by our College Data Analytics TeamSanta Monica College is a public institution in Santa Monica, California enrolling 21,440 undergraduates. It has an on-time graduation rate of 36%, near the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #1,398 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 27%), 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.
Santa Monica College ranks #1,398 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 27%.
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.
Santa Monica College was awarded 955 badges in the 2027 rankings.
According to College Factual’s 2027 analysis, SMC is ranked #1,398 out of 5,159 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality.
Within the state, SMC holds the #161 spot on the Best Colleges in California ranking.
See all of the rankings for Santa Monica College.
Learn more about Santa Monica College admissions.
The student to faculty ratio at Santa Monica College is 27 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.
When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.
The full-time faculty percentage at Santa Monica College is 29%. This is lower than the national average of 47%.
The on-time graduation rate is the percent of first-time, full-time students who get their bachelor’s degree within four years. At SMC this rate is 36%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Santa Monica College.
During the most recent academic year, there were 21,440 undergraduates at SMC.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Santa Monica College.
The average net price of SMC 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 + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1,896 | $2,442 | $4,440 | $7,087 | $8,395 |
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 SMC, 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 SMC, approximately 3% of students took out student loans averaging $7,144 a year. That adds up to $28,576 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 5.5%. 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 Santa Monica College.
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Santa Monica College make around $42,193 per year during the early years of their employment. This is about 14% less than the average pay for college graduates overall. However, graduates with your major may make more.
See which majors at Santa Monica College make the most money.
Santa Monica College is an public institution found in Santa Monica, California. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life. Get more details about the location of Santa Monica College.
Get in touch with Santa Monica College are given below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 1900 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405-1628 |
| Phone: | 3104344000 |
| Website: | www.smc.edu |
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 26 majors graduated from Santa Monica 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 | 11,774 | NA |
| Liberal Arts General Studies | 5,735 | NA |
| Biological & Physical Science | 1,279 | NA |
| Business Administration & Management | 511 | NA |
| Child Development & Family Studies | 336 | NA |
| Economics | 254 | NA |
| Accounting | 235 | NA |
| Design & Applied Arts | 235 | NA |
| General Sales & Marketing | 215 | NA |
| Political Science & Government | 211 | NA |
17,666 students took at least one online class at Santa Monica College.
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.
Learn more about online learning at Santa Monica College.
Want to see how other colleges compare to SMC? Match them up using College Combat, our free tool for head-to-head college comparisons.
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.