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2024 Best Finance & Financial Management Schools in California

19 Colleges in California
1,542 Finance Degrees Awarded
$61,293 Avg Early-Career Salary
Finance & Financial Management is of the hottest degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #14 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

In 2024, College Factual analyzed 19 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Finance & Financial Management Schools in California ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,542 degrees in finance & financial management during the 2020-2021 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Degree-Level Rankings

Choosing a Great Finance & Financial Management School

Best Finance & Financial Management Schools in California Your choice of finance & financial management school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for finance & financial management schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.

You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.

Pick Your Finance & Financial Management Degree Level

Associate Degrees in Finance
Bachelor's Degrees in Finance
Master's Degrees in Finance

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Finance & Financial Management Schools in California ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision. More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.

To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Read more about College Factual's methodology.


 

Best Schools for Finance & Financial Management in California

The schools below may not offer all types of finance degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.

10 Top California Schools in Finance

1
SCU crest
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara, CA
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
162 Finance Degrees Awarded
4.9% Growth in Graduates

Santa Clara University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in finance & financial management. Located in the city of Santa Clara, SCU is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #50 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means SCU is a great university overall.

There were about 162 finance & financial management students who graduated with this degree at SCU in the most recent data year. Those finance & financial management students who get their degree from Santa Clara University make $7,528 more than the standard finance student.

More information about a degree in finance & financial management from Santa Clara University

2
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
179 Finance Degrees Awarded
$58,434 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in finance & financial management has to check out University of San Diego. USD is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large city of San Diego. A Best Colleges rank of #187 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means USD is a great university overall.

There were about 179 finance & financial management students who graduated with this degree at USD in the most recent data year. After graduation, finance degree recipients typically make an average of $58,434 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a degree in finance & financial management from University of San Diego

3
USFCA crest
University of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
102 Finance Degrees Awarded
$60,883 Median Starting Salary

Any student who is interested in finance & financial management has to check out University of San Francisco. USFCA is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large city of San Francisco. A Best Colleges rank of #164 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means USFCA is a great university overall.

There were about 102 finance & financial management students who graduated with this degree at USFCA in the most recent data year. After graduation, finance degree recipients typically make an average of $60,883 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a degree in finance & financial management from University of San Francisco

4
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
117 Finance Degrees Awarded
10.3% Growth in Graduates

Any student who is interested in finance & financial management has to take a look at Loyola Marymount University. Loyola Marymount is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #135 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Loyola Marymount is a great university overall.

There were about 117 finance & financial management students who graduated with this degree at Loyola Marymount in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the finance program earn around $56,511 in their early career salary.

More information about a degree in finance & financial management from Loyola Marymount University

5

SMC is a small private not-for-profit college located in the suburb of Moraga. A Best Colleges rank of #188 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means SMC is a great college overall.More information about a degree in finance & financial management from Saint Mary’s College of California

6
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
$71,377 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Thousand Oaks, CLU is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 71st out of 168 schools for overall quality in the state of California.

There were about 29 finance & financial management students who graduated with this degree at CLU in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the finance & financial management program at California Lutheran University get $10,084 above the standard college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a degree in finance & financial management from California Lutheran University

7
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
48 Finance Degrees Awarded
$77,672 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of San Francisco, Golden Gate University - San Francisco is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. A Best Colleges rank of #181 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Golden Gate University - San Francisco is a great university overall.

There were roughly 48 finance & financial management students who graduated with this degree at Golden Gate University - San Francisco in the most recent data year. Those finance & financial management students who get their degree from Golden Gate University - San Francisco earn $16,379 more than the standard finance student.

More information about a degree in finance & financial management from Golden Gate University - San Francisco

8
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
399 Finance Degrees Awarded
$43,894 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Northridge, CSUN is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #299 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means CSUN is a great university overall.

There were approximately 399 finance & financial management students who graduated with this degree at CSUN in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, finance degree recipients typically make about $43,894 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a degree in finance & financial management from California State University - Northridge

9
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
14th Most Popular In CA

PLNU is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of San Diego. This university ranks 69th out of 168 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.

There were roughly 25 finance & financial management students who graduated with this degree at PLNU in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in finance & financial management from Point Loma Nazarene University

10
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
13th Most Popular In CA
50.0% Growth in Graduates

Located in the large suburb of Malibu, Pepperdine is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #94 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Pepperdine is a great university overall.

There were approximately 26 finance & financial management students who graduated with this degree at Pepperdine in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in finance & financial management from Pepperdine University

Best Finance & Financial Management Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Finance & Financial Management Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Washington 300 837
Oregon 266 392
Nevada 192 296
Hawaii 164 112
Alaska 119 18

View All Rankings >

Finance & Financial Management is one of 21 different types of Business, Management & Marketing programs to choose from.

Finance Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
Finance 1,367
Banking and Financial Support Services 91
Financial Planning & Services 53
Other Finance and Financial Management Services 31

View All Finance Focus Areas >

Related Major Annual Graduates
Business Administration & Management 64,206
Accounting 6,896
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods 4,566
General Business/Commerce 3,103
Business Support & Assistant Services 2,490
Human Resource Management 1,824
Real Estate 1,389
Marketing 1,368
Business/Managerial Economics 1,248
Hospitality Management 1,094

View All Finance Related Majors >

Notes and References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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