2025 Best Business Administration & Management Master's Degree Schools in California

If you pursue a master's degree in business administration & management, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #1 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

College Factual reviewed 56 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of business administration & management. Combined, these schools handed out 10,005 master's degrees in business administration & management to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Business Administration & Management School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of business administration & management for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on business administration & management students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of business administration & management students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for business administration & management to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized business administration & management related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for business administration & management students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Business Administration & Management Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Business Administration & Management Master's Degree Schools in California ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Business Administration & Management in California

Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for business administration & management students seeking a a master's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

11 Top California Schools for a Master's in Business Administration

1

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

525 Annual Graduates

$132,668 Median Starting Salary

University of Southern California is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in business administration & management. USC is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Los Angeles.

Master's recipients from the business administration & management major at University of Southern California earn $43,465 above the average college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from University of Southern California

2

Pepperdine University
Malibu, CA

655 Annual Graduates

$112,068 Median Starting Salary

Pepperdine University is a wonderful decision for students interested in a master's degree in business administration & management. Located in the large suburb of Malibu, Pepperdine is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.

Business Administration & Management master's degree recipients from Pepperdine University earn a boost of approximately $22,865 above the typical income of business administration & management graduates.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from Pepperdine University

3

University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

46 Annual Graduates

$172,128 Median Starting Salary

University of California - Los Angeles is a great option for individuals pursuing a master's degree in business administration & management. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a very large student population.

Those business administration & management students who get their master's degree from University of California - Los Angeles make $82,925 more than the typical business administration grad.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from University of California - Los Angeles

4

Santa Clara University
Santa Clara, CA

266 Annual Graduates

$140,238 Median Starting Salary

Any student who is interested in a master's degree in business administration & management needs to check out Santa Clara University. Located in the city of Santa Clara, SCU is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.

Business Administration & Management master's degree recipients from Santa Clara University get an earnings boost of approximately $51,035 over the typical income of business administration & management majors.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from Santa Clara University

5

University of California - Irvine
Irvine, CA

205 Annual Graduates

$119,774 Median Starting Salary

UC Irvine is a very large public university located in the city of Irvine.

Master's recipients from the business administration & management degree program at University of California - Irvine make $30,571 above the typical graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from University of California - Irvine

6

Saint Mary's College of California
Moraga, CA

65 Annual Graduates

$129,891 Median Starting Salary

SMC is a small private not-for-profit college located in the large suburb of Moraga.

Business Administration & Management master's degree recipients from Saint Mary's College of California earn a boost of around $40,688 over the typical income of business administration & management graduates.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from Saint Mary’s College of California

7

University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley, CA

15 Annual Graduates

UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the city of Berkeley.More information about a master’s in business administration & management from University of California - Berkeley

8

University of San Diego
San Diego, CA

113 Annual Graduates

$105,707 Median Starting Salary

USD is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of San Diego.

Business Administration & Management master's degree recipients from University of San Diego receive an earnings boost of approximately $16,504 over the average income of business administration & management graduates.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from University of San Diego

9

University of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

76 Annual Graduates

$98,785 Median Starting Salary

USFCA is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large city of San Francisco.

Those business administration & management students who get their master's degree from University of San Francisco receive $9,582 more than the typical business administration student.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from University of San Francisco

10

University of Redlands
Redlands, CA

241 Annual Graduates

$88,318 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Redlands, University of Redlands is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

After graduating, business administration master's recipients typically earn about $88,318 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from University of Redlands

11

Golden Gate University - San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

118 Annual Graduates

$130,290 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of San Francisco, Golden Gate University - San Francisco is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Business Administration & Management master's degree recipients from Golden Gate University - San Francisco earn a boost of approximately $41,087 over the average income of business administration & management graduates.

More information about a master’s in business administration & management from Golden Gate University - San Francisco

Additional Noteworthy Schools

Here are some additional great schools for Business Administration & Management students in the state of California that almost earned our Best Business Administration & Management Master's Degree Schools in California award.

Rank	College	Location
12	Chapman University	Orange, CA
13	School Removed
14	Brandman University	Irvine, CA
15	San Diego State University	San Diego, CA
16	National University	San Diego, CA
17	California Lutheran University	Thousand Oaks, CA
18	California State University - Sacramento	Sacramento, CA

Best Business Administration & Management Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Business Administration & Management Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Washington	183	1,452
Oregon	158	737
Nevada	105	267
Hawaii	85	197
Alaska	52	118

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Business Administration

Business Administration & Management is one of 21 different types of Business, Management & Marketing programs to choose from.

Business Administration Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
General Business Administration and Management	8,243
Organizational Leadership	693
Interior Design Management	648
Project Management	213
Purchasing, Procurement/Acquisitions and Contracts Management	76
Supply Chain Management	57
Research and Development Management	37
Non-Profit/Public/Organizational Management	34
E-Commerce	4

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	5,625
Human Resource Management	844
Accounting	742
Other Business, Management & Marketing	333
Finance & Financial Management	224
Entrepreneurial Studies	211
Taxation	203
Management Information Systems	141
Hospitality Management	116
General Business/Commerce	96

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard). More about our data sources and methodologies.