by our College Data Analytics TeamCollege 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 - San Marcos was awarded 75 badges in the 2025 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is nursing.
Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.
CSUSM is ranked #507 out of 2,152 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual's 2025 Best Colleges list.
Out of the 161 colleges in California, CSUSM is ranked at #65.
See all of the rankings for California State University - San Marcos.
With an acceptance rate of 95%, California State University - San Marcos 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.
At California State University - San Marcos, the student to faculty ratio is 23 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.
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 - San Marcos is 47%. This is comparable to the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate tells us what percentage of first-year, full-time students choose to continue on to their sophomore year at a particular school. The rate at California State University - San Marcos is 72%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.
The on-time graduation rate is the percent of first-time, full time students who obtain their bachelor's degree in four years or less. This rate is 17% for first-time, full-time students at CSUSM, which is lower than the national rate of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at California State University - San Marcos.
During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 15,040 undergraduates at CSUSM with 12,381 being full-time and 2,659 being part-time.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $6,625 | $7,515 | $10,963 | $15,727 | $18,662 |
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 CSUSM, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
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 CSUSM, approximately 28% of students took out student loans averaging $5,606 a year. That adds up to $22,424 over four years for those students.
Get more details about paying for California State University - San Marcos.
See which majors at California State University - San Marcos make the most money.
Get more details about the location of California State University - San Marcos.
Contact details for CSUSM are given below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 333 S Twin Oaks Valley Rd, San Marcos, CA 92096-0001 |
| Phone: | 760-750-4000 |
| Website: | www.csusm.edu/ |
| Most Popular Majors | Bachelor’s Degrees | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Business Administration & Management | 591 | $49,543 |
| Nursing | 346 | $103,799 |
| General Psychology | 334 | $31,355 |
| Sociology | 291 | $34,541 |
| Criminology | 273 | $34,694 |
| General Biology | 204 | $38,527 |
| Communication & Media Studies | 204 | $36,310 |
| Human Development & Family Studies | 192 | $31,184 |
| Liberal Arts General Studies | 174 | $29,341 |
| Computer Science | 139 | $60,645 |
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, 7,048 students took at least one online class at California State University - San Marcos. This is a decrease from the 14,003 students who took online classes the previous year.
| Year | Took at Least One Online Class | Took All Classes Online |
|---|---|---|
| 2022-2023 | 7,048 | 1,077 |
| 2021-2022 | 14,003 | 5,539 |
| 2020-2021 | 16,353 | 16,183 |
| 2018-2019 | 4,566 | 490 |
Learn more about online learning at California State University - San Marcos.
If you’re considering California State University - San Marcos, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.
Curious on how these schools stack up against CSUSM? 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!
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.