post-graduation wages, and more.

View our full ranking methodology.

2023 Best Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California

The colleges and universities below are the best for civil eng majors pursuing a master's degree.

Top 10 Best Civil Engineering Master's Degree Schools

#1

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

Our 2023 rankings named Stanford University the best school in California for civil engineering students working on their master’s degree. Stanford is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Stanford.

Read full report on Civil Engineering at Stanford University

#2

Santa Clara University

Santa Clara, CA

The excellent master’s degree programs at Santa Clara University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best civil engineering schools in California. SCU is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Santa Clara.

Full Civil Engineering at Santa Clara University Report

The excellent master’s degree programs at University of Southern California helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best civil engineering schools in California. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Los Angeles.

Read full report on Civil Engineering at University of Southern California

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the suburb of San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a public school with a very large student population.

Read full report on Civil Engineering at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means University of California - San Diego is a great place for civil engineering students working on their master’s degree. UCSD is a very large public school located in the large city of La Jolla.

Read full report on Civil Engineering at University of California - San Diego

With a ranking of #6, University of California - Berkeley did quite well on this year’s best schools for civil engineering students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Civil Engineering at University of California - Berkeley

#7

Loyola Marymount University

Los Angeles, CA

Loyola Marymount University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Loyola Marymount is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

Read full report on Civil Engineering at Loyola Marymount University

San Jose State University ranked #8 on this year’s Best Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public school with a very large student population.

Read More…

University of California - Los Angeles ranked #9 on this year’s Best Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public college with a very large student population.

Read full report on Civil Engineering at University of California - Los Angeles

University of California - Davis ranked #10 on this year’s Best Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the small suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public school with a very large student population.

Read More…

Best Civil Engineering Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Civil Engineering Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 581
Oregon 327
Nevada 179
Hawaii 98
Alaska 54

One of 40 majors within the area of study, civil engineering has other similar majors worth exploring.

Majors Similar to Civil Eng

Related Major Annual Graduates
Mechanical Engineering 46,178
Electrical Engineering 28,844
Computer Engineering 17,987
Chemical Engineering 12,917
Biomedical Engineering 12,811

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 20 schools only.

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Master Sgt. Roger Parsons.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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