Median Starting Salaries (by Institution): Mechanical Engineering
Salary (by major) data was collected from the U.S. Department of Education’s (USDOE) College Scorecard platform and indicates the median salary of an institution’s graduates five years after receiving their bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, along with the number of graduates per institution for which the USDOE has salary data. Since the USDOE focuses only on early-career salaries, we limit the salary tables on our Dataverse to “pre-professional” majors where students are more likely to pursue employment immediately after graduation (e.g., as opposed to attending graduate school) and within their undergraduate field of study.
*Note that the USDOE is not able to disclose salary data by major for all institutions offering a major in this area. For example, if a group of individuals within a certain institution is too small, the USDOE must suppress salary data in order to prevent identification of the group’s individuals.
Table Updated March 2026
| Institution | # Graduates | Median Starting Salary | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 243744 | Stanford University | 49 | $140,707 | |
| 198419 | Duke University | 90 | $125,085 | |
| 122931 | Santa Clara University | 57 | $118,350 | SCU |
| 162928 | Johns Hopkins University | 46 | $118,204 | JHU |
| 215062 | University of Pennsylvania | 62 | $116,366 | UPenn |
| 211440 | Carnegie Mellon University | 121 | $115,666 | CMU |
| 111188 | California State University Maritime Academy | 19 | $114,735 | |
| 196291 | SUNY Maritime College | 18 | $114,377 | |
| 190415 | Cornell University | 121 | $113,983 | |
| 216597 | Villanova University | 69 | $113,966 | |
| 122755 | San Jose State University | 154 | $112,360 | SJSU |
| 110635 | University of California-Berkeley | 170 | $112,325 | UC Berkeley; UCB |
| 110422 | California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo | 293 | $110,675 | |
| 110662 | University of California-Los Angeles | 154 | $108,947 | UCLA |
| 123961 | University of Southern California | 96 | $107,591 | USC |
| 166683 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 134 | $106,765 | MIT |
| 441982 | Franklin W Olin College of Engineering | 21 | $106,657 | |
| 227757 | Rice University | 58 | $105,734 | |
| 120883 | University of the Pacific | 15 | $105,548 | |
| 167358 | Northeastern University | 240 | $104,723 | |
| 159391 | Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College | 121 | $104,396 | LSU |
| 226091 | Lamar University | 81 | $104,395 | |
| 147767 | Northwestern University | 65 | $104,154 | |
| 228778 | The University of Texas at Austin | 274 | $104,021 | UT; UT Austin |
| 190150 | Columbia University in the City of New York | 48 | $103,801 | |
| 169983 | Kettering University | 235 | $102,774 | |
| 110538 | California State University-Chico | 72 | $102,703 | |
| 209506 | Oregon Institute of Technology | 68 | $102,683 | |
| 163286 | University of Maryland-College Park | 331 | $102,581 | UMD |
| 187985 | University of New Mexico-Main Campus | 77 | $102,379 | UNM |
| 110529 | California State Polytechnic University-Pomona | 227 | $101,659 | |
| 170976 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | 316 | $101,514 | UMich |
| 236595 | Seattle University | 33 | $101,374 | |
| 179867 | Washington University in St Louis | 94 | $101,263 | |
| 186867 | Stevens Institute of Technology | 124 | $101,241 | Stevens Tech |
| 213543 | Lehigh University | 95 | $101,225 | |
| 221999 | Vanderbilt University | 49 | $101,152 | |
| 171571 | Oakland University | 160 | $101,107 | |
| 187967 | New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology | 47 | $100,852 | |
