Majors

Best Colleges for Civil Engineering, by Earnings

285 of the colleges we track award a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, about 14,254 degrees a year. Across the 221 that report earnings, graduates make a median of $85,133 four years after finishing.

Rank	College	State	Median earnings, 4 years out	Degrees a year	Acceptance rate
1	University of California-Berkeley	CA	$108,548	103	11%
2	The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art	NY	$108,466	27	20.7%
3	Columbia University	NY	$108,246	27	4%
4	University of Southern California	CA	$106,308	28	9.8%
5	Santa Clara University	CA	$105,594	32	48%
6	Carnegie Mellon University	PA	$105,199	26	11.7%
7	Loyola Marymount University	CA	$103,223	23	45.1%
8	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	$101,072	148	31.3%
9	George Washington University	DC	$100,990	15	47.1%
10	Northeastern University	MA	$100,613	96	5.2%
11	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona	CA	$97,790	304	75.2%
12	California State University-Northridge	CA	$97,123	69	93.5%
13	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	$97,092	91	9%
14	University of California-Irvine	CA	$96,354	110	28.6%
15	University of California-Davis	CA	$95,939	133	41.8%
16	Manhattan University	NY	$95,877	100	78.9%
17	San Diego State University	CA	$95,865	142	36.2%
18	California State University-Fullerton	CA	$95,854	84	90.5%
19	Bucknell University	PA	$95,693	24	28.9%
20	University of Texas at Austin	TX	$95,271	142	26.6%
21	University of Colorado Boulder	CO	$94,960	50	78.1%
22	New York University	NY	$94,867	55	7.7%
23	California State University-Los Angeles	CA	$94,760	63	91.3%
24	Colorado School of Mines	CO	$94,228	83	60.7%
25	The College of New Jersey	NJ	$93,977	29	62.3%
26	California State University-Sacramento	CA	$93,973	145	94%
27	George Mason University	VA	$93,856	80	87.5%
28	The Catholic University of America	DC	$93,821	15	82.8%
29	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	MA	$93,417	35	60.2%
30	Wentworth Institute of Technology	MA	$93,402	45	91.2%
31	University of Maryland	MD	$93,280	103	44.8%
32	Stony Brook University	NY	$92,908	33	49%
33	Milwaukee School of Engineering	WI	$92,809	47	58.9%
34	Stevens Institute of Technology	NJ	$92,609	38	47.6%
35	California State University-Chico	CA	$92,472	58	92.7%
36	Texas A&M University	TX	$92,433	252	57.4%
37	University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus	CO	$92,224	61	74.7%
38	University of Washington	WA	$92,010	118	39.1%
39	Washington State University	WA	$91,879	86	86.6%
40	Lehigh University	PA	$91,856	45	25.9%
41	University of California-San Diego	CA	$91,745	93	26.7%
42	University of Virginia	VA	$91,651	36	16.8%
43	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	$91,650	180	42.4%
44	The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga	TN	$91,615	27	81.1%
45	University of Arizona	AZ	$91,602	32	86.1%
46	Cornell University	NY	$91,242	36	8.8%
47	San Francisco State University	CA	$90,894	53	96.4%
48	Purdue University	IN	$90,873	180	49.9%
49	Merrimack College	MA	$90,714	23	70%
50	Michigan State University	MI	$90,650	97	84.8%
51	University of the Pacific	CA	$90,510	14	71.3%
52	University of Nevada-Las Vegas	NV	$90,474	71	96.2%
53	California Baptist University	CA	$90,251	22	84.9%
54	Roger Williams University	RI	$90,146	13	87.7%
55	Texas Tech University	TX	$89,969	117	72.7%
56	Oregon State University	OR	$89,822	85	77.3%
57	Oregon State University-Cascades Campus	OR	$89,822	3	63.1%
58	University of Houston	TX	$89,653	79	73.9%
59	University of Cincinnati	OH	$89,653	74	85.3%
60	California State University-Long Beach	CA	$89,457	134	46.3%
61	University of Portland	OR	$89,448	25	89.2%
62	Lamar University	TX	$89,250	24	86.4%
63	Arizona State University	AZ	$89,233	110	89.9%
64	University of Michigan	MI	$89,165	55	15.6%
65	University of Kansas	KS	$89,087	54	93.5%
66	Syracuse University	NY	$88,996	28	45.9%
67	Tufts University	MA	$88,924	26	11.5%
68	Morgan State University	MD	$88,870	36	82.2%
69	Northern Arizona University	AZ	$88,184	38	89.6%
70	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology	IN	$88,155	20	76.9%
71	Marquette University	WI	$88,144	30	81.3%
72	Virginia Tech	VA	$88,142	242	54.8%
73	The University of Texas at Tyler	TX	$88,102	43	94%
74	University of Massachusetts-Amherst	MA	$88,076	83	59.7%
75	Colorado State University	CO	$88,001	93	88.5%
76	CUNY City College	NY	$87,957	36	60%
77	Illinois Institute of Technology	IL	$87,884	37	54.9%
78	University of Connecticut	CT	$87,883	84	52.4%
79	University of North Dakota	ND	$87,828	32	76.9%
80	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	$87,691	87	45.2%
81	The University of Alabama	AL	$87,685	109	76.6%
82	University of Georgia	GA	$87,684	63	37.7%
83	California State University-Fresno	CA	$87,627	70	95.3%
84	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	$87,557	85	58.1%
85	New Jersey Institute of Technology	NJ	$87,389	177	65.1%
86	Central Connecticut State University	CT	$87,366	13	73.3%
87	University of Hawaii at Manoa	HI	$87,286	89	86.6%
88	University of Delaware	DE	$87,015	49	70.6%
89	Gonzaga University	WA	$86,942	26	81.7%
90	Oklahoma State University-Main Campus	OK	$86,890	46	75%
91	The University of Texas at Arlington	TX	$86,844	91	79.9%
92	University of Alaska Fairbanks	AK	$86,819	10
93	University of Central Florida	FL	$86,803	158	40.1%
94	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	NY	$86,794	53	63.5%
95	Florida Institute of Technology	FL	$86,536	13	57.7%
96	University of Florida	FL	$86,453	102	24.2%
97	Western New England University	MA	$86,375	21	83.5%
98	University of Idaho	ID	$86,310	32	75.5%
99	University of Louisiana at Lafayette	LA	$86,128	32	87%
100	Portland State University	OR	$86,084	50	90.9%

Showing the top 100 of 221 colleges that report earnings. 64 more colleges award this degree but have no earnings figure, usually because the program is small.

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Frequently asked questions

Which college has the highest-paid Civil Engineering graduates?

University of California-Berkeley ($108,548), The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art ($108,466), Columbia University ($108,246), University of Southern California ($106,308), Santa Clara University ($105,594) report the highest median earnings four years after graduation.

How much do Civil Engineering majors make?

The median across 221 colleges is $85,133 four years after graduation. By college it runs from $63,091 to $108,548.

Which colleges have the biggest Civil Engineering programs?

By bachelor's degrees awarded in a year: California State Polytechnic University-Pomona (304), Texas A&M University (252), Virginia Tech (242), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (180), Purdue University (180).

Does a higher-earning program mean a better program?

Not on its own. Earnings reflect where graduates live, what jobs they take, and who enrolled in the first place, as well as the teaching. The figures cover only graduates who received federal financial aid, and small programs are left out, so a college missing from this list may still have a strong department.

Source: College Scorecard, Most Recent Data by Field of Study (U.S. Department of Education), 2026-06-10 release, federal program category "Civil Engineering". Earnings are medians for graduates who received federal financial aid, working and not enrolled, four years after a bachelor's degree.