Program ranking · CIP 14.19 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for Mechanical 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 Mechanical Engineering (CIP 14.19) 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

$131,967
Highest mechanical engineering earnings: 100
Colleges ranked: $93,893
#100 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $93,893 median earnings for Mechanical Engineering bachelor's (CIP 14.19) completers. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads at $131,967.

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

$131,967
#1 - Massachusetts Institute of: $93,893
#100 - the cutoff to make this list: 25+
completers required per school: 402
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.

Massachusetts Institute …

$131,967
Cal Poly Maritime Academy

$126,395
Santa Clara University

$122,111
Duke University

$120,991
University of California…

$119,371
Stanford University

$117,072
Princeton University

$115,927
University of Pennsylvania

$114,492
Cornell University

$112,212
Columbia University in t…

$111,491
Johns Hopkins University

$110,210
Rice University

$108,970
University of California…

$108,875
SUNY Maritime College

$106,932
California Polytechnic S…

$106,750

What this shows Mechanical-engineering medians track manufacturing, energy, and aerospace markets - compare debt and completer counts before treating pay as program quality.

The full top 100

#	School Name	State	Median Earnings	Median Debt	Completers
1	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	MA	$131,967	$11,507	142
2	Cal Poly Maritime Academy	CA	$126,395	$19,690	42
3	Santa Clara University	CA	$122,111	$19,000	52
4	Duke University	NC	$120,991	$10,000	79
5	University of California-Berkeley	CA	$119,371	$13,000	189
6	Stanford University	CA	$117,072	-	49
7	Princeton University	NJ	$115,927	-	53
8	University of Pennsylvania	PA	$114,492	$12,910	43
9	Cornell University	NY	$112,212	$15,500	132
10	Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	$111,491	$10,057	61
11	Johns Hopkins University	MD	$110,210	$10,750	51
12	Rice University	TX	$108,970	$15,375	60
13	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	$108,875	$16,500	162
14	SUNY Maritime College	NY	$106,932	$25,064	82
15	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	$106,750	$20,500	272
16	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	$105,888	$20,500	275
17	Carnegie Mellon University	PA	$105,623	$22,777	113
18	California Baptist University	CA	$105,046	$27,000	47
19	University of Southern California	CA	$104,649	$14,250	119
20	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	$104,523	$18,500	266
21	University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	$104,336	$15,000	78
22	University of California-San Diego	CA	$104,229	$20,000	146
23	Northeastern University	MA	$103,384	$25,547	275
24	Purdue University-Main Campus	IN	$102,572	$19,500	430
25	University of California-Davis	CA	$102,161	$13,867	166
26	San Francisco State University	CA	$102,104	$21,250	75
27	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	$102,078	$14,448	119
28	University of Washington-Bothell Campus	WA	$102,078	$14,448	59
29	Lafayette College	PA	$101,348	$19,500	63
30	Vanderbilt University	TN	$101,345	$14,000	52
31	Tufts University	MA	$101,196	$16,250	66
32	George Washington University	DC	$101,196	$21,375	50
33	Stevens Institute of Technology	NJ	$100,554	$26,495	159
34	Lawrence Technological University	MI	$100,145	$27,000	60
35	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	$100,003	$19,500	360
36	Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College	LA	$99,975	$18,500	103
37	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	GA	$99,955	$22,500	421
38	Bucknell University	PA	$99,860	$19,500	26
39	University of Notre Dame	IN	$99,859	$18,910	102
40	Saint Louis University	MO	$99,331	$25,029	27
41	Kettering University	MI	$99,292	$28,000	193
42	California State University-Northridge	CA	$99,216	$17,000	185
43	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona	CA	$99,148	$16,940	276
44	University of California-Irvine	CA	$99,111	$14,750	260
45	Northwestern University	IL	$98,277	$13,942	72
46	New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology	NM	$98,213	$19,500	47
47	University of Alaska Anchorage	AK	$98,156	$16,000	27
