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California State University-Northridge Data & Information Overview

765 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
93% Acceptance Rate

This overview covers the essential stats on California State University-Northridge, including its rankings, majors, diversity, and more.

Want to know more about a specific stat? Just click on its tile, and you’ll go to a page that goes more in-depth on that subject. You can also use the links below to go directly to any section on this page.

* Rankings

How Does California State University-Northridge Stack Up?

#259 Best Colleges in Nation
#47 Best Colleges in CA
California State University-Northridge ranking badge

2026 Best Colleges 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-Northridge was awarded 765 badges in the 2026 rankings.

Overall Ranking

According to College Factual’s 2026 analysis, CSUN is ranked #259 out of 3,449 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 20% of all schools in the nation.

CSUN is also ranked #47 on the Best Colleges in California list.

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

Is It Hard to Get Into California State University-Northridge?

93% Acceptance Rate
94% Of Accepted Are Women

Getting Accepted

California State University-Northridge has an acceptance rate of 93%, so it is easier to gain admission to this school than some others. Still, the admissions staff will examine your application closely to make sure you’re a good fit for CSUN.

Learn more about California State University-Northridge admissions.

Teaching Staff at California State University-Northridge

25 to 1 Student to Faculty
45% Full Time Teachers

Class Sizes

At California State University-Northridge, the student to faculty ratio is 25 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.

Full-Time Faculty Share

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 on campus as much as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at California State University-Northridge is 45%. This is comparable to the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  45 out of 100
0
100

Student Success Metrics for California State University-Northridge

74% Freshmen Retention
56% On-Time Graduation Rate

First-Year Student Retention

California State University-Northridge has a freshmen retention rate of 74%. That’s a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It’s also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  74 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At CSUN the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 56%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  56 out of 100
0
100

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

Undergraduate Diversity at California State University-Northridge

32,357 Undergraduate Students
75.6% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
53.4% Percent Women

During the most recent academic year, there were 32,357 undergraduates at CSUN.

Get more detailed information on the diversity at California State University-Northridge.

What Does California State University-Northridge Cost?

$16,772 Net Price
21% Take Out Loans
$26,848 Total Student Loans

The typical net cost at CSUN is $16,772. 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 CSUN

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$5,153 $6,277 $8,897 $13,510 $18,688

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 price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of CSUN, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student 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 CSUN, approximately 21% of students took out student loans averaging $6,712 a year. That adds up to $26,848 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 5.6%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you’ll be able to pay back your student loans. Get more details about paying for California State University-Northridge.

Post-Graduation Earnings for California State U-Northridge

$59,115 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 California State University-Northridge make about $59,115 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. This is good news for future California State University-Northridge graduates since it is 20% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.

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

Location of California State University-Northridge

California State
32,357 Undergraduate Students
Large City Campus Setting

California State University-Northridge is a public institution located in Northridge, California. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life. Get more details about the location of California State University-Northridge.

Location of California State University-Northridge

Contact details for California State University-Northridge are listed below.

Contact Details
Address: 18111 Nordhoff St, Northridge, CA 91330
Phone: 8186771200
Website: www.csun.edu
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Northridge-CA/California-State-University-Northridge/6684699242
Twitter: twitter.com/csunorthridge

California State University-Northridge Academic Programs

27 Majors With Completions
19,972 Undergraduate Degrees

In the most recent reporting year, students from 27 majors graduated from California State University-Northridge. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Completions Average Salary of Graduates
Multi-Disciplinary Studies 9,986 NA
Business Administration & Management 1,280 $41,626
General Psychology 1,057 $27,524
Radio, TV & Digital Communication 426 $25,896
Criminal Justice & Corrections 396 NA
Teacher Education Grade Specific 391 $68,695
Sociology 389 $29,883
Health & Physical Education 351 $26,612
Fine & Studio Arts 329 $23,598
Computer Science 316 $64,782

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

Online Learning at CSUN

61% 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.

19,860 students took at least one online class at California State University-Northridge.

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

References and Footnotes

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

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