Federal data
Highest earning mechanical engineering programs in the United States
U.S. mechanical engineering programs, ranked by median earnings one year after completion, from the College Scorecard field-of-study file (September 18, 2026). Only programs with at least 30 counted graduates in the earnings sample are shown, and at least 5 programs must qualify for this list to exist.
| Rank | School | City | Sector | Median earnings, 1 year after | Graduates counted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California State University Maritime Academy | Vallejo | Public, 4-year | $92,315 | 46 |
| 2 | Duke University | Durham | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $89,938 | 49 |
| 3 | University of California-Berkeley | Berkeley | Public, 4-year | $88,497 | 90 |
| 4 | Cornell University | Ithaca | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $85,440 | 73 |
| 5 | University of Notre Dame | Notre Dame | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $84,999 | 90 |
| 6 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $83,957 | 109 |
| 7 | University of Southern California | Los Angeles | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $83,356 | 59 |
| 8 | California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo | San Luis Obispo | Public, 4-year | $83,011 | 235 |
| 9 | Rice University | Houston | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $82,899 | 36 |
| 10 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | Ann Arbor | Public, 4-year | $82,823 | 277 |
| 11 | George Washington University | Washington | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $82,361 | 32 |
| 12 | The University of Texas at Austin | Austin | Public, 4-year | $82,227 | 186 |
| 13 | Santa Clara University | Santa Clara | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $81,865 | 38 |
| 14 | University of California-Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara | Public, 4-year | $81,108 | 40 |
| 15 | Villanova University | Villanova | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $80,962 | 76 |
| 16 | Purdue University-Main Campus | West Lafayette | Public, 4-year | $80,374 | 185 |
| 17 | Michigan State University | East Lansing | Public, 4-year | $80,259 | 289 |
| 18 | Northeastern University | Boston | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $80,255 | 260 |
| 19 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | Champaign | Public, 4-year | $80,187 | 130 |
| 20 | Ohio State University | Columbus | Public, 4-year | $79,359 | 168 |
| 21 | Kettering University | Flint | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $79,307 | 212 |
| 22 | Southern Methodist University | Dallas | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $79,280 | 39 |
| 23 | University of California-Los Angeles | Los Angeles | Public, 4-year | $79,016 | 85 |
| 24 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | Atlanta | Public, 4-year | $78,862 | 337 |
| 25 | Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | Terre Haute | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $78,732 | 171 |
Earnings cover federally aided graduates only, as published by College Scorecard.
How to read this. A smaller program can show a high or low figure from just a few graduates, and this earnings figure only ever covers students who received federal aid, so it does not describe every graduate.
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