| 110705 | University of California-Santa Barbara | 73 | $100,669 | UCSB: UC Santa Barbara |
| 110608 | California State University-Northridge | 222 | $100,421 | |
| 168421 | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | 229 | $100,164 | WPI |
| 110644 | University of California-Davis | 234 | $99,885 | UC Davis |
| 211291 | Bucknell University | 38 | $99,777 | |
| 122597 | San Francisco State University | 102 | $99,619 | SFSU |
| 110680 | University of California-San Diego | 232 | $99,554 | UCSD; UC San Diego |
| 171100 | Michigan State University | 279 | $99,381 | MSU |
| 122409 | San Diego State University | 227 | $99,279 | SDSU |
| 212054 | Drexel University | 168 | $99,010 | |
| 139755 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | 510 | $98,607 | Georgia Tech |
| 172644 | Wayne State University | 114 | $98,434 | |
| 196413 | Syracuse University | 56 | $98,391 | |
| 141574 | University of Hawaii at Manoa | 75 | $98,092 | |
| 188030 | New Mexico State University-Main Campus | 100 | $98,083 | NMSU |
| 110583 | California State University-Long Beach | 168 | $97,895 | |
| 240444 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | 183 | $97,845 | UW Madison |
| 228723 | Texas A & M University-College Station | 400 | $97,743 | |
| 216852 | Widener University | 35 | $97,717 | |
| 233921 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | 376 | $97,664 | Virginia Tech; Va Tech |
| 196097 | Stony Brook University | 132 | $97,629 | |
| 196866 | Union College | 38 | $97,575 | |
| 243780 | Purdue University-Main Campus | 395 | $97,551 | |
| 110556 | California State University-Fresno | 71 | $97,316 | |
| 168227 | Wentworth Institute of Technology | 127 | $97,305 | WIT |
| 122436 | University of San Diego | 60 | $97,127 | USD |
| 230038 | Brigham Young University | 176 | $97,124 | BYU |
| 229018 | The University of Texas Permian Basin | 48 | $96,881 | |
| 227526 | Prairie View A & M University | 77 | $96,773 | |
| 145637 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | 210 | $96,770 | UIUC |
| 135726 | University of Miami | 30 | $96,535 | UM; UMiami |
| 225511 | University of Houston | 240 | $96,269 | UH |
| 191649 | Hofstra University | 34 | $96,233 | |
| 176080 | Mississippi State University | 192 | $96,021 | MSU |
| 152080 | University of Notre Dame | 114 | $95,893 | UND |
| 104179 | University of Arizona | 117 | $95,672 | |
| 174066 | University of Minnesota-Twin Cities | 200 | $95,566 | UMN |
| 110653 | University of California-Irvine | 287 | $95,534 | UCI; UC Irvine |
| 166513 | University of Massachusetts-Lowell | 214 | $95,465 | UMass Lowell |
| 204796 | Ohio State University-Main Campus | 234 | $95,293 | OSU |
| 168148 | Tufts University | 52 | $95,235 | |
| 228246 | Southern Methodist University | 73 | $95,148 | SMU |
| 166629 | University of Massachusetts-Amherst | 194 | $94,995 | UMass Amherst |
| 164988 | Boston University | 137 | $94,926 | BU |
| 170675 | Lawrence Technological University | 68 | $94,853 | |
| 131469 | George Washington University | 42 | $94,843 | GWU |
| 186380 | Rutgers University-New Brunswick | 170 | $94,837 | RU |
| 236948 | University of Washington-Seattle Campus | 114 | $94,653 | UW |
| 377555 | University of Washington-Bothell Campus | 63 | $94,653 | UW |
| 209542 | Oregon State University | 271 | $94,649 | OSU |
| 102614 | University of Alaska Fairbanks | 26 | $94,625 | |
| 102553 | University of Alaska Anchorage | 33 | $94,609 | |
| 178402 | University of Missouri-Kansas City | 61 | $94,596 | UMKC |
| 133951 | Florida International University | 163 | $94,520 | FIU |
| 194824 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 239 | $94,402 | RPI |
| 104151 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | 273 | $94,295 | ASU |
