Statistics at University of California-Riverside

UC-Riverside's Statistics program produces first-year earnings that trail not just elite competitors like Berkeley, but virtually every statistics program in California. At $29,138, graduates earn roughly half what the typical California statistics major makes ($55,110), placing this program in the 10th percentile statewide. Even UC Davis graduates—at the lower end among UC campuses—earn 69% more. Nationally, only 5% of statistics programs show weaker initial earnings, a startling position for a UC campus and a field known for strong career prospects.

The debt load of $21,488 sits near national norms, which means the real problem is the earnings gap. Statistics graduates typically enter well-paying analyst and data roles quickly, making a 0.74 debt-to-earnings ratio unusual for this major. Something appears fundamentally different about how UCR statistics graduates launch their careers compared to peers across California's other programs. Whether that reflects geographic constraints in Riverside, differences in curriculum focus, or weaker industry recruiting pipelines is unclear, but the outcome gap is too large to dismiss.

For families paying UC tuition rates, this represents poor value when measured against outcomes. Unless your child has compelling reasons to choose Riverside specifically—family circumstances, particular faculty, or guaranteed graduate school placement—other UC campuses or even Cal State options deliver substantially better returns in this major. The 47% Pell grant rate shows UCR serves many price-sensitive families who can least afford a program underperforming its field by this margin.