University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara 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, Santa Barbara Featured Rankings
- #4 Most Affordable Colleges in California 2026
- #4 Public Colleges California
- #7 Grad Schools California 2026
- #7 Research Universities in California 2026
- #7 Best Colleges in California 2026
- #10 Most Influential Colleges in Swimming and Diving Today
- #13 Most Affordable Colleges in the U.S. 2026
- #14 Best Public Colleges
- #14 Best Public Grad Schools
- #20 The Most Influential Colleges in Soccer Today
- #34 Best Grad Schools 2026
- #36 Best US Universities 2026
- #86 Best Universities World 2026
About University of California, Santa Barbara
In brief
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), traces its roots to the Anna Blake School, a vocational school founded in 1891. It became Santa Barbara State College in 1921 and joined the University of California in 1944. By our measure of academic influence, it ranks #38 in the United States and #109 in the world. It admitted 33.0% of applicants for fall 2024.
Its 708-acre campus has its own beach, and its research centers include the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics and the Southern California Earthquake Center.
Where UCSB’s influence is strongest
UCSB’s influence is led by physics, the earth sciences, and sociology. Its strongest broad fields, by US rank in our data, are:
- Physics: #13 in the US (#48 in the world)
- Earth sciences: #19
- Sociology: #20
- Anthropology: #24
- Religious studies: #32
Within those fields, UCSB is a national leader in several specialties:
- #1 in the US: volcanology
- #2 in the US: evolutionary psychology (only Harvard ranks higher)
- #6: marine biology and East Asian religions
UCSB has no medical or nursing school, so it ranks low in those fields.
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
UCSB counts eight Nobel laureates among its faculty and alumni, including the physicists David Gross, Herbert Kroemer, and Shuji Nakamura, inventor of the energy-efficient blue LED, the chemists Walter Kohn and Alan Heeger, the economist Finn Kydland, and the molecular biologist Carol Greider. Its alumni also include the actor Michael Douglas and the musician Jack Johnson. Our full lists of UCSB’s most influential alumni and faculty appear below.
Frequently asked questions
Is UCSB hard to get into? Moderately. It admitted 33.0% of applicants for fall 2024.
What does UCSB cost after financial aid? Tuition is $16,989 for California residents and $54,591 for out-of-state students in 2025–26. The average net price for aided students with family incomes of $48,000–$75,000 was $14,181 in 2024–25; it ranged from about $9,523 for incomes below $30,000 to $36,658 for incomes above $110,000.
How do UCSB graduates do? 83.6% of students who started in 2019 graduated within six years, and 93% of first-year students return for a second year. Ten years after starting college, former students had median earnings of $82,568.
What is UCSB best known for academically? By our influence data: physics, the earth sciences, and sociology, plus volcanology, where it ranks first in the country.
According to Wikipedia, The University of California, Santa Barbara , is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California, United States. It is part of the University of California university system. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers' college, UCSB joined the ancestor of the California State University system in 1909 and then moved over to the University of California system in 1944. It is the third-oldest undergraduate campus in the system, after UC Berkeley and UCLA. Total student enrollment for 2022 was 23,460 undergraduate and 2,961 graduate students.
University of California, Santa Barbara Admissions, Retention, and Graduation Information
| Annual Applications | Acceptance | Retention Rate | Graduation Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 110,871 | 33% | 93% | 84% |
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, Santa Barbara Cost To Attend?
| Tuition and fees (in-state) |
|---|
| $16,989 |
| Income | Average Net Cost |
|---|---|
| 0 - 30K | $9,523 |
| 30K - 48K | $10,281 |
| 48K - 75K | $14,181 |
| 75K - 110K | $18,954 |
| 110K+ | $36,658 |
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, Santa Barbara Graduates Make?
Ten years after starting college, former University of California, Santa Barbara students who received federal financial aid earn a median of $82,568 a year, and 92% 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, Santa Barbara's Demographics
Students enrolled at any time during the 2023–24 school year, including part-time and online students.
| Student Body | Under-Grads | Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| 27,662 | 24,660 | 3,002 |
Source: National Center for Education Statistics; 12-month enrollment for 2023–24.
Where is University of California, Santa Barbara?
University of California, Santa Barbara is located at 5221 Cheadle Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106.
How Safe is University of California, Santa Barbara?
Like every college that receives federal student aid, University of California, Santa Barbara publishes an annual security report with its campus crime statistics and safety policies. See University of California, Santa Barbara’s campus safety information.
