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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.

$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.

Top 15 mechanical engineering programs by median completer earnings

Mechanical Engineering bachelor's (CIP 14.19) · higher is higher early-career pay

median earnings

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

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 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.