Research · Majors and pay · October 2026
What it takes to get into a California nursing program and what it pays
As of October 2026: Twelve California nursing programs report an admit rate into the program itself, from 1% at UC Irvine to 100% at San Francisco State, Cal State Stanislaus and Cal State Northridge. Pay is high at all of them: the median four years out is $119,502 at UC Irvine and $120,799 at San Diego State.
The table holds every California college with a nursing program in the federal data, with the admit rate into the program where a system reports one; 35 of the 47 report none.
Analysis: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach, highschoolreach.com), October 2026. Figures and the table may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.
The findings, in plain English
The gate is the program, not the campus. UC Irvine admits 30% of applicants to the campus. It admits 1% to nursing science, 57 of 7,079. San Diego State admits 34% to the campus and 3.5% to pre-licensure nursing, 306 of 8,620. A family reading only the campus rate sees a door that is not there.
Seven of these programs take no freshmen at all. Seven Cal State campuses report nursing only on the transfer side. Freshmen there enter as a pre-nursing student and apply into the program later. Cal State Long Beach admitted 39 of 1,373 transfer applicants, a rate of 2.8%. Nine of the twelve programs with a rate are impacted. That is the Cal State label for a program with far more applicants than seats.
Nursing pays like a professional degree. The lowest median pay in this table is $102,239. The highest is $150,921, at Cal State East Bay, against an average net price of $9,320 a year. Cal State Los Angeles reports $116,182 against $3,967. Pay like that is a large part of why the admit rates look the way they do.
Nursing at every California college in the federal data
Sorted by the admit rate into the program, lowest first; colleges with no reported rate follow, by pay.
| College | Program reported | Admit rate into the program | Applied | Admitted | Campus admit rate | What the system reports | Median pay, 4 years out | Average net price, per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of California-Irvine | Nursing Science | 1.0% | 7,079 | 57 | 30% | Admits by major reported (UC) | $119,502 | $14,251 |
| California State University-Long Beach | Nursing Pre-Licensure | 2.8% | 1,373 | 39 | 47% | Transfer path only -- freshmen enter as pre-nursing | $111,681 | $10,440 |
| San Diego State University | Nursing Pre-Licensure | 3.5% | 8,620 | 306 | 34% | First-year admission reported | $120,799 | $15,364 |
| California State University-Channel Islands | Nursing Pre-Licensure | 7.9% | 241 | 19 | 93% | Transfer path only -- freshmen enter as pre-nursing | $112,691 | $9,849 |
| California State University-Fresno | Nursing Pre-Licensure | 16.5% | 310 | 51 | 96% | Transfer path only -- freshmen enter as pre-nursing | $111,278 | $7,000 |
| California State University-Fullerton | Nursing Pre-Licensure | 18.7% | 343 | 64 | 87% | First-year admission reported | $119,353 | $6,555 |
| California State University-East Bay | Nursing Pre-Licensure | 60.9% | 133 | 81 | 97% | Transfer path only -- freshmen enter as pre-nursing | $150,921 | $9,320 |
| California State University-San Marcos | Nursing Pre-Licensure | 73.3% | 90 | 66 | 96% | First-year admission reported | $120,196 | $10,229 |
| California State University-Los Angeles | Nursing Pre-Licensure | 86.3% | 2,024 | 1,746 | 92% | First-year admission reported | $116,182 | $3,967 |
| San Francisco State University | Nursing Pre-Licensure | 100.0% | 41 | 41 | 96% | Transfer path only -- freshmen enter as pre-nursing | $150,102 | $12,278 |
| California State University-Stanislaus | Nursing Pre-Licensure | 100.0% | 20 | 20 | 98% | Transfer path only -- freshmen enter as pre-nursing | $126,959 | $6,067 |
| California State University-Northridge | Nursing Pre-Licensure | 100.0% | 92 | 92 | 93% | Transfer path only -- freshmen enter as pre-nursing | $116,613 | $7,021 |
| Dominican University of California | — | — | — | — | 96% | Not reported by the college system | $149,622 | $35,333 |
| Sonoma State University | — | — | — | — | 95% | Only a RN-to-BSN (licensed nurses) row reported -- no first-degree gate published | $143,886 | $12,885 |
| University of San Francisco | — | — | — | — | 51% | Not reported by the college system | $143,356 | $41,431 |
| Pacific Union College | — | — | — | — | 42% | Not reported by the college system | $140,542 | $41,008 |
| California State University-Monterey Bay | — | — | — | — | 95% | Only a RN-to-BSN (licensed nurses) row reported -- no first-degree gate published | $134,489 | $13,663 |
| California State University-Sacramento | — | — | — | — | 94% | Not reported by the college system | $129,960 | $9,338 |
| Mount Saint Mary's University | — | — | — | — | 69% | Not reported by the college system | $119,050 | $21,413 |
| California State University-Dominguez Hills | — | — | — | — | 91% | Only a RN-to-BSN (licensed nurses) row reported -- no first-degree gate published | $118,588 | $8,615 |
| University of California-Los Angeles | — | — | — | — | 11% | Not reported by the college system | $118,566 | $12,548 |
| Azusa Pacific University | — | — | — | — | 80% | Not reported by the college system | $118,549 | $22,212 |
| California State University-Chico | — | — | — | — | 94% | Not reported by the college system | $117,543 | $14,480 |
| Point Loma Nazarene University | — | — | — | — | 82% | Not reported by the college system | $114,919 | $38,729 |
| Fresno Pacific University | — | — | — | — | 58% | Not reported by the college system | $112,178 | $13,630 |
| Biola University | — | — | — | — | 60% | Not reported by the college system | $111,200 | $31,495 |
| California State University-San Bernardino | — | — | — | — | 98% | Only a RN-to-BSN (licensed nurses) row reported -- no first-degree gate published | $109,499 | $4,564 |
| California Baptist University | — | — | — | — | 74% | Not reported by the college system | $108,157 | $26,285 |
| Concordia University-Irvine | — | — | — | — | 60% | Not reported by the college system | $105,657 | $28,115 |