| 134130 | University of Florida | 373 | $94,291 | UF |
| 155317 | University of Kansas | 132 | $94,190 | KU |
| 213385 | Lafayette College | 60 | $94,144 | |
| 110592 | California State University-Los Angeles | 164 | $94,122 | |
| 215293 | University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus | 184 | $93,999 | |
| 192703 | Manhattan College | 73 | $93,907 | |
| 126775 | Colorado School of Mines | 299 | $93,871 | |
| 133553 | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach | 80 | $93,818 | |
| 104586 | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Prescott | 38 | $93,818 | |
| 183044 | University of New Hampshire-Main Campus | 102 | $93,816 | UNH |
| 133881 | Florida Institute of Technology | 84 | $93,714 | FIT |
| 129020 | University of Connecticut | 194 | $93,562 | UConn |
| 202480 | University of Dayton | 182 | $93,487 | |
| 229115 | Texas Tech University | 305 | $93,452 | |
| 190567 | CUNY City College | 144 | $93,362 | |
| 163268 | University of Maryland-Baltimore County | 148 | $93,344 | UMBC |
| 217484 | University of Rhode Island | 93 | $93,316 | URI |
| 110671 | University of California-Riverside | 110 | $93,294 | UC Riverside |
| 102377 | Tuskegee University | 40 | $93,145 | |
| 152318 | Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | 134 | $93,120 | RHIT |
| 110565 | California State University-Fullerton | 195 | $93,073 | |
| 190044 | Clarkson University | 160 | $92,873 | |
| 178396 | University of Missouri-Columbia | 145 | $92,736 | Mizzou |
| 134097 | Florida State University | 87 | $92,658 | FSU |
| 132903 | University of Central Florida | 445 | $92,483 | UCF |
| 174914 | University of St Thomas | 93 | $92,439 | |
| 131283 | The Catholic University of America | 35 | $92,376 | |
| 195030 | University of Rochester | 61 | $92,363 | UR |
| 127060 | University of Denver | 33 | $92,358 | UD |
| 201645 | Case Western Reserve University | 99 | $92,158 | CWRU |
| 236939 | Washington State University | 279 | $92,146 | WSU |
| 180461 | Montana State University | 158 | $92,132 | |
| 117946 | Loyola Marymount University | 43 | $92,031 | LMU |
| 169248 | Central Michigan University | 65 | $91,993 | |
| 173920 | Minnesota State University-Mankato | 31 | $91,980 | |
| 232982 | Old Dominion University | 150 | $91,945 | |
| 100858 | Auburn University | 252 | $91,940 | |
| 209825 | University of Portland | 64 | $91,884 | |
| 100751 | The University of Alabama | 343 | $91,807 | |
| 126614 | University of Colorado Boulder | 240 | $91,715 | CU Boulder |
| 207388 | Oklahoma State University-Main Campus | 256 | $91,640 | |
| 130943 | University of Delaware | 114 | $91,595 | UDel |
| 207500 | University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus | 98 | $91,580 | |
| 178411 | Missouri University of Science and Technology | 233 | $91,528 | MUST |
| 172699 | Western Michigan University | 84 | $91,489 | |
| 228796 | The University of Texas at El Paso | 214 | $91,486 | UT |
| 195003 | Rochester Institute of Technology | 137 | $91,471 | RIT |
| 110617 | California State University-Sacramento | 210 | $91,357 | |
| 234076 | University of Virginia-Main Campus | 64 | $91,262 | UVA |
| 128771 | Central Connecticut State University | 47 | $91,231 | |
| 137351 | University of South Florida | 196 | $91,161 | USF |
| 199193 | North Carolina State University at Raleigh | 285 | $91,136 | NC State; NCSU |
| 174233 | University of Minnesota-Duluth | 113 | $91,075 | |
| 201885 | University of Cincinnati-Main Campus | 233 | $90,998 | Cincy |
| 178420 | University of Missouri-St Louis | 27 | $90,966 | |
| 221759 | The University of Tennessee-Knoxville | 155 | $90,860 | UTK |
| 161554 | University of Southern Maine | 25 | $90,682 | |
| 171128 | Michigan Technological University | 263 | $90,615 | |
