Bachelor's · earnings grade

Is a Engineering degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $61,516 two years after finishing, more than 85% of bachelor's majors. Measured across 271 US programmes by the Department of Education — real graduate pay, not survey answers.

A

The verdict on the money

Yes, on the money — this is one of the best-paying majors at this level in the country.

Median earnings $61,516 2 years after finishing
Typical range $57,318–$65,573 middle half of US programmes
Over no degree +$21,996 vs $39,520 high-school median
Graduates a year 2,693 271 programmes

Where a Engineering degree pays best US programmes ranked on their own graduates' median earnings two years out.

#University1 yr out2 yrs out3 yrs outGraduates/yr
1 Harvey Mudd College cost & debt at this university → $81,948 $81,997 $90,517 53
2 Brown University cost & debt at this university → $70,583 $75,921 $80,783 80
3 Franklin W Olin College of Engineering $91,352 $75,706 $104,429 39
4 Cornell University cost & debt at this university → $57,169 $74,576 $84,905 7
5 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign cost & debt at this university → not published $72,727 $77,484 —
6 Lafayette College cost & debt at this university → $67,714 $72,403 $75,320 13
7 University of California-Davis cost & debt at this university → $74,487 $70,370 $89,594 —
8 Texas Christian University cost & debt at this university → $63,234 $69,338 $76,296 51
9 The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga cost & debt at this university → $54,615 $69,338 $69,556 —
10 McNeese State University cost & debt at this university → $64,056 $69,338 $76,973 32
11 Arizona State University Campus Immersion $63,561 $68,666 $80,283 160
12 Hope College cost & debt at this university → $62,322 $67,101 $72,313 49

What this figure does and does not tell you

It is the median of what real graduates of this exact major earned, taken from tax records two years after they completed. It is not a starting salary, not an average of job adverts, and not a projection. The median bachelor's major in this dataset reports $37,705, so Engineering sits above the middle by $23,811.

Two years is early in a career. Fields with long training pipelines — medicine, law, research — look weaker at this point than they will at ten, while trades and applied technical fields peak sooner. Read a low figure in a long-pipeline subject as "slow start", not "bad degree".

There is no debt figure here on purpose. The Department of Education publishes earnings by field of study but not borrowing, so nobody can honestly tell you the debt of a specific major. Debt is published per institution — that is where our university cost pages carry it.

Engineering at other levels

Master's — $88,982 (A)

Scholarships for Engineering students

Whatever the subject pays, the money you do not borrow is the money you keep.

GIBB Bursary for South African Students, 2016 University of Salford Scholarships for International Students... ADG Engineering Bursary at Griffith University in Australia, 2... ISSCE International Scholarships in School of Civil Engineerin... CTGU Full and Partial Undergraduate Scholarship for Non-Chines... PhD Scholarship Engineering, Architecture and Information Tech...
See all Engineering scholarships →

Study Engineering Programmes listed on ScholarshipsAds.

Civil Engineering — University of Toronto Civil Engineering and Computer Science — Northeastern University Civil Engineering - Water — University of Waterloo Civil Engineering and Computing Technology — University of Ottawa Civil Engineering - Sustainable and Resilient... — University of Ottawa Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering — University of New South Wa...

Majors that pay more at this level Closest first — useful if you are still choosing.

Nursing — $62,616 Mechanical Engineering — $64,990 Computer Science — $66,073 Chemical Engineering — $67,073 Industrial Engineering — $68,047 Electrical Engineering — $69,338

Funding the degree Lenders that fund US and international students — compare the rate before you sign.

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We may earn a commission if you take a loan through a provider here. It never changes the earnings figures on this page — those come from the US Department of Education.

Engineering: the questions people ask

How much do Engineering graduates earn?
The median bachelor's graduate earns $61,516 two years after finishing, across 53 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $61,282.
Is a Engineering degree worth it?
Yes, on the money — this is one of the best-paying majors at this level in the country. The median graduate earns $21,996 a year more than a US worker whose highest qualification is a high-school diploma.
What is the salary range for Engineering?
Half of US programmes report medians between $57,318 and $65,573. Where you study moves this figure more than most applicants expect.
How many people graduate in Engineering each year?
About 2,693 students complete a bachelor's in this field each year across 271 US programmes.
Does this include student debt?
No — and deliberately. The Department of Education publishes earnings by field of study but not debt, so any "debt by major" figure you see elsewhere is an estimate. Debt is published per institution, which is why our university pages carry it and this page does not.
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Classified by the Department of Education as Engineering, General (CIP 1401). Source: US Department of Education College Scorecard, field-of-study earnings (median earnings of graduates who received federal financial aid, measured 1–3 years after completion). Figures are per major and credential level, pooled across US programmes. Information only, not financial advice.