Bachelor's · earnings grade

Is a Mechanical Engineering Related Technology degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $59,711 two years after finishing, more than 80% of bachelor's majors. Measured across 103 US programmes by the Department of Education — real graduate pay, not survey answers.

B

The verdict on the money

Yes — graduates earn more than most majors at this level.

Median earnings $59,711 2 years after finishing · per graduate
Typical range $54,463–$62,508 middle half of US programmes
Over no degree +$20,191 vs $39,520 high-school median
Graduates a year 2,611 103 programmes

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

#University1 yr out2 yrs out3 yrs outGraduates/yr
1 Art Center College of Design $60,973 $81,702 not published 50
2 Milwaukee School of Engineering cost & debt at this university → not published $74,200 $86,540 —
3 Youngstown State University cost & debt at this university → $62,179 $70,176 $60,669 12
4 Ferris State University cost & debt at this university → $64,480 $69,535 $70,863 84
5 Eastern Michigan University cost & debt at this university → $62,313 $69,338 $74,479 9
6 Central Michigan University cost & debt at this university → $64,535 $68,499 $74,567 14
7 University of Dayton $62,507 $67,660 $70,236 39
8 Rochester Institute of Technology cost & debt at this university → $65,455 $67,587 $73,403 92
9 Point Park University cost & debt at this university → not published $67,101 not published 1
10 Cal Poly Maritime Academy $95,733 $66,171 $102,821 17
11 LeTourneau University cost & debt at this university → $45,153 $65,332 not published 26
12 Michigan Technological University cost & debt at this university → $63,302 $65,170 $68,039 23

What this figure does and does not tell you

Two medians are worth separating. $59,711 is what the typical graduate earns — each programme counted in proportion to how many students it graduates. $58,522 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 $36,497, so Mechanical Engineering Related Technology sits above the middle by $23,214.

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.

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

Drafting & Design Engineering Technology — $58,673 Biomedical Engineering — $58,866 Quality Control — $59,286 Engineering Physics — $60,171 Civil Engineering — $60,523 Nuclear Engineering — $60,899

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Mechanical Engineering Related Technology: the questions people ask

How much do Mechanical Engineering Related Technology graduates earn?
The median bachelor's graduate earns $59,711 two years after finishing (weighting each programme by how many students it graduates), across 61 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $58,773.
Is a Mechanical Engineering Related Technology degree worth it?
Yes — graduates earn more than most majors at this level. The median graduate earns $20,191 a year more than a US worker whose highest qualification is a high-school diploma.
What is the salary range for Mechanical Engineering Related Technology?
Half of US programmes report medians between $54,463 and $62,508. Where you study moves this figure more than most applicants expect.
How many people graduate in Mechanical Engineering Related Technology each year?
About 2,611 students complete a bachelor's in this field each year across 103 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 Mechanical Engineering Related Technologies/Technicians (CIP 1508). 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.