University of California, Riverside
University of California, Riverside at a Glance
Reviewed by James A. Barham, PhD, Vice President and Academic Editor. Influence ranks come from our InfluenceRanking™ methodology; other figures come from federal data, with the year shown under each section. Report an error
University of California, Riverside Featured Rankings
About University of California, Riverside
In brief
The University of California, Riverside, founded in 1954, is one of the 10 campuses of the University of California. It offers 81 undergraduate majors, 48 master’s programs, and 42 doctoral programs. By our measure of academic influence, it ranks #113 in the United States and #342 in the world. It admitted 76.4% of applicants for fall 2024.
It is best known for the biological and biomedical sciences and for business.
Where UC Riverside’s influence is strongest
UC Riverside’s influence is led by sociology and chemistry. Its strongest broad fields, by US rank in our data, are:
- Sociology: #53 in the US (#145 in the world)
- Chemistry: #62
- Physics: #78
- Psychology: #80
- Biology: #81
Its highest-ranked specialties in our data are:
- #8 in the US: entomology
- #10: environmental chemistry
- #11: comparative sociology
- #14: personality psychology
How we measure influence: these ranks come from the citations and recognition earned by a school’s faculty and alumni in each discipline, not from surveys or admissions statistics. See our methodology.
Notable people
UC Riverside is associated with two Nobel laureates, the physicist Barry Barish and the chemist Richard Schrock. Its faculty and alumni also include the poet Billy Collins, the mystery writer Elizabeth George, the philosopher John Martin Fischer, the biologist Neil Campbell, the paleoanthropologist Tim D. White, and the psychologist Robert Rosenthal. Our full lists of UC Riverside’s most influential alumni and faculty appear below.
Frequently asked questions
Is UC Riverside hard to get into? No. It admitted 76.4% of applicants for fall 2024.
What does UC Riverside cost after financial aid? Tuition is $16,103 for California residents and $53,705 for out-of-state students in 2025–26. The average net price for aided students with family incomes of $48,000–$75,000 was $9,099 in 2024–25; it ranged from about $6,871 for incomes below $30,000 to $30,021 for incomes above $110,000.
How do UC Riverside graduates do? 75.1% of students who started in 2019 graduated within six years, and 88% of first-year students return for a second year. Ten years after starting college, former students had median earnings of $72,974.
What is UC Riverside best known for academically? By our influence data: sociology and chemistry, plus specialties such as entomology, where it ranks in the US top 10.
According to Wikipedia, The University of California, Riverside is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban district of Riverside with a branch campus of in Palm Desert. In 1907, the predecessor to UCR was founded as the UC Citrus Experiment Station, Riverside which pioneered research in biological pest control and the use of growth regulators.
University of California, Riverside's Online Degrees
Certificate in Accounting
- Required Credits: 36
- Completion Time: 1-2 years
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Accounting for Governmental and Nonprofit Organizations
- Required Credits: 12
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Business Management
- Required Credits: 12
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Chief Business Officials
- Required Credits: 35
- Completion Time: 1-2 years
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Fiduciary Management
- Required Credits: 14
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Human Resources Management
- Required Credits: 15
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Project Management
- Required Credits: 18
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Project Management for Business
- Required Credits: 9
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Bilingual Authorization
- Required Credits: 18
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Civic Education for the Digital Age
- Required Credits: 8
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in CLAD through CTEL
- Required Credits: 18
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in College Admissions Counseling
- Required Credits: 18
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Education for the Gifted and Talented GATE
- Required Credits: 15
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Educational Therapy
- Required Credits: 22
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Introductory Supplementary Authorization in Computer Science Education
- Required Credits: 15
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Professional Certificate in STEM Education
- Required Credits: 16
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Specific Supplementary Authorization in Computer Science Education
- Required Credits: 19
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Supplementary Authorization in Introductory English
- Required Credits: 16
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Supplementary Authorization in Introductory Mathematics
- Required Credits: 16
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Teaching in a Common Core Classroom
- Required Credits: 14
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Technical Communication
- Required Credits: 18
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Forensic Nursing
- Required Credits: 16
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Medical Case Management
- Required Credits: 12
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Nurse Death Investigation
- Required Credits: 16
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
Certificate in Turfgrass Management
- Required Credits: 30
- Completion Time: 1 year or less
- Format: Fully online
University of California, Riverside Admissions, Retention, and Graduation Information
| Annual Applications | Acceptance | Retention Rate | Graduation Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62,807 | 76% | 88% | 75% |
Source: U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and NCES); acceptance rate for fall 2024; test scores for fall 2024; applications and enrollment for fall 2023; retention for students who started in fall 2023; graduation rate within six years for students who started in 2019.
How Much Does University of California, Riverside Cost To Attend?
| Tuition and fees (in-state) |
|---|
| $16,103 |
| Income | Average Net Cost |
|---|---|
| 0 - 30K | $6,871 |
| 30K - 48K | $7,549 |
| 48K - 75K | $9,099 |
| 75K - 110K | $13,190 |
| 110K+ | $30,021 |
Source: U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and NCES); tuition and fees for 2025–26; net price for 2024–25, for first-time, full-time students receiving financial aid.
How Much Do University of California, Riverside Graduates Make?
Ten years after starting college, former University of California, Riverside students who received federal financial aid earn a median of $72,974 a year, and 93% of those not still in school are working.
Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard; students who started college in 2011–12 or 2012–13, measured in 2022 and 2023, in 2024 dollars.
University of California, Riverside's Demographics
Students enrolled at any time during the 2023–24 school year, including part-time and online students.
| Student Body | Under-Grads | Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| 28,335 | 24,342 | 3,993 |
Source: National Center for Education Statistics; 12-month enrollment for 2023–24.
Where is University of California, Riverside?
University of California, Riverside is located at 900 University Ave, Riverside, CA 92521.
How Safe is University of California, Riverside?
Like every college that receives federal student aid, University of California, Riverside publishes an annual security report with its campus crime statistics and safety policies. Its figures can also be looked up in the U.S. Department of Education’s Campus Safety and Security database.
Relative to its enrollment, University of California, Riverside has a violent crime rate of 0.05% and a property crime rate of 1.73%. Riverside has a violent crime rate of 0.59% and a property (including theft) crime rate of 2.89%. Sources: campus: U.S. Department of Education Campus Safety and Security data, on-campus offenses in 2024 (violent: murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault; property: burglary, motor vehicle theft and arson, which excludes ordinary theft); city: FBI Crime Data Explorer, offenses reported to the city police in 2024.
What Is University of California, Riverside Known For?
University of California, Riverside is known for its academic work in the following disciplines:
- Sociology
- Chemistry
- Physics
- Psychology
- Biology
- Earth Sciences
- Mathematics
- Philosophy
- Economics
- Anthropology
- Literature
- Political Science
- History
- Computer Science
- Education
- Engineering
- Medical
- Business
- Religious Studies
University of California, Riverside's Top Areas of Influence With Degrees Offered
Each rank compares how much University of California, Riverside's faculty and alumni have shaped a field with other schools, using Wikipedia, Wikidata and scholarly citation databases such as Crossref and Semantic Scholar. World and U.S. ranks reflect modern influence; the historical rank counts influence across all time. How we rank influence
University of California, Riverside ranks #53 in the U.S. and #145 worldwide for influence in Sociology.
sociology DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #62 in the U.S. and #271 worldwide for influence in Chemistry.
chemistry DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #78 in the U.S. and #324 worldwide for influence in Physics.
physics DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #80 in the U.S. and #149 worldwide for influence in Psychology.
psychology DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #81 in the U.S. and #238 worldwide for influence in Biology.
biology DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #83 in the U.S. and #322 worldwide for influence in Earth Sciences.
earth-science DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #86 in the U.S. and #325 worldwide for influence in Mathematics.
math DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #93 in the U.S. and #292 worldwide for influence in Philosophy.
philosophy DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #97 in the U.S. and #362 worldwide for influence in Economics.
economics DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #98 in the U.S. and #257 worldwide for influence in Anthropology.
anthropology DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #107 in the U.S. and #274 worldwide for influence in Literature.
literature DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #119 in the U.S. and #445 worldwide for influence in Political Science.
political-science DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #128 in the U.S. and #349 worldwide for influence in History.
history DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #129 in the U.S. and #468 worldwide for influence in Computer Science.
computer-science DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #147 in the U.S. and #552 worldwide for influence in Education.
education DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #150 in the U.S. and #706 worldwide for influence in Engineering.
engineering DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #162 in the U.S. and #512 worldwide for influence in Medical.
medicine DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #181 in the U.S. and #567 worldwide for influence in Business.
business DegreesUniversity of California, Riverside ranks #234 in the U.S. and #1008 worldwide for influence in Religious Studies.
religious-studies-hub DegreesWho Are University of California, Riverside's Most Influential Alumni?
University of California, Riverside's most influential alumni include professors and professionals in the fields of Sociology, Psychology, and Criminal Justice. Here are some of University of California, Riverside's most famous alumni:
- Richard R. Schrock
- An American chemist.
- Bernard Baars
- An American neuroscientist.
- Tim D. White
- An American paleoanthropologist.
- Gary North
- An American Christian Reconstructionist and economic historian.
- Billy Collins
- An American poet.
- J. P. Moreland
- An American theologian.
- Roy Fielding
- An American software programmer.
- Jack Sarfatti
- An American theoretical physicist.
- Earl W. Bascom
- An American artist .
- Gary Westfahl
- An American academic.
- Adrian Johnston
- An American philosopher.
- Frank Bidart
- An American poet.
Who Are University of California, Riverside's Most Influential Faculty?
University of California, Riverside's most influential faculty include professors in the fields of Sociology, Psychology, and Criminal Justice. Here are some of University of California, Riverside's most famous faculty:
- Reza Aslan
- An Iranian-American author, commentator.
- Josh Kun
- An American academic.
- Rajeev Kumar Varshney
- A Geneticist.
- Nomy Arpaly
- An American philosopher.
- Haider A. Khan
- An American economist.
- Ruth K. Chao
- An American university teacher and psychologist.
- Asantha Cooray
- A Sri Lankan astrophysicist.
- Francesca Coppa
- An American scholar of literature.
- Michael Alexander
- An Academic and, as of Feb 2013, Associate professor in the religious studies department of the University of California, Riverside.
- Soung Chang Liew
- A .
- Markus J. Rantala
- A Finnish biologist.
- Timothy M. P. Tait
- An American/Canadian physicist.
