by our College Data Analytics TeamClaremont McKenna College is a private not-for-profit institution in Claremont, California enrolling 1,388 undergraduates. It accepts 10% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 91%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #77 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 1%), and its Value for Your Money analysis rates it a Fair Price.
Source: IPEDS 2025; College Scorecard July 2026; College Factual rankings 2027. Data as of: July 2026.
Claremont McKenna College ranks #77 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 1%.
In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.
Claremont McKenna College was awarded 183 badges in the 2027 rankings.
Claremont McKenna is ranked #77 out of 5,159 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 5% of all schools in the nation.
Within the state, Claremont McKenna holds the #15 spot on the Best Colleges in California ranking.
See all of the rankings for Claremont McKenna College.
With an acceptance rate of 10%, Claremont McKenna is one of the most selective schools in the country. Good grades and high test scores alone may not be enough to get you into the school, so do your best to submit a stellar application.
About 26% of students accepted to Claremont McKenna submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 720 and 770. Math scores were between 750 and 790.
Claremont McKenna received ACT scores from 13% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 33 and 35.
Learn more about Claremont McKenna College admissions.
At Claremont McKenna, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 8 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 opportunities to work closely with their professors and classmates.
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 Claremont McKenna College is 90%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate of 98% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Claremont McKenna College 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.
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is typically four years. This rate at Claremont McKenna for first-time, full-time students is 91%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Claremont McKenna College.
During the most recent academic year, there were 1,388 undergraduates at Claremont McKenna.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Claremont McKenna College.
The overall average net price of Claremont McKenna is $17,140. 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.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $15,308 | $7,360 | $16,389 | $19,325 | $52,295 |
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 Claremont McKenna, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
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 Claremont McKenna, approximately 21% of students took out student loans averaging $5,016 a year. That adds up to $20,064 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 2.3%. 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 Claremont McKenna College.
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Claremont McKenna College make around $104,736 per year during the early years of their employment. That’s great news for Claremont McKenna College students since it is 113% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.
See which majors at Claremont McKenna College make the most money.
Claremont McKenna College is an private not-for-profit institution found in Claremont, California. Claremont is considered a suburb and offers tranquility and safety near the excitement of a city center. Get more details about the location of Claremont McKenna College.
Contact details for Claremont McKenna College are listed below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 500 E 9th St, Claremont, CA 91711-6400 |
| Phone: | 9096218000 |
| Website: | www.cmc.edu |
| Wikipedia: | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claremont_McKenna_College |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/ClaremontMcKennaCollege |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/cmcnews |
In the latest year of available data, students from 19 majors graduated from Claremont McKenna College. 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 | 523 | NA |
| Economics | 136 | $95,566 |
| International Relations & Security | 39 | NA |
| Political Science & Government | 39 | NA |
| Child Development & Psychology | 33 | NA |
| Other Interdisciplinary Studies | 32 | NA |
| Systems Theory | 25 | NA |
| Accounting | 21 | NA |
| Philosophy | 19 | NA |
| Public Policy | 16 | NA |
Want to see how other colleges compare to Claremont McKenna? Compare them side by side using College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare colleges 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