Best Athlete programs in California, ranked by enrollment
Compete in athletic.
72 schools in California run programs that feed this job, graduating 5,864 people a year. The job pays a median of $79,040 in California across about 830 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.
1 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 31.0501In California → | 5,864 | 100.0% | 72 | $30,426 | $25,643 |
Top 25 schools in California
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 24 of the 72 schools in this state.
All 72 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California State University - Fullerton | Fullerton | Public | 610 | 1 |
| San Diego State University | San Diego | Public | 381 | 1 |
| California State University - Northridge | Northridge | Public | 370 | 1 |
| Mt San Antonio College | Walnut | Public | 345 | 1 |
| College of the Canyons | Santa Clarita | Public | 320 | 1 |
| California State University - Long Beach | Long Beach | Public | 292 | 1 |
| California State University - Sacramento | Sacramento | Public | 285 | 1 |
| San Jose State University | San Jose | Public | 259 | 1 |
| California State University - San Bernardino | San Bernardino | Public | 252 | 1 |
| California State University - San Marcos | San Marcos | Public | 248 | 1 |
| California State University - Fresno | Fresno | Public | 240 | 1 |
| California State Polytechnic University - Pomona | Pomona | Public | 216 | 1 |
| California State University - Los Angeles | Los Angeles | Public | 209 | 1 |
| Cabrillo College | Aptos | Public | 198 | 1 |
| San Francisco State University | San Francisco | Public | 170 | 1 |
What athletes and sports competitors earn in California
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $66,710. California pays above the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in California, by employment
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 Athletes and Sports Competitors page.
How to become a Athlete
Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0- Typical entry education
- No formal educational credential
- On-the-job training
- Long-term on-the-job training
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job 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 1 majors mapped to Athletes and Sports Competitors1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 31.0501Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness, General
Common questions
Answers for people weighing athletes and sports competitors programs in California.
What degree do you need to become an Athlete?+
No formal educational credential is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness, General, which awarded 5,864 degrees in California in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Athlete?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Sports. Together they graduate about 5,864 people a year in California.
How much do athletes and sports competitors earn in California?+
The median is $79,040 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 18.5% above the U.S. median of $66,710. 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 athletes and sports competitors growing?+
BLS projects a +5.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 2,100 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in California?+
72 institutions in California reported graduates from at least one of the 1 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 athletes and sports competitors work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Hockey Player, Baseball Player, Race Car Driver, Golf Professional among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 27-2021.
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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