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Best Value Civil Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Civil Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

20 Colleges
$16,212 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$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.

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.

2023 Best Value Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Civil Engineering Master's Degree Colleges.

Top 10 Best Civil Engineering Master's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named San Jose State University the best value school in California for civil engineering students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at San Jose State are $9,286 a year.

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Out of the 20 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo landed the # 2 spot on the 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.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo are $11,629 per year.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo also claimed a spot on our Best Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools in this category.

Full Civil Engineering at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo Report

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend California State University - Long Beach. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at CSULB are $8,280 a year.

Read full report on Civil Engineering at California State University - Long Beach

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend California State Polytechnic University - Pomona. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Cal Poly Pomona is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Pomona.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Cal Poly Pomona are $8,873 a year.

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Fresno. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Fresno State is a very large public school located in the large city of Fresno.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Fresno State are $8,087 per year.

Full Civil Engineering at California State University - Fresno Report

#6

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA

San Diego State University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. SDSU is a very large public school located in the large city of San Diego.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at SDSU are $9,570 a year.

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California State University - Northridge ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. CSUN is a very large public school located in the large city of Northridge.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at CSUN are $8,477 a year.

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California State University - Sacramento ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Sac State is a very large public school located in the city of Sacramento.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Sac State are $8,826 per year.

Read full report on Civil Engineering at California State University - Sacramento

University of California - San Diego ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. UCSD is a fairly large public school located in the city of La Jolla.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UCSD are $13,564 a year.

UCSD excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list.

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

With a ranking of #10, University of California - Los Angeles did quite well on this year’s best value schools for civil engineering students working on their master’s degree. Located in the 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 also took the #4 spot in our Best Civil Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California rankings.

Full Civil Engineering at University of California - Los Angeles Report

Best 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

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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