University of California - Riverside Data & Information Overview
Want the scoop on University of California - Riverside? We’ve put together a comprehensive report on the school that covers what majors UCR offers, how the school ranks, how diverse it is, and much 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
- Admission and Acceptance
- Faculty
- Retention and Graduation Rates
- Diversity
- Cost
- Student Debt
- Average Earnings
- Location
- Majors
- Online Learning
- Related Schools
How Well Is University of California - Riverside Ranked?

2023 Rankings
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 - Riverside was awarded 676 badges in the 2023 rankings.
Overall Quality
UCR landed the #240 spot in College Factual's 2023 ranking of best overall colleges in the United States. The higher ed experts analyzed 2,241 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. This puts it in the top 15% of all schools in the nation. This is an improvement over the previous year, when UCR held the #427 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.
UCR also holds the #30 spot on the Best Colleges in California ranking.
See all of the rankings for University of California - Riverside.
Is It Hard to Get Into UCR?
Acceptance Rate
The acceptance rate at University of California - Riverside is a competitive 66%, so make sure you take your application seriously when putting it together. Even leaving out a minor detail could be a reason to move you to the rejection pile.
Average Test Scores
About 95% of students accepted to UCR submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 540 and 630. Math scores were between 540 and 650.
Learn more about University of California - Riverside admissions.
University of California - Riverside Faculty
Student to Faculty Ratio
The student to faculty ratio at University of California - Riverside is 22 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.
Percent of Full-Time Faculty
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 University of California - Riverside is 87%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
Retention and Graduation Rates at University of California - Riverside
Freshmen Retention Rate
The freshmen retention rate of 91% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like University of California - Riverside 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.
Graduation Rate
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor's degree is typically four years. This rate at UCR for first-time, full-time students is 55%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at University of California - Riverside.
University of California - Riverside Undergraduate Student Diversity
During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 22,693 undergraduates at UCR with 22,056 being full-time and 637 being part-time.
How Much Does University of California - Riverside Cost?
The overall average net price of UCR is $11,822. 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 UCR
$0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
---|---|---|---|---|
$6,810 | $8,193 | $11,126 | $16,887 | $26,234 |
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 UCR, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
Student Loan 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 UCR, approximately 43% of students took out student loans averaging $5,185 a year. That adds up to $20,740 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at UCR 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 University of California - Riverside.
How Much Money Do UCR Graduates Make?
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor's degree from UCR make about $58,880 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. That's great news for UCR students since it is 39% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.
See which majors at University of California - Riverside make the most money.
Location of University of California - Riverside
University of California - Riverside is a public institution located in Riverside, California. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life.Get more details about the location of University of California - Riverside.

Contact details for UCR are given below.
Contact Details | |
---|---|
Address: | 900 University Ave, Riverside, CA 92521 |
Phone: | 951-827-1012 |
Website: | www.ucr.edu/ |
Facebook: | http://www.facebook.com/UCRiverside |
Twitter: | http://twitter.com/UCRiverside |
University of California - Riverside Majors
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 69 majors graduated from University of California - Riverside. Of these students, 6,194 received undergraduate degrees and 1,155 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.Most Popular Majors | Bachelor’s Degrees | Average Salary of Graduates |
---|---|---|
Business Administration & Management | 863 | $36,354 |
General Biology | 618 | $18,850 |
Child Development & Psychology | 593 | $23,518 |
Sociology | 393 | $26,056 |
Economics | 369 | $35,836 |
Political Science & Government | 274 | $28,458 |
Film, Video & Photographic Arts | 199 | $21,281 |
Computer Science | 191 | $56,647 |
Mathematics | 187 | $23,826 |
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology | 180 | $20,779 |
Online Learning at UCR
Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.
In 2019-2020, 25,825 students took at least one online class at University of California - Riverside. This is an increase from the 1,514 students who took online classes the previous year.
Year | Took at Least One Online Class | Took All Classes Online |
---|---|---|
2019-2020 | 25,825 | 23,497 |
2018-2019 | 1,514 | 137 |
2017-2018 | 1,435 | 161 |
2016-2017 | 715 | 169 |
2015-2016 | 21 | 0 |
Learn more about online learning at University of California - Riverside.
Find Out More About University of California - Riverside
Related Schools
If you’re considering University of California - Riverside, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.
- California State University - Fullerton
- San Francisco State University
- Sonoma State University
- University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
- University of Mississippi
Curious on how these schools stack up against UCR? 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!
Notes and References
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
- National Center for Education Statistics
- College Scorecard
- Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
- Image Credit: By Amerique under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.