Program ranking · CIP 14.08 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for Civil Engineering

Using U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data retrieved March-July 2026, these colleges rank highest on median earnings for Civil Engineering (CIP 14.08) bachelor's completers. Rankings use earnings only - not prestige, selectivity, or editorial judgment - and require at least 25 completers so tiny suppressed cohorts do not dominate the list.

Compiled by PlainCollege , College outcomes data analysis

$108,548
Highest civil engineering earnings: 100
Colleges ranked: $84,340
#100 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $84,340 median earnings for Civil Engineering bachelor's (CIP 14.08) completers. University of California-Berkeley leads at $108,548.

According to the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard.

$108,548
#1 - University of California-Berkeley: $84,340
#100 - the cutoff to make this list: 25+
completers required per school: 310
US schools offering this CIP

Earnings are field-of-study medians for federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled; see methodology for horizon and lag details.

University of California…

$108,548
University of Southern C…

$106,308
Carnegie Mellon University

$105,199
Loyola Marymount Univers…

$103,223
California Polytechnic S…

$101,072
Northeastern University

$100,613
California State Polytec…

$97,790
California State Univers…

$97,123
University of California…

$97,092
University of California…

$96,354
University of California…

$95,939
Manhattan University

$95,877
San Diego State University

$95,865
California State Univers…

$95,854
The University of Texas at

$95,271

What this shows Civil-engineering medians follow infrastructure and regional construction cycles - compare debt and completer counts before treating pay as program quality.

