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California Institute of Technology Data & Information Overview

Great Price Value for Your Money
3% Acceptance Rate
Get the facts about California Institute of Technology. Learn how it ranks, what majors it offers, how diverse it is, and much more. All you need to do to learn more about a stat is click on its tile, and you’ll be taken to another page that analyzes that data more closely. Also, you can use the links below to scroll to any section of this page.

How Well Is California Institute of Technology Ranked?

#2,153 Best for the Money in Nation

2025 Rankings

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

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Overall Quality

Caltech was not ranked in College Factual's 2025 Best Overall Colleges report. This could be for a number of reasons, including lack of data.

See all of the rankings for California Institute of Technology.

Is It Hard to Get Into Caltech?

3% Acceptance Rate
53% Of Accepted Are Women

Acceptance Rate

California Institute of Technology has a very low acceptance rate of 3%, making it one of the most selective out of all the colleges and universities in the nation. It's probably a good idea to apply to other schools in addition to Caltech just in case you don't make the cut.

Learn more about California Institute of Technology admissions.

California Institute of Technology Faculty

3 to 1 Student to Faculty
94% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

At Caltech, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 3 to 1. That's much better than the national average of 15 to 1. This indicates that many classes will probably be small, and students will have ample opportunites to work closely with their professors and classmates.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at California Institute of Technology is 94%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  94 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at California Institute of Technology

98% Freshmen Retention
86% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate of 98% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like California Institute of Technology enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That's certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  98 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Caltech the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 86%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%

On-Time Graduation Rate  86 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at California Institute of Technology.

California Institute of Technology Undergraduate Student Diversity

901 Full-Time Undergraduates
68.6% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
45.6% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 901 full-time undergraduates at Caltech.

How Much Does California Institute of Technology Cost?

$16,550 Net Price
15% Take Out Loans
$50,212 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of Caltech is $16,550. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Caltech, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At Caltech, approximately 15% of students took out student loans averaging $12,553 a year. That adds up to $50,212 over four years for those students.

Get more details about paying for California Institute of Technology.

How Much Money Do Caltech Graduates Make?

$128,566 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor's degree from Caltech make about $128,566 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. This is good news for future Caltech graduates since it is 161% more than the average college graduate's salary of $49,219 per year.

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See which majors at California Institute of Technology make the most money.

Location of California Institute of Technology

California State
901 Full-Time Undergraduates
Midsize City Campus Setting
California Institute of Technology is a private not-for-profit institution located in Pasadena, California. The city atmosphere of Pasadena makes it a great place for students who enjoy having lots of educational and entertainment options.

Get more details about the location of California Institute of Technology.

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Contact details for Caltech are given below.

Contact Details
Address:1200 E California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125
Phone:626-395-6811
Website:www.caltech.edu/

California Institute of Technology Majors

34 Majors With Completions
1,122 Undergraduate Degrees
1,122 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 34 majors graduated from California Institute of Technology. Of these students, 1,122 received undergraduate degrees and 1,122 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular MajorsBachelor’s DegreesAverage Salary of Graduates
Computer Science78$173,344
Physics60NA
Mechanical Engineering50NA
Chemistry48NA
Electrical Engineering42NA
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering31NA
Engineering Physics30NA
Biomedical Engineering26NA
Geological & Earth Sciences26NA
Astronomy & Astrophysics24NA

Learn more about the majors offered at California Institute of Technology along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Learn more about online learning at California Institute of Technology.

If you’re considering California Institute of Technology, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against Caltech? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

Notes and References

Footnotes

*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.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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