Highest-Paying Engineering Programs
Colleges whose engineering graduates earn the most one year after finishing, across all bachelor's programs in the field.
Ranked by median earnings, 1 year after completing · 406 of 2,406 institutions report this measure · Compiled 2026-09-01
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Top schools on this list that also show up elsewhere — hop lists without leaving the trail.
#1
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ
#5
Duke University
Durham, NC
#8
Harvey Mudd College
Claremont, CA
- 1Princeton UniversityPrinceton, NJ · Private$108,380Compare nearby
Also on 11 other lists
- English Language & Literature#1
- Best Earnings-to-Debt Ratio#3
- Highest Four-Year Graduation Rates#3
- Most Selective Colleges in America#6
- Public Administration#10
- Best Student-to-Faculty Ratios#11
- Graduates Earn the Most 10 Years Out#14
- the Highest SAT Averages#14
- Psychology#15
- the Highest ACT Scores#20
- Best Early-Career Earnings, 6 Years After Enrolling#24
- 2Franklin W Olin College of EngineeringNeedham, MA · Private$89,618Compare nearby
- 3California State University Maritime AcademyVallejo, CA · Public$85,206Compare nearby
- 4Massachusetts Maritime AcademyBuzzards Bay, MA · Public$81,609Compare nearby
- 5Duke UniversityDurham, NC · Private$80,292Compare nearby
- 6Maine Maritime AcademyCastine, ME · Public$80,081Compare nearby
- 7Kettering UniversityFlint, MI · Private$78,971Compare nearby
- 8Harvey Mudd CollegeClaremont, CA · Private$78,343Compare nearby
- 9Utah Valley UniversityOrem, UT · Public$78,343Compare nearby
- 10Stanford UniversityStanford, CA · Private$77,966Compare nearby
Also on 15 other lists
- Computer Science#2
- Biological Sciences#3
- Engineering Technology#3
- Most Selective Colleges in America#3
- Best Earnings-to-Debt Ratio#4
- Psychology#6
- the Highest SAT Averages#6
- the Highest ACT Scores#7
- Best Early-Career Earnings, 6 Years After Enrolling#7
- Graduates Earn the Most 10 Years Out#7
- Area & Ethnic Studies#8
- Social Sciences#8
- English Language & Literature#18
- Multidisciplinary Studies#22
- Are Least Likely to Leave#24
- 11Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridge, MA · Private$77,887Compare nearby
Also on 15 other lists
- Graduates Earn the Most 10 Years Out#1
- Biological Sciences#1
- Business#1
- Liberal Arts#1
- Multidisciplinary Studies#2
- Physical Sciences#2
- Best Early-Career Earnings, 6 Years After Enrolling#3
- the Highest SAT Averages#4
- Best Student-to-Faculty Ratios#5
- Best Earnings-to-Debt Ratio#6
- Most Selective Colleges in America#7
- Highest Four-Year Graduation Rates#8
- Computer Science#10
- Mathematics & Statistics#12
- Are Least Likely to Leave#14
- 12University of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, PA · Private$77,715Compare nearby
Also on 15 other lists
- Philosophy & Religious Studies#2
- Most Expensive Colleges by Sticker Price#4
- Communications#4
- Mathematics & Statistics#4
- Highest Four-Year Graduation Rates#5
- Multidisciplinary Studies#5
- Business#9
- History#10
- the Highest SAT Averages#11
- Most Selective Colleges in America#11
- Graduates Earn the Most 10 Years Out#12
- Best Early-Career Earnings, 6 Years After Enrolling#17
- Computer Science#18
- Are Least Likely to Leave#20
- Social Sciences#22
- 13SUNY Maritime CollegeThroggs Neck, NY · Public$77,166Compare nearby
- 14Washington University in St LouisSaint Louis, MO · Private$76,931Compare nearby
- 15University of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles, CA · Private$76,859Compare nearby
- 16Oakland UniversityRochester Hills, MI · Public$76,460Compare nearby
- 17National UniversitySan Diego, CA · Private$76,040Compare nearby
- 18The University of Texas Permian BasinOdessa, TX · Public$75,842Compare nearby
- 19Vaughn College of Aeronautics and TechnologyFlushing, NY · Private$75,204Compare nearby
- 20Marietta CollegeMarietta, OH · Private$75,090Compare nearby
- 21Santa Clara UniversitySanta Clara, CA · Private$74,980Compare nearby
- 22Florida Agricultural and Mechanical UniversityTallahassee, FL · Public$74,576Compare nearby
- 23Northwestern UniversityEvanston, IL · Private$74,465Compare nearby
Also on 11 other lists
- Most Expensive Colleges by Sticker Price#1
- the Highest ACT Scores#2
- Public Administration#8
- Highest Four-Year Graduation Rates#11
- Physical Sciences#13
- Most Selective Colleges in America#18
- Foreign Languages#19
- Best Student-to-Faculty Ratios#20
- the Highest SAT Averages#21
- Legal Professions#24
- Communications#25
- 24Lawrence Technological UniversitySouthfield, MI · Private$74,428Compare nearby
- 25Montana Technological UniversityButte, MT · Public$74,208Compare nearby
How this list was built
- Measure
- Median earnings, 1 year after completing — sorted highest to lowest
- Source variable
EARN_MDN_HI_1YR- Dataset
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, Most-Recent-Cohorts-Field-of-Study (04-17-2025 release)
- Where a college offers several engineering programs, the figure shown is the median across those programs.
- Earnings cover graduates who received federal financial aid, were working and not enrolled one year after completing, and whose highest credential is that bachelor's degree.
- 406 institutions report earnings for this field; programs with too few graduates are suppressed for privacy by the Department of Education and cannot be ranked.
A single measure is a narrow way to judge a college. Read this alongside the others, and see the methodology for what these figures do and do not capture.
Keep exploring
- Re-rank with your weightsRe-score with your weights, filtered to Engineering
- Showdown: Princeton University vs Franklin W Olin College of EngineeringHigher-or-lower on Scorecard metrics — round 1 is these two
- Live leaderboardReshuffle Top 10–50 on one Scorecard measure
- Explore games & mapsShowdown, Name That College, sports, and more lists
- Sports at Princeton UniversityEADA programs for the #1 school on this list
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