| 160658 | University of Louisiana at Lafayette | 120 | $90,611 | |
| 207971 | University of Tulsa | 59 | $90,509 | |
| 237950 | West Virginia University Institute of Technology | 17 | $90,443 | |
| 238032 | West Virginia University | 156 | $90,443 | WVU |
| 143358 | Bradley University | 79 | $90,408 | |
| 167987 | University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth | 57 | $90,396 | UMass Dartmouth |
| 129941 | University of New Haven | 37 | $90,370 | |
| 100706 | University of Alabama in Huntsville | 142 | $90,362 | |
| 214777 | Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus | 545 | $90,200 | PSU; Penn State |
| 126580 | University of Colorado Colorado Springs | 96 | $90,079 | |
| 157289 | University of Louisville | 111 | $90,074 | UL |
| 224147 | Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi | 80 | $90,045 | |
| 228705 | Texas A & M University-Kingsville | 67 | $89,788 | |
| 155399 | Kansas State University | 175 | $89,754 | KSU |
| 229814 | West Texas A & M University | 45 | $89,635 | |
| 219347 | South Dakota School of Mines and Technology | 64 | $89,548 | |
| 102094 | University of South Alabama | 65 | $89,384 | |
| 184782 | Rowan University | 92 | $89,308 | |
| 206084 | University of Toledo | 177 | $89,223 | |
| 172051 | Saginaw Valley State University | 46 | $89,093 | |
| 126818 | Colorado State University-Fort Collins | 153 | $89,087 | CSU |
| 105330 | Northern Arizona University | 144 | $89,027 | NAU |
| 133669 | Florida Atlantic University | 105 | $89,022 | FAU |
| 129242 | Fairfield University | 31 | $88,933 | |
| 145725 | Illinois Institute of Technology | 87 | $88,837 | IIT |
| 200280 | University of North Dakota | 103 | $88,823 | UND |
| 209807 | Portland State University | 117 | $88,755 | |
| 153603 | Iowa State University | 451 | $88,697 | ISU |
| 160621 | Southern University and A & M College | 24 | $88,564 | |
| 149222 | Southern Illinois University-Carbondale | 49 | $88,465 | |
| 159939 | University of New Orleans | 59 | $88,371 | UNO |
| 217882 | Clemson University | 288 | $88,351 | |
| 223232 | Baylor University | 62 | $88,325 | |
| 145600 | University of Illinois Chicago | 155 | $88,275 | UIC |
| 204635 | Ohio Northern University | 42 | $88,267 | |
| 156125 | Wichita State University | 86 | $88,218 | |
| 218663 | University of South Carolina-Columbia | 207 | $88,180 | USC |
| 221847 | Tennessee Technological University | 154 | $88,130 | |
| 142276 | Idaho State University | 36 | $88,026 | ISU |
| 100663 | University of Alabama at Birmingham | 39 | $87,901 | |
| 182290 | University of Nevada-Reno | 155 | $87,851 | UNR |
| 157085 | University of Kentucky | 169 | $87,796 | UK |
| 216339 | Temple University | 104 | $87,733 | |
| 151111 | Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis | 173 | $87,604 | IUPUI |
| 231174 | University of Vermont | 74 | $87,582 | UVM |
| 239318 | Milwaukee School of Engineering | 112 | $87,507 | MSOE |
| 234030 | Virginia Commonwealth University | 106 | $87,500 | VCU |
| 230728 | Utah State University | 148 | $87,442 | |
| 136172 | University of North Florida | 76 | $87,430 | |
| 199102 | North Carolina A & T State University | 95 | $87,420 | |
| 200800 | University of Akron Main Campus | 181 | $87,380 | |
| 228769 | The University of Texas at Arlington | 146 | $87,372 | UT |
| 185828 | New Jersey Institute of Technology | 250 | $87,372 | NJIT |
| 239105 | Marquette University | 86 | $87,345 | |
| 204857 | Ohio University-Main Campus | 81 | $87,293 | OU |
| 161253 | University of Maine | 73 | $87,105 | |
| 230764 | University of Utah | 156 | $87,070 | UU |
| 228802 | The University of Texas at Tyler | 97 | $87,041 | UT |
| 240453 | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee | 96 | $87,002 | |
