Compiled by PlainCollege, College outcomes data analysis
147
Schools
Master's
Credential Level
$115,457
National Avg Earnings
What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Chemical Engineering
Chemical Engineering is tracked across 147 U.S. postsecondary institutions in the College Scorecard field-of-study file, which links CIP code classifications from IPEDS to Treasury earnings records. This profile covers the master's credential level specifically, because the Department of Education reports program-level outcomes separately for associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral awards. The CIP (Classification of Instructional Programs) taxonomy lets analysts roll up specialties into broader families, which is why earnings medians across schools can be compared on a common basis.
Across all reporting institutions, the mean of school-level medians is $115,457, calculated from 11 schools with published earnings data. The earnings distribution stretches from $102,730 at the low end to $131,873 at the top, with a 25th-75th percentile band between $110,950 and $122,043 around a median of $114,037. The top-reporting institution in this program is North Carolina State University at Raleigh at $131,873. These numbers reflect Treasury-derived wages, deferred compensation, and positive self-employment earnings four years after completion for federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled.
Variation across schools matters more than a single national figure. Completer counts and earnings cohort counts are distinct source fields, so the displayed completer count should not be assumed to be the earnings denominator. PlainCollege's debt-to-earnings ratio divides median federal debt by annual median earnings as a descriptive comparison; it is not the Department's formal gainful-employment test. Use the school-by-school table to compare reported outcomes while accounting for cohort size, suppression, program mix, and location.
Columbia University in the City of New York accounts for 15.2% of all Chemical Engineering master's credential graduates
That concentration — well above the 5% national median for largest-entity share means Chemical Engineering-wide averages can mask meaningful variation outside the largest entity, though the remaining entities individually still carry a share worth reading on their own. That school produced 76 graduates in the most recent cohort, anchoring a meaningful slice of national supply for this field. Even a notable-but-not-dominant share like this is enough to skew a simple Chemical Engineering-wide average away from what a typical smaller entity looks like.
Earnings trajectory. For the 11 schools reporting both horizons, median earnings are
49% higher four years after completion than one year
after. That is the same graduates measured twice, not two different groups, so it
describes how pay develops early in the career rather than a difference between schools.
A school missing from this count reports only one horizon.
Awards and earnings come from different reference periods, so they are not a count and an
average of the same people. Awards is the number of credentials the school reported for the
latest IPEDS year; median earnings is measured four years after completion, for a separate
pooled cohort of earlier graduates. A school can therefore report zero awards in the latest
year and still have earnings on record. The earnings figure is not the awards figure’s
average, and the awards count is not the earnings sample size. Schools are ranked on the
four-year earnings figure only, so every row is compared on the same basis.
Compare beyond the CIP family
Nationwide peers by school count & four-year earnings
Cross-field programs at the same credential level nearest Chemical Engineering on school-count breadth
(147 schools) and mean four-year median earnings ($115,457).
Peers exclude the same two-digit CIP family so neighborhoods are not CIP-containment siblings.
School-count peers include Ecology, Evolution, Systematics, and Population Biology, Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication, Education, Other. Earnings peers include Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management, Taxation, Finance and Financial Management Services.
Neighborhoods are forced disjoint so each axis surfaces a different set of programs.
Similar school count
Nearest programs (≥50 schools) by absolute school-count breadth, outside this CIP family.
How much do Chemical Engineering graduates earn? ▼
Chemical Engineering graduates earn $115,457 on average four years after completion, across the 11 of 147 schools that report earnings for this program. Earnings range from $102,730 to $131,873 depending on the institution.
Which school's Chemical Engineering graduates earn the most? ▼
North Carolina State University at Raleigh has the highest reported median earnings for Chemical Engineering graduates at $131,873, measured four years after completion in College Scorecard data. This reflects what graduates went on to earn, which depends heavily on who the school admits and which employers recruit there. It is not a figure the school pays.
What credential do you get in Chemical Engineering? ▼
Chemical Engineering programs typically award a Master's credential. Earnings vary by school and credential level.
Top Schools for Chemical Engineering
Closest schools offering this program – compare earnings side by side
Earnings data comes from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard Field of Study file retrieved in March 2026. The program metric displayed here represents federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled four years after credential completion, using Treasury-derived records published through the Scorecard. Completer counts and debt figures come from the same field-of-study snapshot; the Department refreshes components on schedules documented in its changelog, not one fixed annual date.