Bachelor's · Irvine, California
Is Physics at University of California-Irvine worth it?
Medium confidence Medium confidence: 40–99 graduates behind the earnings figures.
The verdict · all families, in-state, half paid with loans
Pays back fast: graduates typically recover the cost in about 2 years.
- Earnings 1 year after graduating
- $41,782
- Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Earnings 4 years after graduating
- $103,347
- Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Typical federal debt at graduation
- $10,605
- NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
- Net cost to graduate, all families
- $59k (likely $59k – $69k)
- AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Earnings bump, year 4
- $63k a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in CA
- 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Payback
- 2 years (likely 1.6–2.6)
- Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
- 10-year net return
- $366k (likely $221k – $518k)
- Today's dollars
- 20-year net return
- $1.11M (likely $791k – $1.46M)
- Today's dollars
- Odds of finishing (school-wide)
- 87%
- Fall 2019 or AcadYr 2019-20 cohort (differs by institutional calendar), reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
Change income, residency or loans Compare Physics at other schools
Other majors at University of California-Irvine
- Health and Medical Administrative Services (Master's)$215,277
- Computer Science (Master's)$175,922
- Human Computer Interaction (Master's)$175,307
- Law (First professional)$153,307
- Business Administration, Management and Operations (Master's)$148,411
- Medicine (First professional)$143,530
- Computer Engineering (Bachelor's)$132,357
- Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Master's)$128,924
- Computer Science (Bachelor's)$127,404
- Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Bachelor's)$119,502
- Chemistry (Doctoral)$117,395
- Management Information Systems and Services (Bachelor's)$108,038
Physics at other schools in California
- California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo$96,805
- University of California-Berkeley$96,043
- University of California-San Diego$95,018
- California State Polytechnic University-Pomona$87,856
- California State University-Fullerton$86,504
- University of California-Los Angeles$85,708
- University of California-Santa Barbara$85,219
- University of California-Davis$78,569
- University of California-Riverside$74,410
- University of California-Santa Cruz$72,553