| 204024 | Miami University-Oxford | 100 | $86,964 | |
| 217518 | Roger Williams University | 27 | $86,890 | |
| 159647 | Louisiana Tech University | 73 | $86,794 | La Tech |
| 486840 | Kennesaw State University | 227 | $86,737 | |
| 147703 | Northern Illinois University | 120 | $86,692 | NIU |
| 200332 | North Dakota State University-Main Campus | 163 | $86,495 | NDSU |
| 228787 | The University of Texas at Dallas | 234 | $86,469 | UT; UT Dallas |
| 196079 | Binghamton University | 107 | $86,404 | SUNY Binghamton |
| 220862 | University of Memphis | 37 | $86,402 | |
| 149231 | Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville | 61 | $86,329 | |
| 153658 | University of Iowa | 104 | $86,315 | UI |
| 129525 | University of Hartford | 43 | $86,270 | |
| 235316 | Gonzaga University | 80 | $86,247 | |
| 229027 | The University of Texas at San Antonio | 169 | $86,214 | |
| 142285 | University of Idaho | 72 | $86,119 | UI |
| 174783 | Saint Cloud State University | 36 | $86,091 | |
| 206941 | University of Central Oklahoma | 29 | $86,068 | |
| 170082 | Grand Valley State University | 70 | $85,738 | |
| 139931 | Georgia Southern University | 197 | $85,716 | |
| 219356 | South Dakota State University | 69 | $85,669 | SDSU |
| 142115 | Boise State University | 80 | $85,566 | |
| 176017 | University of Mississippi | 88 | $85,311 | Ole Miss |
| 199139 | University of North Carolina at Charlotte | 213 | $85,296 | UNCC; UNC Charlotte |
| 182281 | University of Nevada-Las Vegas | 95 | $85,200 | UNLV |
| 445188 | University of California-Merced | 155 | $85,156 | |
| 221740 | The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga | 65 | $84,859 | UTC |
| 106397 | University of Arkansas | 138 | $84,481 | |
| 187134 | The College of New Jersey | 41 | $84,253 | TCNJ |
| 181464 | University of Nebraska-Lincoln | 132 | $84,216 | UNL |
| 216931 | Wilkes University | 43 | $84,211 | |
| 106467 | Arkansas Tech University | 65 | $84,124 | |
| 206604 | Wright State University-Main Campus | 102 | $83,880 | |
| 202134 | Cleveland State University | 97 | $83,818 | |
| 234085 | Virginia Military Institute | 41 | $83,811 | VMI |
| 193900 | New York University | 85 | $83,656 | NYU |
| 206695 | Youngstown State University | 67 | $83,601 | |
| 171146 | University of Michigan-Flint | 31 | $83,494 | UMIch Flint |
| 152600 | Valparaiso University | 46 | $83,142 | |
| 100654 | Alabama A & M University | 41 | $82,929 | |
| 188641 | Alfred University | 35 | $82,912 | |
| 153250 | Dordt University | 23 | $82,623 | |
| 201654 | Cedarville University | 47 | $81,962 | |
| 230995 | Norwich University | 36 | $81,750 | |
| 227216 | University of North Texas | 136 | $81,391 | UNT |
| 196088 | University at Buffalo | 274 | $81,124 | |
| 235097 | Eastern Washington University | 77 | $79,732 | |
| 107044 | Harding University | 30 | $79,712 | |
| 216366 | Thomas Jefferson University | 13 | $79,083 | |
| 240727 | University of Wyoming | 57 | $78,879 | |
| 212601 | Gannon University | 20 | $78,829 | |
| 157951 | Western Kentucky University | 50 | $77,336 | WKU |
| 227368 | The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley | 128 | $77,043 | |
| 226833 | Midwestern State University | 38 | $76,173 | |
| 106458 | Arkansas State University | 27 | $73,570 | |
| 110404 | California Institute of Technology | 26 | N/A (suppressed) | Caltech |
| 194091 | New York Institute of Technology | 36 | N/A (suppressed) | NYIT |
| 179159 | Saint Louis University | 22 | N/A (suppressed) | SLU |
| 221838 | Tennessee State University | 23 | N/A (suppressed) | |
| 150534 | University of Evansville | 16 | N/A (suppressed) | |
| 131520 | Howard University | 24 | N/A (suppressed) |
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