Best Actuary programs in California, ranked by enrollment
Analyze statistical data, such as mortality, accident, sickness, disability, and retirement rates and construct probability tables to forecast risk and liability for payment of future benefits.
31 schools in California run programs that feed this job, graduating 2,857 people a year. The job pays a median of $130,510 in California across about 1,280 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in California that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
8 programs in California that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in California (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own California page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 27.0501In California → | 1,438 | 50.3% | 19 | $59,718 | $20,150 |
| 2 | CIP 27.0301In California → | 907 | 31.7% | 18 | $60,930 | $21,143 |
| 3 | CIP 27.0304In California → | 186 | 6.5% | 6 | $60,930 | $21,143 |
| 4 | CIP 52.1304In California → | 135 | 4.7% | 5 | $62,069 | $23,500 |
| 5 | CIP 27.0599In California → | 112 | 3.9% | 4 | $59,718 | $20,150 |
| 6 | CIP 27.0503In California → | 69 | 2.4% | 2 | $59,718 | $20,150 |
| 7 | CIP 27.0502In California → | 7 | 0.2% | 1 | $59,718 | $20,150 |
| 8 | CIP 27.0601In California → | 3 | 0.1% | 2 | — | — |
Top 25 schools in California
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 10 of the 31 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of California - Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA Public · 5 feeder programs | 571 | Statistics, General | $59,718 | 93% | — | 9% |
| 2 | University of California - Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA Public · 3 feeder programs | 549 | Statistics, General | $55,110 | 83% | — | 33% |
| 3 | University of California - Berkeley Berkeley, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 395 | Applied Mathematics, General | $71,814 | 93% | — | 11% |
| 4 | University of California - Davis Davis, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 362 | Statistics, General | $49,264 | 86% | — | 42% |
| 5 | University of California - San Diego La Jolla, CA Public · 3 feeder programs | 132 | Applied Mathematics, General | $42,859 | 86% | — | 27% |
| 6 | Stanford University Stanford, CA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 113 | Statistics, General | — | 92% | $12,032 | 4% |
| 7 | University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 110 | Computational and Applied Mathematics | $71,622 | 92% | $26,873 | 10% |
| 8 | San Diego State University San Diego, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 97 | Statistics, General | $57,734 | 76% | — | 36% |
| 9 | California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 66 | Statistics, General | — | 86% | — | 31% |
| 10 | San Jose State University San Jose, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 65 | Applied Mathematics, General | — | 69% | — | 85% |
| 11 | University of California - Irvine Irvine, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 64 | Computational and Applied Mathematics | — | 87% | — | 29% |
| 12 | University of California - Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA Public · 3 feeder programs | 54 | Applied Mathematics, General | — | 75% | — | 66% |
| 13 | California State University - East Bay Hayward, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 46 | Statistics, General | — | 48% | — | 97% |
| 14 | University of California - Merced Merced, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 41 | Applied Mathematics, General | $39,138 | 69% | — | 91% |
| 15 | University of California - Riverside Riverside, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 40 | Statistics, General | $29,138 | 76% | — | 76% |
| 16 | California State University - Long Beach Long Beach, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 38 | Statistics, General | — | 69% | — | 46% |
| 17 | California State University - Fullerton Fullerton, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 20 | Statistics, General | — | 70% | — | 91% |
| 18 | Chapman University Orange, CA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 18 | Statistics, Other | $57,048 | 82% | $42,965 | 65% |
| 19 | Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 18 | Applied Mathematics, General | — | — | — | — |
| 20 | San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 18 | Statistics, General | — | 50% | — | 96% |
| 21 | California State University - Monterey Bay Seaside, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 7 | Statistics, General | — | 59% | — | 97% |
| 22 | Azusa Pacific University Azusa, CA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 6 | Statistics, General | — | 62% | $20,686 | 88% |
| 23 | California Baptist University Riverside, CA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 6 | Applied Mathematics, General | — | 62% | $26,940 | 85% |
| 24 | Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, CA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 6 | Applied Mathematics, General | — | 79% | $36,488 | 45% |
| 25 | University of the Pacific Stockton, CA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 6 | Applied Mathematics, General | — | 69% | $23,964 | 71% |
All 31 schools in California
Every school in California with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of California - Los Angeles | Los Angeles | Public | 571 | 5 |
| University of California - Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara | Public | 549 | 3 |
| University of California - Berkeley | Berkeley | Public | 395 | 2 |
| University of California - Davis | Davis | Public | 362 | 2 |
| University of California - San Diego | La Jolla | Public | 132 | 3 |
| Stanford University | Stanford | Private not-for-profit | 113 | 2 |
| University of Southern California | Los Angeles | Private not-for-profit | 110 | 3 |
| San Diego State University | San Diego | Public | 97 | 2 |
| California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo | San Luis Obispo | Public | 66 | 1 |
| San Jose State University | San Jose | Public | 65 | 2 |
| University of California - Irvine | Irvine | Public | 64 | 2 |
| University of California - Santa Cruz | Santa Cruz | Public | 54 | 3 |
| California State University - East Bay | Hayward | Public | 46 | 1 |
| University of California - Merced | Merced | Public | 41 | 1 |
| University of California - Riverside | Riverside | Public | 40 | 2 |
What actuaries earn in California
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $130,000. California pays above the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in California
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Actuaries page.
How to become a Actuary
Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
- On-the-job training
- Long-term on-the-job training
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in California
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 9 majors mapped to Actuaries9 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 27.0301Applied Mathematics, General
- 27.0304Computational and Applied Mathematics
- 27.0501Statistics, General
- 27.0502Mathematical Statistics and Probability
- 27.0503Mathematics and Statistics
- 27.0599Statistics, Other
- 27.0601Applied Statistics, General
- 52.0215Risk Management
- 52.1304Actuarial Science
Common questions
Answers for people weighing actuaries programs in California.
What degree do you need to become an Actuary?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Statistics, General, which awarded 1,438 degrees in California in 2024-25, 50.3% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Actuary?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 8 programs to this occupation. The largest are Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods, Applied Statistics. Together they graduate about 2,857 people a year in California.
How much do actuaries earn in California?+
The median is $130,510 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 0.4% above the U.S. median of $130,000. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for actuaries growing?+
BLS projects a +21.8% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 2,400 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in California?+
31 institutions in California reported graduates from at least one of the 8 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do actuaries work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Actuary, Pricing Actuary, Actuarial Analyst, Consulting Actuary among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 15-2011.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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