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California State University - Chico Data & Information Overview

86 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
95% Acceptance Rate
If you want to know more about California State University - Chico, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource. Want to dig deeper into a particular stat? Just click on its tile and you’ll be taked to a more in-depth page on the figure. In addition, you can use the links below to quickly jump to any section on this page.

How Well Is California State University - Chico Ranked?

#481 Best Colleges in Nation
#64 Best Colleges in CA
#1,060 Best for the Money in Nation

2025 Rankings

College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.

California State University - Chico was awarded 86 badges in the 2025 rankings.

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Overall Quality

College Factual ranked Chico State as #481 out of 2,152 colleges and universities in the country on its 2025 Best Colleges list.

Out of the 161 colleges in California, Chico State is ranked at #64.

See all of the rankings for California State University - Chico.

Is It Hard to Get Into Chico State?

95% Acceptance Rate
58% Of Accepted Are Women

Acceptance Rate

The acceptance rate at California State University - Chico is 95%, which is higher than many other schools to which you may be applying. But don't think getting into Chico State is a sure thing. The admissions staff is still going to review your application to see if you are a good fit for the school.

Learn more about California State University - Chico admissions.

California State University - Chico Faculty

20 to 1 Student to Faculty
56% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio at California State University - Chico is 20 to 1, which is high when compared to the national average of 15 to 1. This may indicate that some of your classes will be larger in size than they would be at other schools. However, upper level classes will probably be smaller.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.

The full-time faculty percentage at California State University - Chico is 56%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  56 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at California State University - Chico

80% Freshmen Retention
29% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate of 80% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like California State University - Chico 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  80 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

When it comes to finishing their studies on time, those seeking a bachelor's degree from Chico State have a four-year graduation rate of 29%. This is comparable to the national average of 33.3%

On-Time Graduation Rate  29 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at California State University - Chico.

California State University - Chico Undergraduate Student Diversity

14,228 Full-Time Undergraduates
50.8% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
54.7% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 15,747 undergraduates at Chico State with 14,228 being full-time and 1,519 being part-time.

How Much Does California State University - Chico Cost?

$15,578 Net Price
38% Take Out Loans
$22,152 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of Chico State is $15,578. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for Chico State

$0-30 K$30K-48K$48-75$75-110K$110K +
$10,716$11,375$14,988$19,506$23,714

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 Chico State, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Chico State, approximately 38% of students took out student loans averaging $5,538 a year. That adds up to $22,152 over four years for those students.

Get more details about paying for California State University - Chico.

How Much Money Do Chico State Graduates Make?

$64,172 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor's degree recipients from Chico State make around $64,172 per year during the early years of their employment. This is good news for future Chico State graduates since it is 30% more than the average college graduate's salary of $49,219 per year.

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See which majors at California State University - Chico make the most money.

Location of California State University - Chico

California State
14,228 Full-Time Undergraduates
Midsize City Campus Setting
California State University - Chico is a public institution located in Chico, California. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life.

Get more details about the location of California State University - Chico.

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Contact details for Chico State are given below.

Contact Details
Address:First And Normal Sts, Chico, CA 95929-0150
Phone:530-898-6116
Website:www.csuchico.edu/

California State University - Chico Majors

71 Majors With Completions
8,824 Undergraduate Degrees
8,824 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 71 majors graduated from California State University - Chico. Of these students, 8,824 received undergraduate degrees and 8,824 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
Business Administration & Management647$46,145
General Psychology374$31,827
Liberal Arts General Studies216$27,196
Health & Physical Education202$28,236
Sociology162$36,992
Criminal Justice & Corrections139$36,045
Nursing127$113,181
Public Health120$45,339
Communication & Media Studies119$38,421
Social Work109$36,840

Learn more about the majors offered at California State University - Chico along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at Chico State

72% Take At Least One Class Online
12% Take All Classes Online

Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.

In 2022-2023, 10,229 students took at least one online class at California State University - Chico. This is a decrease from the 14,138 students who took online classes the previous year.

YearTook at Least One Online ClassTook All Classes Online
2022-202310,2291,703
2021-202214,1383,334
2020-202116,73315,669
2018-20195,332529

Learn more about online learning at California State University - Chico.

If you’re considering California State University - Chico, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against Chico State? 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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