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Best Value Urban Studies Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Urban Studies Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

12 Colleges
$25,340 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$39,188 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Urban Studies School for You

With 361 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, urban studies is the #149 most popular major in California.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.

The Best Value Urban Studies Schools in California ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. This report analyzed 12 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value programs for urban studies students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. 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.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

2023 Best Value Urban Studies Schools in California

Check out the urban studies programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Top 10 Best Urban Studies Schools

#1

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA
$7,304 Average Tuition & Fees

Our 2023 rankings named San Francisco State University the best value school in California for urban studies students. SFSU is a fairly large public school located in the city of San Francisco.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at SFSU are $7,304 per year. Urban Studies majors at SFSU take out an average of $20,301 in student loans while working on their egree.

Read full report on Urban Studies at San Francisco State University

$14,226 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 12 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Berkeley landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in the city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public school with a very large student population.

UC Berkeley undergraduate students pay an average of $14,226 in in-state tuition and fees each year. While working on their degree, urban studies majors at UC Berkeley accumulate an average of around $15,000 in student debt.

UC Berkeley did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our Best Urban Studies Schools in California list.

Read More…

Out of the 12 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, San Jose State University landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public school with a very large student population.

San Jose State undergraduate students pay an average of $7,852 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, San Jose State also did well on our Best Urban Studies Schools in California list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Full Urban Studies at San Jose State University Report

$7,043 Average Tuition & Fees

The excellent programs at California State University - Northridge helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best urban studies schools in California. CSUN is a very large public school located in the city of Northridge.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at CSUN are $7,043 per year. While working on their degree, urban studies majors at CSUN accumulate an average of around $13,612 in student debt.

Read More…

#5

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA
$8,136 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend San Diego State University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Urban Studies Schools in California list. SDSU is a fairly large public school located in the city of San Diego.

SDSU undergraduate students pay an average of $8,136 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

$6,846 Average Tuition & Fees

California State University - Long Beach did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for urban studies students. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public school with a fairly large student population.

CSULB undergraduate students pay an average of $6,846 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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University of California - San Diego came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Urban Studies Schools in California ranking. UCSD is a fairly large public school located in the city of La Jolla.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UCSD are $14,700 per year. While working on their degree, urban studies majors at UCSD accumulate an average of around $14,863 in student debt.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, UCSD also did well on our Best Urban Studies Schools in California list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Read full report on Urban Studies at University of California - San Diego

$13,775 Average Tuition & Fees

With a ranking of #8, University of California - Irvine did quite well on this year’s best value schools for urban studies students. Located in the large city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public school with a very large student population.

UC Irvine undergraduate students pay an average of $13,775 in in-state tuition and fees each year. While working on their degree, urban studies majors at UC Irvine accumulate an average of around $14,891 in student debt.

Read More…

#9

Stanford University

Stanford, CA
$56,169 Average Tuition & Fees

With a ranking of #9, Stanford University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for urban studies students. Stanford is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Stanford.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Stanford are $56,169 per year.

Stanford not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #1 on our Best Urban Studies Schools in California list.

Full Urban Studies at Stanford University Report

#10

University of San Francisco

San Francisco, CA
$53,472 Average Tuition & Fees

University of San Francisco ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Urban Studies Schools in California list. USFCA is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of San Francisco.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at USFCA are $53,472 a year.

In addition to its great value ranking, USFCA is in the top 15% of all schools on our Best Urban Studies Schools in California list.

Read More…

Best Value Urban Studies Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Urban Studies Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 37
Oregon 32
Nevada 35

One of 12 majors within the area of study, urban studies has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Political Science & Government 49,282
Economics 49,055
Sociology 38,475
General Social Sciences 18,997
International Relations & National Security 14,306

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 12 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 Andrew Bossi.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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