Bachelor's · Berkeley, California
Is Area Studies at University of California-Berkeley 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 in time: graduates typically recover the cost in about 3.1 years.
- Earnings 1 year after graduating
- $60,189
- Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Earnings 4 years after graduating
- $75,582
- Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Typical federal debt at graduation
- $15,643
- NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
- Net cost to graduate, all families
- $62k (likely $62k – $66k)
- AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Earnings bump, year 4
- $36k a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in CA
- 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Payback
- 3.1 years (likely 2.5–3.9)
- Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
- 10-year net return
- $108k (likely $22k – $185k)
- Today's dollars
- 20-year net return
- $546k (likely $358k – $748k)
- Today's dollars
- Odds of finishing (school-wide)
- 94%
- Fall 2019 or AcadYr 2019-20 cohort (differs by institutional calendar), reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Borrowers making progress / in default, 2 years in
- not reported / ≤ 20%
- NSLDS AY2016-17, AY2017-18 pooled cohorts measured in 2018-19, 2019-20
Change income, residency or loans Compare Area Studies at other schools
Other majors at University of California-Berkeley
- Law (First professional)$226,996
- Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods (First professional)$226,351
- Information Science/Studies (First professional)$209,391
- Computer Science (Bachelor's)$204,379
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Bachelor's)$200,543
- Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods (Master's)$191,069
- Physics (Doctoral)$177,589
- Chemistry (Doctoral)$168,396
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Master's)$162,352
- Mechanical Engineering (Master's)$147,475
- Business Administration, Management and Operations (Bachelor's)$144,599
- Mechanical Engineering (First professional)$140,788
Area Studies at other schools in California
- University of California-Santa Barbara$59,042
- California State University-Northridge$53,077
- University of California-Los Angeles$51,755
- California State University-Fullerton$50,739
- California State University-Long Beach$50,071
- California State University-Chico$41,818
- University of California-Irvine$39,731
- University of California-Riverside$39,039
- University of California-Davis$31,701
- University of California-San Diego$22,043