Bachelor's · earnings grade

Is a Materials Engineering degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $66,541 two years after finishing, more than 88% of bachelor's majors. Measured across 65 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 $66,541 2 years after finishing · per graduate
Typical range $62,012–$68,219 middle half of US programmes
Over no degree +$27,021 vs $39,520 high-school median
Graduates a year 1,305 65 programmes

Where a Materials 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 University of Pennsylvania cost & debt at this university → not published $76,460 not published 15
2 Lehigh University cost & debt at this university → not published $74,200 not published 9
3 Michigan Technological University cost & debt at this university → $67,484 $73,635 $74,767 23
4 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor cost & debt at this university → $73,854 $71,575 $79,847 44
5 Ohio State University-Main Campus cost & debt at this university → $67,817 $71,015 $75,371 54
6 University of Washington-Seattle Campus not published $70,680 $82,437 35
7 Michigan State University cost & debt at this university → $68,609 $69,338 $76,359 23
8 Cornell University cost & debt at this university → $74,526 $68,778 $78,722 16
9 Purdue University-Main Campus cost & debt at this university → $69,257 $68,499 not published 56
10 California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo cost & debt at this university → $62,746 $68,219 $85,743 46
11 University of Florida cost & debt at this university → $70,098 $67,660 $60,722 58
12 University of Wisconsin-Madison cost & debt at this university → $64,892 $66,941 $69,713 24

What this figure does and does not tell you

Two medians are worth separating. $66,541 is what the typical graduate earns — each programme counted in proportion to how many students it graduates. $65,114 is what the typical programme reports, counting a class of twenty the same as a class of two thousand. The weighted figure is higher here, which means the larger programmes in this field are the better-paying ones.

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 $42,682, so Materials Engineering sits above the middle by $23,859.

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.

Scholarships for Materials Engineering students

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

Fully-Funded CISM PhD Scholarships in Materials Engineering at... University of Southern Denmark Fully Funded PhD Research Fello... Fully Funded Phd Studentships 2023-24, University of Leeds, UK Taiwan Tech TSMC Elite Scholarship 2024
See all Materials Engineering scholarships →

Study Materials Engineering Programmes listed on ScholarshipsAds.

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

Architectural Engineering — $65,557 Computer Science — $66,073 Chemical Engineering — $67,073 Industrial Engineering — $68,047 Electrical Engineering — $69,338 Computer Engineering — $71,015

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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.

Materials Engineering: the questions people ask

How much do Materials Engineering graduates earn?
The median bachelor's graduate earns $66,541 two years after finishing (weighting each programme by how many students it graduates), across 34 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $66,522.
Is a Materials 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 $27,021 a year more than a US worker whose highest qualification is a high-school diploma.
What is the salary range for Materials Engineering?
Half of US programmes report medians between $62,012 and $68,219. Where you study moves this figure more than most applicants expect.
How many people graduate in Materials Engineering each year?
About 1,305 students complete a bachelor's in this field each year across 65 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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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.