by our College Data Analytics TeamUniversity of California-Merced is a public institution in Merced, California enrolling 8,372 undergraduates. It accepts 90% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 69%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #297 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 6%), 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.
University of California-Merced ranks #297 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 6%.
College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.
University of California-Merced was awarded 210 badges in the 2027 rankings.
According to College Factual’s 2027 analysis, UC Merced is ranked #297 out of 5,159 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation.
UC Merced also holds the #56 spot on the Best Colleges in California ranking.
See all of the rankings for University of California-Merced.
With an acceptance rate of 90%, University of California-Merced 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 University of California-Merced admissions.
The student to faculty ratio at University of California-Merced is 20 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 University of California-Merced is 93%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
University of California-Merced has a freshmen retention rate of 82%. 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.
Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At UC Merced the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 69%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at University of California-Merced.
In the current academic year, there are 8,372 undergraduates at UC Merced.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at University of California-Merced.
The average net price of UC Merced 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 + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $7,945 | $8,465 | $11,557 | $14,828 | $28,734 |
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 UC Merced, 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 UC Merced, approximately 29% of students took out student loans averaging $5,399 a year. That adds up to $21,596 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 6.4%. Although this is lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, you’ll still want to keep this in mind when taking out student loans. Get more details about paying for University of California-Merced.
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from University of California-Merced make around $64,368 per year during the early years of their employment. This is good news for future University of California-Merced graduates since it is 31% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.
See which majors at University of California-Merced make the most money.
University of California-Merced is a public institution located in Merced, California. Merced is a good match for students who enjoy the safety and convenience of the suburbs. Get more details about the location of University of California-Merced.
Contact information for University of California-Merced are given below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 5200 North Lake Road, Merced, CA 95343-5603 |
| Phone: | 2092284400 |
| Website: | www.ucmerced.edu |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/ucmerced |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/ucmerced |
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 18 majors graduated from University of California-Merced. 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 | 2,026 | NA |
| Child Development & Psychology | 379 | NA |
| General Biology | 281 | $29,685 |
| Computer Engineering | 229 | $54,675 |
| Management Sciences & Methods | 207 | NA |
| Mechanical Engineering | 131 | $55,936 |
| Public Health | 121 | $32,099 |
| Sociology | 99 | $24,524 |
| Cognitive Science | 77 | $27,909 |
| Political Science & Government | 74 | $28,521 |
962 students took at least one online class at University of California-Merced.
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 University of California-Merced.
Interested in comparing UC Merced? Pit them head to head with 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
More about our data sources and methodologies.