Graduates earn a median $88,982 two years after finishing, more than 87% of master's majors. Measured across 136 US programmes by the Department of Education — real graduate pay, not survey answers.
Yes, on the money — this is one of the best-paying majors at this level in the country.
| # | University | 1 yr out | 2 yrs out | 3 yrs out | Graduates/yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Colorado Boulder cost & debt at this university → | $105,752 | $116,679 | $121,033 | 68 |
| 2 | University of California-Los Angeles cost & debt at this university → | $116,282 | $111,435 | $123,214 | 123 |
| 3 | University of Wisconsin-Madison cost & debt at this university → | $110,338 | $106,421 | $111,424 | 77 |
| 4 | University of Nebraska-Lincoln cost & debt at this university → | $97,570 | $106,421 | not published | 50 |
| 5 | Ohio University-Main Campus cost & debt at this university → | $94,330 | $100,690 | $103,464 | — |
| 6 | Northeastern University Professional Programs | not published | $94,408 | not published | — |
| 7 | Northeastern University | not published | $94,408 | not published | 241 |
| 8 | University of Maryland-College Park cost & debt at this university → | $86,533 | $94,112 | $102,555 | 357 |
| 9 | Arizona State University Digital Immersion | $83,448 | $90,412 | $86,958 | 111 |
| 10 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | $83,448 | $90,412 | $86,958 | 14 |
| 11 | University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus | $92,556 | $89,144 | $95,923 | — |
| 12 | University of Connecticut-Stamford | $92,556 | $89,144 | $95,923 | — |
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 master's major in this dataset reports $54,713, so Engineering sits above the middle by $34,269.
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.
Whatever the subject pays, the money you do not borrow is the money you keep.
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.
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.