Computer hardware engineers had the highest median pay among the engineering occupations listed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS): $155,020 a year in 2024. That is an occupation-wide median, not the salary earned by everyone with a particular engineering degree. A different measure gives a different leader: petroleum engineering had the highest projected average starting salary among engineering bachelor’s majors in the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ (NACE) Class of 2026 survey.
There is no single comparable national ranking of the 13 “highest-paid engineering degrees” in the available data. The list below ranks occupations by BLS 2024 median pay, then separates degree-level and new-graduate figures so you can compare them without treating different populations or career stages as interchangeable.
How to read the ranking
BLS median wages describe people working in an occupation, across experience and education levels; they do not isolate the effect of earning a specific degree. The table ranks the 13 highest-paying engineering occupations in the BLS figures supplied here. All wages are U.S. median annual pay for 2024, published by BLS in 2026. The figures are not starting salaries, degree-specific premiums, or guarantees for individual graduates.
| Rank | Occupation | 2024 median annual pay |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Computer hardware engineers | $155,020 |
| 2 | Petroleum engineers | $141,280 |
| 3 | Aerospace engineers | $134,830 |
| 4 | Nuclear engineers | $127,520 |
| 5 | Chemical engineers | $121,860 |
| 6 | Electrical and electronics engineers | $118,780 |
| 7 | Health and safety engineers | $109,660 |
| 8 | Materials engineers | $108,310 |
| 9 | Bioengineers and biomedical engineers | $106,950 |
| 10 | Marine engineers and naval architects | $105,670 |
| 11 | Environmental engineers | $104,170 |
| 12 | Mechanical engineers | $102,320 |
| 13 | Industrial engineers | $101,140 |
These are occupation rankings, not a ranking of degrees. For example, a computer hardware engineer may have a different educational path from another person with a computer engineering degree, and degree holders can work in fields outside engineering occupations. BLS reports that 29% of engineering degree holders worked in architecture and engineering occupations in 2023, while 19% worked in management and 16% in computer and mathematical occupations. See the BLS engineering wages and projections article and its engineering field-of-degree profile.
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Which engineering degree has the highest starting salary?
For new graduates, NACE’s Winter 2026 Salary Survey projected an average starting salary of $100,750 for petroleum engineering bachelor’s graduates in the Class of 2026, the highest individual engineering major reported in that survey. NACE projected $81,198 for engineering bachelor’s graduates overall. These are employer-survey projections for a graduating class, not final payroll results for every graduate or a measure of lifetime earnings. The projection is not directly comparable with BLS’s occupation medians, which include workers at different career stages.
For the survey context, see NACE’s Winter 2026 Salary Survey: Key Insights.
What do engineering degrees earn at mid-career?
College Board’s 2026 report, using 2024 data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, puts median mid-career earnings for mechanical engineering majors at $120,000. The figure applies to full-time workers ages 35–45 whose highest education is a bachelor’s degree. In the same report, computer science also had median mid-career earnings of $120,000, so mechanical engineering was tied for the top among the report’s named majors rather than standing alone as the highest.
This is a major-level measure for a defined group of workers, not an occupation wage. It excludes people with education beyond a bachelor’s degree and people not working full time. College Board’s Education Pays 2026 also reports that 2024 early-career earnings across all majors ranged from $44,000 for performing arts to $87,000 for computer science; that broader comparison is context, not an engineering-only ranking.
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BLS employment projections cover occupations, not how likely a particular graduate is to get hired. From 2024 to 2034, BLS projects employment growth of 11.0% for industrial engineers and 9.1% for mechanical engineers. By contrast, it projects 1.3% growth for petroleum engineers and a 1.1% decline for nuclear engineers. Growth rates do not by themselves show the total number of openings or guarantee a job for a graduate.
For a broader view of engineering education, BLS reports that engineering degree holders had a $100,000 median wage in 2023, compared with $70,000 across all fields. In that same degree-holder profile, 73% were employed in occupations typically requiring at least a bachelor’s degree, and 42% had an advanced degree. The mix of industries, roles, experience, and additional education helps explain why an occupation wage cannot be read as the payoff from a single undergraduate major.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to compare engineering majors for your finances
Before choosing a program based on salary claims, compare figures that measure the same thing and match your own likely path:
- Salary measure and career stage: Separate starting-salary projections from mid-career earnings and occupation medians. A higher mid-career median does not mean a new graduate starts at that amount.
- Employment prospects: Consider projected growth alongside the number and location of relevant jobs. BLS growth projections describe occupations nationally, not the hiring outlook at a particular school or in a specific region.
- Degree level: Check whether a field commonly requires graduate study or benefits from it. BLS found that 42% of engineering degree holders had an advanced degree in 2023; that does not mean every engineering job requires one.
- Work you would actually do: The occupations span different tasks and sectors. Compare curricula, internships, licensing expectations where applicable, and typical work settings—not just the headline median.
For institution- and major-specific earnings by cohort and years after graduation, the U.S. Census Bureau’s Postsecondary Employment Outcomes catalog describes an experimental dataset with those dimensions. Its records can add detail beyond national summaries, but institution-level outcomes should still be interpreted with care: Census PSEO Earnings catalog.
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