Chemistry at California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt

A chemistry degree from Cal Poly Humboldt starts graduates at roughly $34,000—about $10,000 below California's median for chemistry programs and $8,600 below the national benchmark. Among California's 65 chemistry programs, this ranks at just the 25th percentile, meaning three-quarters of chemistry programs in the state produce higher early earnings. For context, chemistry grads from Cal State Long Beach and San Marcos start above $49,000, while UC Berkeley chemistry grads approach $60,000. The $24,000 debt level matches the national median but runs $8,000 higher than California's typical chemistry debt.

The small sample size (under 30 graduates) demands skepticism—a few graduates taking gap years or pursuing lower-paid lab tech roles could skew the numbers significantly. Yet even accounting for volatility, the pattern suggests this program struggles to launch graduates into the higher-paying chemistry careers that typically justify a science degree. The 0.71 debt-to-earnings ratio isn't catastrophic, but chemistry students generally expect stronger initial placement given the technical rigor of the major.

If your child is committed to chemistry and wants the smaller campus environment Humboldt offers, understand they'll likely need graduate school or aggressive internship networking to reach typical chemistry earnings. Otherwise, higher-ranked California State programs offer similar tuition with demonstrably better early outcomes.