| California State University-Bakersfield | — | — | — | — | 88% | Not reported by the college system | $102,298 | $5,652 |
| Vanguard University of Southern California | — | — | — | — | 65% | Not reported by the college system | $102,239 | $21,241 |
| American University of Health Sciences | — | — | — | — | — | Not reported by the college system | — | — |
| California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt | — | — | — | — | 99% | Only a RN-to-BSN (licensed nurses) row reported -- no first-degree gate published | — | $13,171 |
| Chamberlain University-California | — | — | — | — | — | Not reported by the college system | — | $36,559 |
| Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science | — | — | — | — | — | Not reported by the college system | — | $35,558 |
| Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts | — | — | — | — | — | Not reported by the college system | — | — |
| Loma Linda University | — | — | — | — | — | Not reported by the college system | — | — |
| National University | — | — | — | — | — | Not reported by the college system | — | $22,878 |
| Pacific College | — | — | — | — | — | Not reported by the college system | — | — |
| Samuel Merritt University | — | — | — | — | — | Not reported by the college system | — | — |
| San Jose State University | — | — | — | — | 80% | Only a RN-to-BSN (licensed nurses) row reported -- no first-degree gate published | — | $13,760 |
| Simpson University | — | — | — | — | — | Not reported by the college system | — | $27,817 |
| Stanbridge University | — | — | — | — | 11% | Not reported by the college system | — | — |
| Unitek College | — | — | — | — | — | Not reported by the college system | — | — |
| West Coast University-Los Angeles | — | — | — | — | — | Not reported by the college system | — | $53,020 |
| Westmont College | — | — | — | — | 80% | Not reported by the college system | — | $29,053 |
| William Jessup University | — | — | — | — | — | Not reported by the college system | — | $28,062 |
Admit rates are Fall 2025, from the UC Information Center's first-year admissions by major and the CSU Chancellor's Office's admissions by major. The Cal State dashboard suppresses small groups. A transfer path only label means the campus reported no first-year admission for nursing, so freshmen enter as a pre-nursing student. UC admits to the campus, not the major, at most programs. Pay is the College Scorecard median four years after the degree for nursing graduates who received federal student aid, and net price is the average for aid recipients, both from the latest federal file. A blank cell means the college or system reports no figure.
What the admit rate here means
UC admits to the campus, not the major, at most programs. UC Irvine's nursing science is one of the few UC programs with a published rate of its own. That 1% is the rate for students who applied under that major. UCLA has a nursing program in the federal data but publishes no rate, so there is no figure to quote.
A transfer path only label means the campus reported no first-year admission for nursing. Freshmen enter as a pre-nursing student, finish the required courses, then apply into the program. Cal State Long Beach's 2.8% is the rate for those transfer applicants, not for high school seniors.
Why 35 of these colleges show no rate
Thirty-five of the 47 California colleges here report no admit rate into nursing. Many are private colleges, which publish nothing by major. Six report only an RN-to-BSN path. That is a completion program for people who already hold a nursing license, so it is not a door for a high school senior.
A nursing program with no first-year row is not an easy one. It is a program to plan around the pre-nursing gate, which is often harder than the campus. Where the rate column is blank, no public figure exists. We leave it blank rather than fill it in.
What a family should do with this
Plan for the program, not the campus. Apply to several. One program at 2.8% is not a plan, and the campus rate beside it says nothing about the nursing door.
Keep the wide-open programs on the list. Cal State Los Angeles admitted 86.3% of its pre-licensure applicants. Its graduates report a median of $116,182 four years out, against an average net price of $3,967 a year. Pay does not fall away as the admit rate rises.
Treat the transfer route as a real path, not a fallback. Seven of these programs only take transfers. Read the pay figure with its limit in mind too. Earnings travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose, so a high median is partly about who got in.
Questions parents ask
What is the hardest nursing program to get into in California?
UC Irvine admits 30% of applicants to the campus. It admits 1% to nursing science, 57 of 7,079.
Can my kid start nursing as a freshman at a Cal State?
Seven Cal State campuses report nursing only on the transfer side. Freshmen there enter as a pre-nursing student and apply into the program later.
What does a California nursing degree pay?
The lowest median pay in this table is $102,239.
Method & sources: The admit rates are Fall 2025, from the UC Information Center and the CSU Chancellor's Office, for the campuses that publish a nursing figure. Pay is the College Scorecard median four years after the degree, counting only graduates who got federal student aid. Net price is the average for aid recipients, from the same federal file. Rows are sorted by the program admit rate, lowest first, then by pay, and every California college with a nursing program in the federal data is kept.
- UC Information Center, first-year applicants and admits by major
- CSU Chancellor's Office, applications and admissions by major
- College Scorecard, field-of-study data
This brief as data: /research/nursing-california-admit-and-pay.json. Free for editorial use with attribution to Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach).
Related: Nursing: admit rates, cost and pay by college · Every impacted major and campus at the CSU · What the 25 most common majors pay four years out · College outcomes: earnings and payoff by college and major