48	Texas Tech University	TX	$98,113	$25,000	247
49	Michigan State University	MI	$97,946	$23,250	277
50	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	$97,903	$19,389	415
51	University of Nevada-Las Vegas	NV	$97,901	$19,625	98
52	San Diego State University	CA	$97,825	$19,499	244
53	Villanova University	PA	$97,556	$25,995	77
54	Oakland University	MI	$97,444	$21,500	173
55	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	MA	$97,308	$27,000	274
56	CUNY City College	NY	$97,270	$13,232	119
57	Lamar University	TX	$97,159	$27,500	66
58	Wentworth Institute of Technology	MA	$97,124	$27,000	109
59	University of Florida	FL	$97,113	$18,131	309
60	Colorado School of Mines	CO	$97,087	$23,000	304
61	University of Massachusetts-Amherst	MA	$96,999	$25,292	147
62	Lehigh University	PA	$96,618	$24,950	80
63	George Mason University	VA	$96,467	$24,113	75
64	Ohio State University-Main Campus	OH	$96,418	$19,932	211
65	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	VA	$96,376	$22,500	319
66	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach	FL	$96,331	$26,196	76
67	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Prescott	AZ	$96,331	$26,196	38
68	Loyola Marymount University	CA	$96,226	$21,000	30
69	Seattle University	WA	$96,218	$22,072	44
70	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology	IN	$95,983	$25,000	120
71	Washington University in St Louis	MO	$95,965	$12,503	89
72	California State University-Long Beach	CA	$95,957	$16,616	229
73	Bradley University	IL	$95,896	$27,000	56
74	Boston University	MA	$95,757	$25,000	149
75	Oregon Institute of Technology	OR	$95,470	$25,458	65
76	University of Alabama in Huntsville	AL	$95,341	$22,675	124
77	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	$95,329	$20,193	265
78	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	$95,114	$19,450	183
79	Arizona State University Campus Immersion	AZ	$95,090	$18,974	276
80	The University of Alabama	AL	$95,079	$24,015	300
81	University of Maryland-Baltimore County	MD	$95,078	$19,563	101
82	University of Rochester	NY	$95,060	$21,000	59
83	University of California-Merced	CA	$95,040	$18,498	184
84	University of New Mexico-Main Campus	NM	$94,990	$17,764	71
85	University of Michigan-Dearborn	MI	$94,919	$22,500	134
86	University of Virginia-Main Campus	VA	$94,881	$19,000	88
87	Wayne State University	MI	$94,869	$22,500	69
88	University of Massachusetts-Lowell	MA	$94,841	$25,000	166
89	Hofstra University	NY	$94,744	$20,447	30
90	University of Missouri-Columbia	MO	$94,629	$21,843	127
91	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	$94,561	$21,847	178
92	Central Connecticut State University	CT	$94,462	$23,091	57
93	Roger Williams University	RI	$94,385	$27,000	27
94	University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus	CO	$94,320	$24,700	64
95	Colorado State University-Fort Collins	CO	$94,260	$25,708	179
96	Portland State University	OR	$94,223	$23,000	113
97	Case Western Reserve University	OH	$94,197	$24,855	108
98	Washington State University	WA	$93,971	$18,836	265
99	West Texas A & M University	TX	$93,938	$19,625	35
100	Mississippi State University	MS	$93,893	$21,636	165

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for Mechanical Engineering (CIP 14.19) 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 Mechanical 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 Mechanical Engineering (CIP 14.19) only - the all-engineering family rollup and other CIP-14 majors (electrical, civil, chemical) have 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.

Cite this page

PlainCollege, “Best Colleges for Mechanical Engineering.” Compiled from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard, IPEDS, and Treasury earnings-linkage datasets; data as of Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals. https://plaincollege.com/rankings/best-colleges-for-mechanical-engineering

Formal citation formats (APA / MLA)

APA: PlainCollege. (2026). Best Colleges for Mechanical Engineering. Retrieved September 11, 2026, from https://plaincollege.com/rankings/best-colleges-for-mechanical-engineering

MLA: "Best Colleges for Mechanical Engineering." PlainCollege, 2026, https://plaincollege.com/rankings/best-colleges-for-mechanical-engineering.

You are welcome to quote these figures with attribution to PlainCollege and the underlying federal source. The URL above is stable.