In this article, I rank engineering majors by lifetime earnings. This data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, a representative survey of Americans for the years 2009 to 2022. The incomes are adjusted into 2022 dollars.
For reference, I also provide the early career median income and early career unemployment for each major (both are calculated using respondents aged 24-28).
See methodological details here.
The Highest Paying: Petroleum, Biomedical, and Nuclear Engineering
Petroleum engineering has both the highest starting income and the highest lifetime income at $5.17 million dollars earned by the median graduate over their career. One drawback however, is that this major has the highest early career unemployment rate among all engineering majors at 6%.
Close behind is Biomedical Engineering at $4.99 million earned, then followed by Nuclear Engineering at $4.75 million.
You can click on the links for each major to look at the salary trajectory over the career, the most popular occupations and industries, and what the earnings are within those industries and occupations.
You can also compare engineering majors to all majors using our College Majors Explorer tool.
The Lowest Paying: Biological Engineering, Architectural Engineer, and General Engineering
Excluding the engineering technology and miscellaneous engineering majors, the lowest paying major engineering major is Biological Engineering, at just $3.12 million dollars earned over the career, just 60% of what Petroleum Engineers will earn. Next lowest is Architectural Engineering at $3.58 million, followed by General Engineering majors at $3.60 million dollars.
For reference, the average lifetime earnings of all majors is $3.04 million dollars (see here), showing that engineering majors are all relatively high earning. Similarly, the average early career unemployment rate for all majors is 4.9% – thus most engineering majors have an easier time finding a job after college.
Overall, the most recent systematic data confirm that an engineering major remains a very strong choice of major in terms of financial outcomes.