Relative to its enrollment, University of California, Santa Barbara has a violent crime rate of 0.22% and a property crime rate of 0.53%. Santa Barbara has a violent crime rate of 0.64% and a property (including theft) crime rate of 1.84%. 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, Santa Barbara Known For?
University of California, Santa Barbara is known for its academic work in the following disciplines:
- Physics
- Earth Sciences
- Sociology
- Anthropology
- Religious Studies
- Psychology
- Computer Science
- Mathematics
- Chemistry
- Communications
- Economics
- Biology
- Philosophy
- Engineering
- History
- Literature
- Political Science
- Education
- Business
- Law
- Medical
University of California, Santa Barbara's Top Areas of Influence With Degrees Offered
Each rank compares how much University of California, Santa Barbara'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, Santa Barbara ranks #13 in the U.S. and #48 worldwide for influence in Physics.
physics DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #19 in the U.S. and #72 worldwide for influence in Earth Sciences.
earth-science DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #20 in the U.S. and #59 worldwide for influence in Sociology.
sociology DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #24 in the U.S. and #57 worldwide for influence in Anthropology.
anthropology DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #32 in the U.S. and #141 worldwide for influence in Religious Studies.
religious-studies-hub DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #35 in the U.S. and #58 worldwide for influence in Psychology.
psychology DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #37 in the U.S. and #93 worldwide for influence in Computer Science.
computer-science DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #38 in the U.S. and #122 worldwide for influence in Mathematics.
math DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #39 in the U.S. and #159 worldwide for influence in Chemistry.
chemistry DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #48 in the U.S. and #156 worldwide for influence in Communications.
communications DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #56 in the U.S. and #211 worldwide for influence in Economics.
economics DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #57 in the U.S. and #159 worldwide for influence in Biology.
biology DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #57 in the U.S. and #178 worldwide for influence in Philosophy.
philosophy DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #58 in the U.S. and #201 worldwide for influence in Engineering.
engineering DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #70 in the U.S. and #178 worldwide for influence in History.
history DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #73 in the U.S. and #192 worldwide for influence in Literature.
literature DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #80 in the U.S. and #276 worldwide for influence in Political Science.
political-science DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #87 in the U.S. and #285 worldwide for influence in Education.
education DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #119 in the U.S. and #340 worldwide for influence in Business.
business DegreesUniversity of California, Santa Barbara ranks #130 in the U.S. and #376 worldwide for influence in Law.
University of California, Santa Barbara ranks #176 in the U.S. and #573 worldwide for influence in Medical.
medicine DegreesWho Are University of California, Santa Barbara's Most Influential Alumni?
University of California, Santa Barbara's most influential alumni include professors and professionals in the fields of Sociology, Psychology, and Anthropology. Here are some of University of California, Santa Barbara's most famous alumni:
- Garrett Hardin
- An American ecologist .
- Grady Booch
- An American software engineer.
- Richard Serra
- An American sculptor.
- Carol W. Greider
- An American molecular biologist and Nobel laureate.
- Robert Ballard
- A United States Navy officer, oceanographer and underwater archaeologist.
- Reza Aslan
- An Iranian-American author, commentator.
- Edward Feser
- An American professor of philosophy.
- Richard E. Mayer
- An American psychologist.
- Tibor Machan
- A Hungarian-American philosopher.
- Joseph Tainter
- An American anthropologist.
- Mark Juergensmeyer
- An American historian.
- Viral B. Shah
- An Indian computer scientist.
.jpg?width=600)
Who Are University of California, Santa Barbara's Most Influential Faculty?
University of California, Santa Barbara's most influential faculty include professors in the fields of Sociology, Psychology, and Anthropology. Here are some of University of California, Santa Barbara's most famous faculty:
- Robert M. Gagné
- An American psychologist .
- Michael Nielsen
- An Australian and Canadian physicist and writer .
- Raphael Bousso
- An American physicist.
- Sergei Gukov
- A Russian physicist.
- Leonard Talmy
- An American linguist.
- Feryal Özel
- A Turkish-American astronomer.
- Greg Moore
- An American mathematician and physicist.
- Peidong Yang
- An American chemist.
- Matthew Cook
- An American mathematician.
- Danielle Bassett
- An American physicist.
- Eva Silverstein
- An American physicist.
- Samir Mitragotri
- An American chemist.
