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2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Urban & Regional Planning in California

4 Ranked Colleges
110 Degrees Awarded
$19,600 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor's in California

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Urban & Regional Planning is the 170th most popular major in the country with 2,548 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, urban and regional planning graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $48,040 and had an average of $39,156 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 358 urban and regional planning graduates with average earnings and debt of $54,629 and $36,957 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 110 urban and regional planning graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking looked at 4 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in urban and regional planning. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent urban and regional planning programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the urban and regional planning program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank Urban & Regional Planning Schools

When choosing the right school for you, it’s important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we’ve created a number of major-specific rankings, including this “Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” list to help you make the college decision.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in California

The colleges and universities below are the best for california bachelor’s degree urban planning students.

Top 4 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Urban & Regional Planning in California

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State Polytechnic University - Pomona landed the #1 spot on the list. This large school is located in Pomona, California, and it awarded 42 bachelors’s urban planning degrees in 2019-2020.

Cal Poly Pomona also took the #3 spot in our “Best Urban & Regional Planning Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Cal Poly Pomona is $12,734 for california bachelor’s degree urban planning students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 1.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 87%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read more about Urban & Regional Planning at Cal Poly Pomona

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in California. California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo is located in San Luis Obispo, California and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 18 bachelors’s urban planning degrees to qualified students.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Urban & Regional Planning Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The estimated yearly cost for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is $21,595 for California Bachelor’s Degree Urban Planning students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 1.1%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Urban & Regional Planning at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo

#4 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Davis. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. UC Davis is a large public school situated in Davis, California. It awarded 41 bachelors’s urban planning degrees in 2019-2020.

UC Davis not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #4 on our “Best Urban & Regional Planning Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. It costs about $14,669 for california bachelor’s degree urban planning students per year to attend University of California - Davis.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 93%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read more about Urban & Regional Planning at University of California - Davis

#4

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, California

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Southern California. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Urban Planning Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. University of Southern California is located in Los Angeles, California and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 6 bachelors’s urban planning degrees to qualified students.

In addition to being on our california bachelor’s degree urban planning students list, USC has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Urban & Regional Planning Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend USC is $29,528 for California Bachelor’s Degree Urban Planning students.

Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. The low student loan default rate of 1.2% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 91%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read more about Urban & Regional Planning at University of Southern California

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Notes and References

References

  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

  • *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
  • Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

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