California·Legal Occupations·SOC 23-2093

Best Title Examiner programs in California, ranked by enrollment

Search real estate records, examine titles, or summarize pertinent legal or insurance documents or details for a variety of purposes.

46 schools in California run programs that feed this job, graduating 1,773 people a year. The job pays a median of $67,230 in California across about jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledAbstractorTitle OfficerTitle ExaminerTitle SearcherSearcherTitle AgentTitle ClerkTitle Closer
Graduates / yr
1,773
in California
Median pay · California
$67,230
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
people employed
Schools
46
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
39%
across those schools
Median net price
$26,035
per year, IPEDS

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.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
11,773
100.0%
46$37,542$25,166

Top 25 schools in California

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 5 of the 46 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Santa Ana College
Santa Ana, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
131Legal Assistant/Paralegal31%
2University of San Diego
San Diego, CA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
120Legal Assistant/Paralegal$53,15784%$26,03552%
3East Los Angeles College
Monterey Park, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
104Legal Assistant/Paralegal37%
4American River College
Sacramento, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
87Legal Assistant/Paralegal37%
5San Diego Miramar College
San Diego, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
85Legal Assistant/Paralegal48%
6Fresno City College
Fresno, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
76Legal Assistant/Paralegal24%
7Pasadena City College
Pasadena, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
74Legal Assistant/Paralegal48%
8West Los Angeles College
Culver City, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
73Legal Assistant/Paralegal28%
9National University
San Diego, CA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
72Legal Assistant/Paralegal43%$31,817
10De Anza College
Cupertino, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
61Legal Assistant/Paralegal68%
11Coastline Community College
Fountain Valley, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
59Legal Assistant/Paralegal34%
12College of the Canyons
Santa Clarita, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
58Legal Assistant/Paralegal45%
13Merritt College
Oakland, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
54Legal Assistant/Paralegal26%
14Mt San Antonio College
Walnut, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
53Legal Assistant/Paralegal$29,56945%
15Cerritos College
Norwalk, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
52Legal Assistant/Paralegal31%
16Los Angeles City College
Los Angeles, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
51Legal Assistant/Paralegal29%
17Irvine Valley College
Irvine, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
49Legal Assistant/Paralegal57%
18Oxnard College
Oxnard, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
45Legal Assistant/Paralegal34%
19Fullerton College
Fullerton, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
43Legal Assistant/Paralegal34%
20El Camino Community College District
Torrance, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
36Legal Assistant/Paralegal42%
21Southwestern College
Chula Vista, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
36Legal Assistant/Paralegal35%
22Chaffey College
Rancho Cucamonga, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
35Legal Assistant/Paralegal36%
23Skyline College
San Bruno, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
30Legal Assistant/Paralegal44%
24Los Angeles Mission College
Sylmar, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
28Legal Assistant/Paralegal20%
25Riverside City College
Riverside, CA Public · 1 feeder programs
22Legal Assistant/Paralegal37%

All 46 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.

All schools in California that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Santa Ana CollegeSanta AnaPublic1311
University of San DiegoSan DiegoPrivate not-for-profit1201
East Los Angeles CollegeMonterey ParkPublic1041
American River CollegeSacramentoPublic871
San Diego Miramar CollegeSan DiegoPublic851
Fresno City CollegeFresnoPublic761
Pasadena City CollegePasadenaPublic741
West Los Angeles CollegeCulver CityPublic731
National UniversitySan DiegoPrivate not-for-profit721
De Anza CollegeCupertinoPublic611
Coastline Community CollegeFountain ValleyPublic591
College of the CanyonsSanta ClaritaPublic581
Merritt CollegeOaklandPublic541
Mt San Antonio CollegeWalnutPublic531
Cerritos CollegeNorwalkPublic521

What title examiners, abstractors, and searchers earn in California

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in California
$67,230
Mean annual
$76,950
Jobs in state
What the range looks like
10th pct$51,500Median$67,23090th pct$115,040
Versus the national median
+14.6%

U.S. median $58,650. California pays above the national figure.

Metro areas in California

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
$94,710median
130 jobs
Vallejo, CA
$85,950median
40 jobs
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
$76,460median
350 jobs
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA
$70,300median
40 jobs
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA
$78,400median
270 jobs
Bakersfield-Delano, CA
$77,360median
40 jobs
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA
$73,960median
200 jobs
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
$68,140median
220 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+2.0%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
5,400
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
1,100
57,400 → 58,500
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
Plus moderate-term on-the-job training

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 Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers page.

How to become a Title Examiner

Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0
Typical entry education
High school diploma or equivalent
On-the-job training
Moderate-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

Reading ComprehensionActive ListeningCritical ThinkingSpeakingWritingMonitoring

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 Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 22.0302Legal Assistant/Paralegal

Common questions

Answers for people weighing title examiners, abstractors, and searchers programs in California.

What degree do you need to become a Title Examiner?+

High school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Legal Assistant/Paralegal, which awarded 1,773 degrees in California in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Title Examiner?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Legal Support Services. Together they graduate about 1,773 people a year in California.

How much do title examiners, abstractors, and searchers earn in California?+

The median is $67,230 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 14.6% above the U.S. median of $58,650. 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 title examiners, abstractors, and searchers growing?+

BLS projects a +2.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 5,400 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in California?+

46 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 title examiners, abstractors, and searchers work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Abstractor, Title Officer, Title Examiner, Title Searcher among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 23-2093.

Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers in other statesTexasNew YorkFloridaVirginiaIndianaIllinoisNorth CarolinaArizona
Programs in CaliforniaLegal Assistant/Paralegal

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 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected 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 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, 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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