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California State University - Los Angeles Data & Information Overview

24 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
87% Acceptance Rate
If you want to know more about California State University - Los Angeles, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource.
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How Well Is California State University - Los Angeles Ranked?

#696 Best Colleges in Nation
#87 Best Colleges in CA
General Special Education Highest Ranked Major

2025 Rankings

College Factual recognizes the best colleges and universities in its annual rankings. These rankings include categories for best overall colleges, best colleges for each major, best value schools, and much more.

California State University - Los Angeles was awarded 24 badges in the 2025 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is general special education.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

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Overall Quality

Cal State LA landed the #696 spot in College Factual's 2025 ranking of best overall colleges in the United States. The higher ed experts analyzed 2,152 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking.

Cal State LA also holds the #87 spot on the Best Colleges in California ranking.

See all of the rankings for California State University - Los Angeles.

Is It Hard to Get Into Cal State LA?

87% Acceptance Rate
61% Of Accepted Are Women

Acceptance Rate

With an acceptance rate of 87%, California State University - Los Angeles is easier to get into than many other schools. But that doesn't mean you can slack off on your application. Make sure to treat this school like any other when submitting requested materials and documents.

Learn more about California State University - Los Angeles admissions.

California State University - Los Angeles Faculty

22 to 1 Student to Faculty
44% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

At California State University - Los Angeles, the student to faculty ratio is 22 to 1. Compared to the national average of 15 to 1, this is somewhat high. This could mean that class sizes may be larger than they are at other colleges or universities or that professors may be required to teach more classes.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

In addition to the student to faculty ratio, some people look at what percentage of faculty members are full-time as a sign of how much time professors will be able to spend with their students. This is because part-time teachers may not be be on campus as much as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at California State University - Los Angeles is 44%. This is comparable to the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  44 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at California State University - Los Angeles

73% Freshmen Retention
9% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate of 73% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like California State University - Los Angeles 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  73 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

When we say that a student has graduated on time, we mean that they have finished their bachelor's degree within four years. The on-time graduation rate at Cal State LA is 9%. That's lower than the national rate of 33.3%

On-Time Graduation Rate  9 out of 100
0
100

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

California State University - Los Angeles Undergraduate Student Diversity

19,425 Full-Time Undergraduates
88.4% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
59.9% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 22,832 undergraduates at Cal State LA with 19,425 being full-time and 3,407 being part-time.

How Much Does California State University - Los Angeles Cost?

$5,385 Net Price
17% Take Out Loans
$20,908 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of Cal State LA is $5,385. 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 Cal State LA

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$3,717 $4,294 $7,289 $10,510 $15,213

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 Cal State LA, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Cal State LA, approximately 17% of students took out student loans averaging $5,227 a year. That adds up to $20,908 over four years for those students.

Get more details about paying for California State University - Los Angeles.

How Much Money Do Cal State LA Graduates Make?

$59,211 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 Cal State LA make about $59,211 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. That's great news for Cal State LA students since it is 20% more than the average college graduate's salary of $49,219 per year.

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

Location of California State University - Los Angeles

California State
19,425 Full-Time Undergraduates
Large City Campus Setting
Located in Los Angeles, California, California State University - Los Angeles is a public institution. The city atmosphere of Los Angeles makes it a great place for students who enjoy having lots of educational and entertainment options.

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

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Contact details for Cal State LA are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 5151 State University Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90032-8506
Phone: 323-343-3000
Website: https://www.calstatela.edu/

California State University - Los Angeles Majors

79 Majors With Completions
13,174 Undergraduate Degrees
13,178 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 79 majors graduated from California State University - Los Angeles. Of these students, 13,174 received undergraduate degrees and 13,178 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 Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
Business Administration & Management 855 $42,062
Teacher Education Grade Specific 402 $31,366
Social Work 367 $37,477
Sociology 366 $34,092
General Psychology 357 $37,567
Criminal Justice & Corrections 348 $32,974
Communication & Media Studies 252 NA
Health & Physical Education 245 $28,687
Nursing 236 $98,811
Public Health 200 $40,750

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

Online Learning at Cal State LA

46% Take At Least One Class Online
5% Take All Classes Online

Online learning options are becoming more and more popular at American colleges and universities. Online classes are great for students who have busy schedules or for those who just want to study on their own time.

In 2022-2023, 12,102 students took at least one online class at California State University - Los Angeles. This is a decrease from the 25,122 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2022-2023 12,102 1,227
2021-2022 25,122 8,854
2020-2021 26,739 26,603
2018-2019 8,889 60

Learn more about online learning at California State University - Los Angeles.

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

Curious on how these schools stack up against Cal State LA? 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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