Bachelor's · earnings grade

Is a Mechanical Engineering degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $66,004 two years after finishing, more than 90% of bachelor's majors. Measured across 408 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 $66,004 2 years after finishing · per graduate
Typical range $61,218–$68,219 middle half of US programmes
Over no degree +$26,484 vs $39,520 high-school median
Graduates a year 33,840 408 programmes

Where a Mechanical 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 SUNY Maritime College cost & debt at this university → $70,875 $87,973 $98,027 50
2 California Institute of Technology not published $83,177 not published 36
3 Duke University cost & debt at this university → $71,314 $80,964 $90,153 73
4 University of Pennsylvania cost & debt at this university → $78,166 $80,858 $88,779 53
5 University of Michigan-Dearborn cost & debt at this university → $72,006 $80,486 $85,289 149
6 Kettering University cost & debt at this university → $76,471 $80,255 $85,093 157
7 Massachusetts Institute of Technology cost & debt at this university → $80,396 $79,647 $88,614 141
8 Cal Poly Maritime Academy $83,137 $78,971 $88,988 19
9 Franklin W Olin College of Engineering not published $78,343 $79,692 28
10 Stanford University cost & debt at this university → $67,007 $78,343 $94,255 56
11 Oakland University cost & debt at this university → $73,808 $76,962 $82,235 132
12 Lawrence Technological University cost & debt at this university → $71,908 $76,170 $82,165 51

What this figure does and does not tell you

Two medians are worth separating. $66,004 is what the typical graduate earns — each programme counted in proportion to how many students it graduates. $64,990 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 sits above the middle by $29,507.

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.

Mechanical Engineering at other levels

Master's — $81,702 (B)

Scholarships for Mechanical Engineering students

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

Fully Funded PhD Studentship in Mechanical Engineering at Swan... PhD Scholarship Engineering, Architecture and Information Tech... Hubei Provincial Scholarship Programs in China, 2017-18 ANU International Fee Offset Scholarships in Australia, 2018 60 IET Power Academy Scholarships for Undergraduates in UK, 20... UK University of Sheffield Engineering International Scholarsh...
See all Mechanical Engineering scholarships →

Study Mechanical Engineering Programmes listed on ScholarshipsAds.

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

Aerospace Engineering — $65,029 Materials Engineering — $65,114 Architectural Engineering — $65,557 Computer Science — $66,073 Chemical Engineering — $67,073 Building & Construction Finishing — $67,899

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Mechanical Engineering: the questions people ask

How much do Mechanical Engineering graduates earn?
The median bachelor's graduate earns $66,004 two years after finishing (weighting each programme by how many students it graduates), across 313 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $65,319.
Is a Mechanical 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 $26,484 a year more than a US worker whose highest qualification is a high-school diploma.
What is the salary range for Mechanical Engineering?
Half of US programmes report medians between $61,218 and $68,219. Where you study moves this figure more than most applicants expect.
How many people graduate in Mechanical Engineering each year?
About 33,840 students complete a bachelor's in this field each year across 408 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.