The full top 100

#	School Name	State	Median Earnings	Median Debt	Completers
1	University of California-Berkeley	CA	$108,548	$14,342	106
2	University of Southern California	CA	$106,308	$8,125	34
3	Carnegie Mellon University	PA	$105,199	-	34
4	Loyola Marymount University	CA	$103,223	$27,000	27
5	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	$101,072	$20,424	130
6	Northeastern University	MA	$100,613	$24,750	89
7	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona	CA	$97,790	$16,500	277
8	California State University-Northridge	CA	$97,123	$19,834	75
9	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	$97,092	$17,529	87
10	University of California-Irvine	CA	$96,354	$17,816	123
11	University of California-Davis	CA	$95,939	$16,000	127
12	Manhattan University	NY	$95,877	$27,000	99
13	San Diego State University	CA	$95,865	$19,832	227
14	California State University-Fullerton	CA	$95,854	$13,274	124
15	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	$95,271	$19,875	143
16	University of Colorado Boulder	CO	$94,960	$19,318	81
17	New York University	NY	$94,867	$21,970	42
18	California State University-Los Angeles	CA	$94,760	$16,500	73
19	Colorado School of Mines	CO	$94,228	$23,402	81
20	The College of New Jersey	NJ	$93,977	$26,500	31
21	California State University-Sacramento	CA	$93,973	$18,000	145
22	George Mason University	VA	$93,856	$20,787	93
23	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	MA	$93,417	$27,000	54
24	Wentworth Institute of Technology	MA	$93,402	$26,872	44
25	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	$93,280	$20,499	120
26	Stony Brook University	NY	$92,908	$16,500	39
27	Stevens Institute of Technology	NJ	$92,609	$27,000	40
28	California State University-Chico	CA	$92,472	$21,125	88
29	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	$92,433	$19,500	202
30	University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus	CO	$92,224	$29,605	48
31	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	$92,010	$15,000	118
32	Washington State University	WA	$91,879	$20,780	101
33	Lehigh University	PA	$91,856	$27,000	28
34	University of California-San Diego	CA	$91,745	$16,400	110
35	University of Virginia-Main Campus	VA	$91,651	$14,400	48
36	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	$91,650	$19,000	157
37	University of Arizona	AZ	$91,602	$17,937	33
38	Cornell University	NY	$91,242	$12,500	32
39	San Francisco State University	CA	$90,894	$17,500	65
40	Purdue University-Main Campus	IN	$90,873	$19,500	173
41	Michigan State University	MI	$90,650	$26,500	82
42	University of Nevada-Las Vegas	NV	$90,474	$20,225	66
43	California Baptist University	CA	$90,251	$27,000	28
44	Texas Tech University	TX	$89,969	$25,980	85
45	Oregon State University	OR	$89,822	$22,500	123
46	University of Houston	TX	$89,653	$18,660	73
47	University of Cincinnati-Main Campus	OH	$89,653	$24,500	69
48	California State University-Long Beach	CA	$89,457	$15,850	122
49	Arizona State University Campus Immersion	AZ	$89,233	$22,500	113
50	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	$89,165	$18,750	42
51	University of Kansas	KS	$89,087	$20,500	60
52	Syracuse University	NY	$88,996	$27,000	36
53	Morgan State University	MD	$88,870	$20,909	48
54	Northern Arizona University	AZ	$88,184	$25,188	52
55	Marquette University	WI	$88,144	$26,750	30
56	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	VA	$88,142	$25,000	204
57	The University of Texas at Tyler	TX	$88,102	$18,750	54
58	University of Massachusetts-Amherst	MA	$88,076	$26,961	79
59	Colorado State University-Fort Collins	CO	$88,001	$25,000	109
60	CUNY City College	NY	$87,957	$19,529	57
61	Illinois Institute of Technology	IL	$87,884	$24,000	31
62	University of Connecticut	CT	$87,883	$24,000	75
63	University of North Dakota	ND	$87,828	$18,211	49
64	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	$87,691	$21,500	98
65	The University of Alabama	AL	$87,685	$25,000	129
66	University of Georgia	GA	$87,684	$20,875	58
67	California State University-Fresno	CA	$87,627	$15,267	70
68	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	$87,557	$25,880	77
69	New Jersey Institute of Technology	NJ	$87,389	$20,000	195
70	University of Hawaii at Manoa	HI	$87,286	$20,165	83
71	University of Delaware	DE	$87,015	$25,000	53
72	Gonzaga University	WA	$86,942	$25,000	34
73	Oklahoma State University-Main Campus	OK	$86,890	$21,500	58
74	The University of Texas at Arlington	TX	$86,844	$19,583	102
75	University of Central Florida	FL	$86,803	$20,250	155
76	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	NY	$86,794	$26,250	52
77	University of Florida	FL	$86,453	$18,609	128
78	University of Idaho	ID	$86,310	$20,125	37
79	University of Louisiana at Lafayette	LA	$86,128	$27,000	30
80	Portland State University	OR	$86,084	$22,470	71
81	Southern Illinois University Edwardsville	IL	$85,969	$20,264	54
82	Utah State University	UT	$85,815	$15,500	46
83	University of Notre Dame	IN	$85,781	$13,500	44
84	Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College	LA	$85,627	$21,312	108
85	North Carolina State University at Raleigh	NC	$85,568	$23,972	107
86	Iowa State University	IA	$85,427	$24,477	122
87	University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus	OK	$85,332	$22,250	46
88	Ohio State University-Main Campus	OH	$85,202	$21,820	136
89	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	GA	$85,133	$18,750	106
90	University of Utah	UT	$85,097	$18,750	58
91	University of Missouri-Kansas City	MO	$85,055	$21,375	31
92	Missouri University of Science and Technology	MO	$85,053	$25,464	128
93	Drexel University	PA	$84,992	$31,000	65
94	Clemson University	SC	$84,873	$21,912	124
95	University at Buffalo	NY	$84,868	$19,500	167
96	University of South Florida	FL	$84,789	$21,625	85
97	Florida Atlantic University	FL	$84,778	$23,300	60
98	Florida International University	FL	$84,523	$20,044	157
99	Florida Gulf Coast University	FL	$84,451	$17,125	48
100	Florida State University	FL	$84,340	$18,835	103

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for Civil Engineering (CIP 14.08) bachelor's completers. Only operating schools with at least 25 completers and a published median are included. Ties break toward larger completer cohorts. For the full program profile - including every reporting school and national distribution - see Civil Engineering (bachelor's). Methodology lives on our methodology page.

Caveats and limitations

"Best" here means highest reported median earnings for the stated CIP scope - not teaching quality, licensure pass rates, clinical placement strength, or fit for any one student. This list covers Civil Engineering (CIP 14.08) only - construction management and other CIP-14 majors are ranked on their own pages when demand warrants.

Figures cover federally aided completers only, use Treasury-linked earnings, and describe a lagged cohort. Regional pay scales and graduate-school paths both move the median without proving a causal school effect.

This ranking is for informational purposes only and does not constitute academic or career advice. Earnings do not predict any individual graduate's outcome.

Every figure on PlainCollege is rendered directly from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard data, no number is typed in by an editor. Rankings are computed directly from College Scorecard field-of-study data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error on this page. Review the public data changelog. Data current as of Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals.