2023 Best Value Civil Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California
Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices
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.
To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Value Civil Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California ranking. This report analyzed 20 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for civil eng students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.
This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.
For nationwide and regional rankings, we use out-of-state tuition and fees in our calculations. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.
Top 10 Best Civil Engineering Master's Degree Schools
Our analysis found San Jose State University to be the best value school for civil engineering students who want to pursue a master’s degree in California. Located in the large city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public school with a fairly large student population.
In-state tuition fees for graduate students at San Jose State are $9,286 per year.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the small suburb of San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo graduate students pay an average of $11,629 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list.
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Out of the 20 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Long Beach landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public college with a very large student population.
CSULB graduate students pay an average of $8,280 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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Out of the 20 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State Polytechnic University - Pomona landed the # 4 spot on the list. Cal Poly Pomona is a very large public school located in the large suburb of Pomona.
Cal Poly Pomona graduate students pay an average of $8,873 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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The excellent master’s degree programs at California State University - Fresno helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value civil engineering schools in California. Fresno State is a fairly large public school located in the city of Fresno.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Fresno State are $8,087 a year.
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San Diego State University landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree civil engineering programs. SDSU is a very large public school located in the large city of San Diego.
SDSU graduate students pay an average of $9,570 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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California State University - Northridge came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking. CSUN is a very large public school located in the large city of Northridge.
CSUN graduate students pay an average of $8,477 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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California State University - Sacramento did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for civil engineering students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #7 on the list. Sac State is a very large public school located in the large city of Sacramento.
In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Sac State are $8,826 per year.
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University of California - San Diego landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree civil engineering programs. UCSD is a very large public school located in the city of La Jolla.
In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UCSD are $13,564 per year.
UCSD also claimed a spot on our Best Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools in this category.
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University of California - Los Angeles landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree civil engineering programs. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public school with a fairly large student population.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UCLA are $13,036 a year.
UCLA did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our Best Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list.
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Request InformationBest Value Civil Engineering Colleges in the Far Western US Region
Explore all the Best Value Civil Engineering Colleges 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 |
More Civil Engineering Rankings in California
Majors Related to Civil Eng
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.
- 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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