Top Universities in California

2021 California University Ranking

Introduction

What are California’s most well-known universities? Topuniversitieslist has published the 2021 California University Ranking, which includes 137 accredited California higher-education institutions that fulfill the following Topuniversitieslist quality criteria:

being chartered, registered, or certified by the relevant US higher education-related institution, and providing at least four-year undergraduate degrees (bachelor degrees) or postgraduate degrees (master or doctoral degrees) in a conventional, face-to-face, non-distance education style.

Our goal is to create a non-academic League Table of California’s best universities focused on accurate, impartial, and non-influenceable site metrics generated by objective web intelligence outlets rather than data submitted by the universities themselves.

2021 California University Ranking

#	University	Town	World Rank	Country Rank
1	University of California, Riverside	California	101	76
2	California Institute of Technology	California	56	46
3	University of California, Santa Barbara	California	57	47
4	University of California, Davis	California	34	30
5	University of California, Irvine	California	33	29
6	University of California, San Diego	California	27	24
7	University of Southern California	California	21	20
8	Stanford University	California	3	3
9	University of California, Berkeley	California	4	4
10	University of California, Los Angeles	California	13	13
11	University of California, Santa Cruz	California	96	73
12	University of California, San Francisco	California	99	74
13	Harvey Mudd College	California	730	270
14	Loma Linda University	California	700	259
15	California State University, Los Angeles	California	732	271
16	Humboldt State University	California	688	254
17	Loyola Marymount University	California	726	268
18	University of San Diego	California	582	226
19	California State University, Sacramento	California	553	211
20	California State University, Chico	California	594	231
21	Pepperdine University	California	549	209
22	Chapman University	California	561	215
23	California State Polytechnic University, Pomona	California	545	208
24	University of San Francisco	California	439	171
25	Santa Clara University	California	332	136
26	California State University, Long Beach	California	340	141
27	California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo	California	334	138
28	San Diego State University	California	168	94
29	California State University, Northridge	California	208	107
30	San José State University	California	228	112
31	San Francisco State University	California	238	113
32	California State University, Fullerton	California	333	137
33	California State University, Monterey Bay	California	1360	502
34	University of California, Hastings College of the Law	California	1335	487
35	Claremont Graduate University	California	1324	482
36	Academy of Art University	California	1275	470
37	Pitzer College	California	1244	460
38	Azusa Pacific University	California	1212	449
39	University of the Pacific	California	1144	427
40	California State University, East Bay	California	1176	436
41	California State University, Stanislaus	California	1092	401
42	ArtCenter College of Design	California	1153	429
43	California State University San Marcos	California	1093	402
44	Naval Postgraduate School	California	1077	394
45	Occidental College	California	1134	421
46	Biola University	California	913	334
47	California State University, Dominguez Hills	California	970	350
48	California State University, Fresno	California	869	314
49	Pomona College	California	851	307
50	University of California, Merced	California	904	329
51	California State University, San Bernardino	California	867	313
52	Sonoma State University	California	768	282
53	Point Loma Nazarene University	California	2527	885
54	Westmont College	California	2135	766
55	Otis College of Art and Design	California	1891	682
56	California Baptist University	California	2344	816
57	Western University of Health Sciences	California	2171	774
58	Keck Graduate Institute	California	2032	732
59	Whittier College	California	2164	772
60	California State University, Bakersfield	California	1829	659
61	Golden Gate University	California	1562	568
62	California Institute of Integral Studies	California	1761	631
63	Dominican University of California	California	1620	590
64	University of Redlands	California	1682	606
65	University of La Verne	California	1850	666
66	California State University Channel Islands	California	1581	575
67	Mills College	California	1684	607
68	California Lutheran University	California	1654	598
69	Claremont McKenna College	California	1526	555
70	National University	California	1545	563
71	California College of the Arts	California	1541	560
72	Saint Mary’s College of California	California	1537	559
73	Samuel Merritt University	California	3692	1244
74	Thomas Aquinas College	California	3493	1185
75	West Coast University-Los Angeles	California	3886	1298
76	Vanguard University of Southern California	California	3239	1117
77	Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science	California	3429	1173
78	San Francisco Conservatory of Music	California	3236	1116
79	The Master’s University	California	3361	1149
80	La Sierra University	California	2793	983
81	Woodbury University	California	3187	1102
82	Soka University of America	California	3222	1113
83	Fielding Graduate University	California	3078	1067
84	California State University Maritime Academy	California	3152	1093
85	Fresno Pacific University	California	2605	912
86	Concordia University Irvine	California	2607	913
87	Southern California Institute of Architecture	California	2892	1014
88	Brandman University	California	2627	920
89	Southwestern Law School	California	2794	984
90	Alliant International University	California	2374	827
91	Pacific Union College	California	2482	868
92	San Francisco Art Institute	California	2398	837
93	Touro University California	California	5114	1534
94	Scripps College	California	5181	1544
95	Saybrook University	California	4632	1465
96	Pacifica Graduate Institute	California	4497	1440
97	Mount Saint Mary’s University	California	4538	1450
98	University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences	California	4670	1473
99	Cogswell University of Silicon Valley	California	3966	1319
100	Notre Dame de Namur University	California	3977	1322
101	NewSchool of Architecture and Design	California	3883	1296
102	Hope International University	California	4290	1398
103	Menlo College	California	4450	1428
104	California Institute of the Arts	California	4248	1386
105	William Jessup University	California	4405	1419
106	Thomas Jefferson School of Law	California	3757	1263
107	California Western School of Law	California	3661	1239
108	The Chicago School of Professional Psychology	California	3824	1279
109	John F. Kennedy University	California	3513	1191
110	Palo Alto University	California	3963	1318
111	Holy Names University	California	3610	1226
112	American Jewish University	California	3540	1201
113	Dharma Realm Buddhist University	California	8943	1745
114	John Paul the Great Catholic University	California	6647	1685
115	The Wright Institute	California	6940	1699
116	San Joaquin College of Law	California	7867	1718
117	United States University	California	8031	1725
118	The University of West Los Angeles	California	8642	1739
119	Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology	California	6111	1644
120	Pacific Oaks College	California	6105	1643
121	University of the West	California	5652	1604
122	Marymount California University	California	6347	1659
123	Sofia University	California	6395	1663
124	San Diego Christian College	California	5872	1624
125	American Film Institute Conservatory	California	6140	1645
126	Laguna College of Art and Design	California	6102	1642
127	Marshall B. Ketchum University	California	5909	1631
128	Life Pacific College	California	5905	1630
129	Columbia College Hollywood	California	5325	1569
130	Simpson University	California	5607	1597
131	Humphreys University	California	6411	1667
132	Pardee RAND Graduate School	California	5640	1601
133	Antioch University Los Angeles	California	Un	Un
134	Antioch University Santa Barbara	California	Un	Un
135	Irell and Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences	California	Un	Un
136	Bethesda University	California	9415	1751
137	Providence Christian College	California	9729	1754