AI and its related fields are forecasted as the academic programs of tomorrow, and the University of South Florida and Vanderbilt University have already begun to build on this by introducing new colleges. The starting salaries for recent bachelor’s degree earners, however, show that while universities are quickly preparing for a new workforce, traditional pathways in engineering are still the most lucrative positions for the young workforce.
A pair of reports from Forbes and CNBC confirm the salary premium of engineering graduates as they walk into their first salaried job. While job titles such as “computer engineer” and “software developer” accounted for some of the highest-paying jobs, students who earned an undergraduate degree in a multitude of engineering pathways dominated both lists.
Forbes collected data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) winter 2024 salary survey and 2022 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). CNBC focused on a recent study by the New York Federal Reserve.
According to CNBC, engineering majors accounted for nine out of the 15 highest-paying majors five years after graduation. The salaries ranged from a $80,000 high for computer engineering and a $65,000 low for civil engineering. In between were specialties in chemical, aerospace, electrical, industrial and others. Averaged together, the average salary for these fields was $71,000.
The only two majors to make the top 10 of the New York Federal Reserve’s study outside of engineering were computer science in third place and finance in tenth, which earned graduates $78,000 and $66,000, respectively.
- Computer engineering – $80,000
- Chemical engineering – $79,000
- Computer science – $78,000
- Aerospace engineering – $74,000
- Electrical engineering – $72,000
- Industrial engineering – $71,000
- Mechanical engineering – $70,000
- General engineering – $68,000
(tie) miscellaneous engineering
10. Finance – $66,000
11. Civil engineering – $65,000
(tie) Economics
(tie) Business Analytics
(tie) Mathematics
15. Construction services – $64,000
NACE and BLS cross-analysis shows a caveat
Forbes’ analysis draws a more nuanced picture. While engineering majors happened to have the most lucrative starting salary at entry-level positions, computer science majors had far higher median salary earnings in 2022, notwithstanding entry-level positions.
NACE found that undergraduate engineering majors made an average of $76,740, up 3.1% from last year. The Bureau found that the top employing occupations for graduates were in software development and industrial, mechanical and civil engineering, earning them a median annual salary of $83,700 overall.
While the starting salary for computer science majors was $74,780—two grand less than that of engineering graduates—BLS found overall graduates’ median salary to be far higher: $136,620. Graduates with computer and information technology degrees were most likely to become information security analysts, software developers and computer and information system managers.
The three other brackets of majors to make it in the top five for entry-level positions were those in the math and sciences ($71,080), social sciences ($69,000) and humanities ($68,230).
