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Program ranking · CIP 14.10 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for Electrical 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 Electrical Engineering (CIP 14.10) 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.

$250,168
Highest electrical engineering earnings
100
Colleges ranked
$98,871
#100 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $98,871 median earnings for Electrical Engineering bachelor's (CIP 14.10) completers. Carnegie Mellon University leads at $250,168.

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

$250,168
#1 - Carnegie Mellon University
$98,871
#100 - the cutoff to make this list
25+
completers required per school
399
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.

Top 15 electrical engineering programs by median completer earnings

Electrical Engineering bachelor's (CIP 14.10) · higher is higher early-career pay

median earnings

What this shows Electrical-engineering medians swing with semiconductor, power, and telecom markets - debt and cohort size still matter alongside the headline median.

Source U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard Field of Study As of Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

The full top 100

# School Name StateMedian EarningsMedian DebtCompleters
1 Carnegie Mellon University PA $250,168 $22,224 166
2 University of California-Berkeley CA $200,543 $13,674 528
3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology MA $161,118 $10,967 73
4 Cornell University NY $147,241 $14,725 87
5 The University of Texas at Austin TX $146,003 $20,480 320
6 The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art NY $139,068 - 31
7 Rice University TX $136,656 - 49
8 University of California-Los Angeles CA $126,209 $16,979 142
9 California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo CA $125,240 $23,475 136
10 University of California-Santa Cruz CA $118,290 $16,796 40
11 University of California-San Diego CA $118,150 $20,000 218
12 Northeastern University MA $118,150 $24,583 87
13 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor MI $117,610 $17,430 119
14 Villanova University PA $117,229 $27,000 28
15 University of California-Santa Barbara CA $117,215 $15,500 68
16 University of Washington-Seattle Campus WA $116,010 $14,000 226
17 University of Washington-Bothell Campus WA $116,010 $14,000 76
18 Prairie View A & M University TX $115,939 $25,000 25
19 University of Notre Dame IN $112,828 $19,000 45
20 Sonoma State University CA $112,757 - 25
21 San Francisco State University CA $112,454 $16,125 38
22 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign IL $111,783 $21,500 177
23 Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus GA $111,655 $22,250 158
24 University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus CO $110,754 $29,014 50
25 Kettering University MI $109,977 $30,000 35
26 Worcester Polytechnic Institute MA $109,386 $26,887 87
27 Rutgers University-New Brunswick NJ $108,296 $23,000 224
28 California State University-Fresno CA $108,038 $25,875 29
29 University of Maryland-College Park MD $107,834 $21,000 112
30 University of Florida FL $107,543 $20,650 121
31 Virginia Commonwealth University VA $107,487 $22,550 37
32 University of Houston TX $107,399 $22,625 84
33 New York University NY $107,348 $24,000 42
34 Texas Tech University TX $107,110 $26,000 69
35 University of California-Irvine CA $106,871 $19,000 79
36 Marquette University WI $106,686 $25,947 26
37 San Diego State University CA $106,416 $17,999 106
38 University of North Dakota ND $106,162 $27,000 39
39 University of Rhode Island RI $106,153 $21,500 27
40 Mississippi State University MS $106,039 $25,037 72
41 Colorado School of Mines CO $106,012 $21,500 93
42 University of Arizona AZ $105,839 $21,000 101
43 University of Michigan-Dearborn MI $105,446 $20,833 121
44 Purdue University-Main Campus IN $105,396 $17,750 203
45 Oregon State University OR $105,359 $22,664 111
46 University of Rochester NY $105,183 $18,175 65
47 University of Missouri-Columbia MO $105,034 $22,500 38
48 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA $104,839 $23,562 104
49 Arizona State University Campus Immersion AZ $104,757 $24,263 184
50 Arizona State University Digital Immersion AZ $104,757 $24,263 161
51 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute NY $104,596 $23,250 107
52 The University of Texas at Dallas TX $104,448 $24,125 125
53 Washington State University WA $104,354 $18,546 110
54 Rowan University NJ $104,215 $23,000 58
55 California State University-Northridge CA $104,065 $16,382 78
56 California State Polytechnic University-Pomona CA $103,924 $17,985 108
57 Texas A&M University-College Station TX $103,789 $20,968 281
58 California State University-Sacramento CA $103,512 $16,500 94
59 California State University-Long Beach CA $103,075 $19,000 125
60 George Mason University VA $103,074 $25,000 62
61 Lamar University TX $103,037 $18,301 31
62 Drexel University PA $102,978 $29,666 81
63 University of California-Riverside CA $102,630 $19,250 65
64 University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus PA $102,572 $25,250 55
65 University of South Florida FL $102,275 $23,500 95
66 North Carolina State University at Raleigh NC $102,178 $23,500 184
67 Portland State University OR $101,905 $23,875 58
68 Oregon Institute of Technology OR $101,534 $20,500 27
69 University of Massachusetts-Amherst MA $101,091 $27,000 47
70 University of Massachusetts-Lowell MA $101,054 $25,413 106
71 University of Nebraska-Lincoln NE $100,972 $21,422 53
72 Wayne State University MI $100,944 $23,182 65
73 University of Massachusetts-Boston MA $100,902 $24,477 30
74 University of Nevada-Las Vegas NV $100,765 $24,896 38
75 Boise State University ID $100,680 $32,250 37
76 University of Colorado Boulder CO $100,631 $19,221 26
77 Michigan State University MI $100,481 $22,500 101
78 Grand Valley State University MI $100,456 $29,091 31
79 Bradley University IL $100,391 $27,000 25
80 University of Alabama in Huntsville AL $100,296 $22,125 59
81 University of South Alabama AL $100,166 $22,500 26
82 University of South Carolina-Columbia SC $100,042 $27,000 38
83 The University of Texas at Arlington TX $99,993 $23,316 52
84 Oakland University MI $99,967 $25,971 128
85 Michigan Technological University MI $99,848 $27,000 102
86 Auburn University AL $99,799 $22,500 71
87 Brigham Young University UT $99,774 $12,500 30
88 Iowa State University IA $99,705 $25,020 104
89 Case Western Reserve University OH $99,557 $23,074 51
90 West Virginia University WV $99,542 $22,221 50
91 Louisiana Tech University LA $99,526 $18,750 45
92 New York Institute of Technology NY $99,480 $26,000 33
93 University of Central Florida FL $99,442 $22,511 187
94 Ohio State University-Main Campus OH $99,400 $21,875 200
95 Binghamton University NY $99,397 $21,500 38
96 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville IL $99,325 $24,000 40
97 Colorado State University-Fort Collins CO $99,172 $25,176 67
98 Boston University MA $98,953 $26,646 50
99 The University of Alabama AL $98,943 $23,787 79
100 University of Virginia-Main Campus VA $98,871 - 32

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for Electrical Engineering (CIP 14.10) 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 Electrical 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 Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (CIP 14.10) - computer engineering (CIP 14.09) and the CIP-14 family rollup are ranked separately.

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.