Majors

Best Colleges for Mechanical Engineering, by Earnings

374 of the colleges we track award a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, about 33,547 degrees a year. Across the 310 that report earnings, graduates make a median of $91,040 four years after finishing.

Rank	College	State	Median earnings, 4 years out	Degrees a year	Acceptance rate
1	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	MA	$131,967	141	4.5%
2	Cal Poly Maritime Academy	CA	$126,395	19	95%
3	Santa Clara University	CA	$122,111	36	48%
4	Duke University	NC	$120,991	73	5.7%
5	University of California-Berkeley	CA	$119,371	188	11%
6	Stanford University	CA	$117,072	56	3.6%
7	Princeton University	NJ	$115,927	45	4.6%
8	University of Pennsylvania	PA	$114,492	53	5.4%
9	Cornell University	NY	$112,212	132	8.8%
10	Columbia University	NY	$111,491	75	4%
11	Johns Hopkins University	MD	$110,210	40	6.4%
12	Rice University	TX	$108,970	65	8%
13	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	$108,875	187	9%
14	SUNY Maritime College	NY	$106,932	50	72.4%
15	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	$106,750	278	31.3%
16	University of Michigan	MI	$105,888	239	15.6%
17	Carnegie Mellon University	PA	$105,623	107	11.7%
18	California Baptist University	CA	$105,046	54	84.9%
19	University of Detroit Mercy	MI	$104,683	16	75.4%
20	University of Southern California	CA	$104,649	101	9.8%
21	University of Texas at Austin	TX	$104,523	275	26.6%
22	University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	$104,336	82	33%
23	University of California-San Diego	CA	$104,229	147	26.7%
24	Northeastern University	MA	$103,384	231	5.2%
25	Purdue University	IN	$102,572	478	49.9%
26	University of California-Davis	CA	$102,161	153	41.8%
27	San Francisco State University	CA	$102,104	70	96.4%
28	University of Washington	WA	$102,078	121	39.1%
29	University of Washington-Bothell Campus	WA	$102,078	45	90.6%
30	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus	WA	$102,078	16	82.5%
31	Lafayette College	PA	$101,348	54	31.5%
32	Vanderbilt University	TN	$101,345	54	5.9%
33	Tufts University	MA	$101,196	79	11.5%
34	George Washington University	DC	$101,196	37	47.1%
35	Stevens Institute of Technology	NJ	$100,554	180	47.6%
36	Lawrence Technological University	MI	$100,145	51	55.9%
37	University of Maryland	MD	$100,003	327	44.8%
38	Louisiana State University	LA	$99,975	111	73.3%
39	Georgia Institute of Technology	GA	$99,955	437	14.1%
40	Bucknell University	PA	$99,860	46	28.9%
41	University of Notre Dame	IN	$99,859	101	11.3%
42	University of the Pacific	CA	$99,573	23	71.3%
43	Saint Louis University	MO	$99,331	36	75%
44	Kettering University	MI	$99,292	157	78.7%
45	California State University-Northridge	CA	$99,216	177	93.5%
46	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona	CA	$99,148	216	75.2%
47	University of California-Irvine	CA	$99,111	284	28.6%
48	Northwestern University	IL	$98,277	72	7.7%
49	New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology	NM	$98,213	50	44.5%
50	University of Alaska Anchorage	AK	$98,156	24
51	Texas Tech University	TX	$98,113	254	72.7%
52	Michigan State University	MI	$97,946	279	84.8%
53	Texas A&M University	TX	$97,903	469	57.4%
54	University of Nevada-Las Vegas	NV	$97,901	114	96.2%
55	San Diego State University	CA	$97,825	259	36.2%
56	Villanova University	PA	$97,556	73	27%
57	Oakland University	MI	$97,444	132	87.8%
58	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	MA	$97,308	211	60.2%
59	CUNY City College	NY	$97,270	100	60%
60	Lamar University	TX	$97,159	49	86.4%
61	Wentworth Institute of Technology	MA	$97,124	128	91.2%
62	University of Florida	FL	$97,113	268	24.2%
63	Colorado School of Mines	CO	$97,087	321	60.7%
64	University of Massachusetts-Amherst	MA	$96,999	153	59.7%
65	Lehigh University	PA	$96,618	72	25.9%
66	George Mason University	VA	$96,467	89	87.5%
67	Ohio State University	OH	$96,418	218	60.6%
68	Virginia Tech	VA	$96,376	342	54.8%
69	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach	FL	$96,331	88	64.8%
70	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Prescott	AZ	$96,331	54	76.6%
71	Loyola Marymount University	CA	$96,226	39	45.1%
72	Seattle University	WA	$96,218	29	76.9%
73	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology	IN	$95,983	121	76.9%
74	Washington University in St Louis	MO	$95,965	103	12.1%
75	California State University-Long Beach	CA	$95,957	234	46.3%
76	Bradley University	IL	$95,896	64	76.8%
77	Boston University	MA	$95,757	124	11.1%
78	Oregon Institute of Technology	OR	$95,470	48	95%
79	University of Alabama in Huntsville	AL	$95,341	127	68.6%
80	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	$95,329	228	42.4%
81	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	$95,114	218	45.2%
82	Arizona State University	AZ	$95,090	278	89.9%
83	The University of Alabama	AL	$95,079	224	76.6%
84	University of Maryland-Baltimore County	MD	$95,078	111	72.4%
85	University of Rochester	NY	$95,060	64	40.1%
86	University of California-Merced	CA	$95,040	150	90.5%
87	University of New Mexico-Main Campus	NM	$94,990	83	95.2%
88	University of Michigan-Dearborn	MI	$94,919	149	55.6%
89	University of Virginia	VA	$94,881	71	16.8%
90	Wayne State University	MI	$94,869	61	81.2%
91	University of Massachusetts-Lowell	MA	$94,841	156	83%
92	Hofstra University	NY	$94,744	25	68.1%
93	University of Missouri	MO	$94,629	125	78.5%
94	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	$94,561	182	58.1%
95	Central Connecticut State University	CT	$94,462	51	73.3%
96	Roger Williams University	RI	$94,385	27	87.7%
97	University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus	CO	$94,320	53	74.7%
98	Colorado State University	CO	$94,260	201	88.5%
99	Portland State University	OR	$94,223	75	90.9%
100	Case Western Reserve University	OH	$94,197	106	36.5%

Showing the top 100 of 310 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 Mechanical Engineering graduates?

Massachusetts Institute of Technology ($131,967), Cal Poly Maritime Academy ($126,395), Santa Clara University ($122,111), Duke University ($120,991), University of California-Berkeley ($119,371) report the highest median earnings four years after graduation.

How much do Mechanical Engineering majors make?

The median across 310 colleges is $91,040 four years after graduation. By college it runs from $54,689 to $131,967.

Which colleges have the biggest Mechanical Engineering programs?

By bachelor's degrees awarded in a year: Purdue University (478), Texas A&M University (469), Georgia Institute of Technology (437), University of Central Florida (424), Pennsylvania State University (374).

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 "Mechanical Engineering". Earnings are medians for graduates who received federal financial aid, working and not enrolled, four years after a bachelor's degree.