Mechanical Engineering
Stem Major
Add ComparisonIn 2023, the locations with the highest concentration of Mechanical Engineering degree recipients are Los Angeles, CA, West Lafayette, IN, and New York, NY. In 2022, the locations with a relatively high number of Mechanical Engineering degree recipients are Houghton, MI, Needham, MA, and Socorro, NM. The most common degree awarded to students studying Mechanical Engineering is a bachelors degree.
Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Mechanical Engineering and the types of students that study this field. Purdue University-Main Campus awards the most degrees in Mechanical Engineering in the US, but Franklin W Olin College of Engineering and Kettering University have the highest percentage of degrees awarded in Mechanical Engineering.
Tuition costs for Mechanical Engineering majors are, on average, $8,232 for in-state public colleges, and $43,600 for out of state private colleges.
The most common sector, by number of institutions, that offers Mechanical Engineering programs are Public, 4-year or above institutions (275 total). The most common sector, by number of degrees awarded, is Public, 4-year or above (33,313 completions).
The most common sector, by number of degrees awarded in Mechanical Engineering, is Public, 4-year or above (33,313 completions in 2023).
The following chart shows the share of universities that offer Mechanical Engineering programs, by the total number of completions, colored and grouped by their sector.
Purdue University-Main Campus has the most Mechanical Engineering degree recipients, with 785 degrees awarded in 2023.
The following bar chart shows the state tuition for the top 5 institutions with the most degrees awarded in Mechanical Engineering.
Out of all institutions that offer Mechanical Engineering programs and have at least 5 graduates in those programs, Franklin W Olin College of Engineering has the highest percentage of degrees awarded in Mechanical Engineering, with 32.9%.
This map shows the counties in the United States colored by the highest number of degrees awarded in Mechanical Engineering by year.
Information on the businesses and industries that employ Engineering graduates and on wages and locations for those in the field.
The average salary for Engineering majors is $131,370 and the most common occupations are Software developers, Miscellaneous engineers, including nuclear engineers, and Civil engineers.
The industry that employs the most Engineering majors is Architectural, engineering & related services, though the highest paying industry, by average wage, is Internet publishing, broadcasting & web search portals.
The average salary for Engineering majors is $131,370 and the most common occupations are Software developers, Miscellaneous engineers, including nuclear engineers, and Civil engineers.
This chart shows the average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Engineering majors.
This map shows the public use micro areas (PUMAs) in the United States colored by the average salary of Engineering majors.
Note that the census collects information tied to where people live, not where they work. It is possible that Engineering majors live and work in the same place, but it is also possible that they live and work in two different places.
The most common occupations Engineering majors, by number of employees, are Software developers, Miscellaneous engineers, including nuclear engineers, and Civil engineers.
Compared to other majors, there are an unusually high number of Engineering majors working as Chemical engineers, Civil engineers, and Petroleum, mining & geological engineers, including mining safety engineers.
The highest paid occupations by median income for Engineering majors are Podiatrists, Surgeons, and Physicians.
The number of Engineering graduates in the workforce has been growing at a rate of 3.48%, from 4.67M in 2021 to 4.83M in 2022.
The largest single share of Engineering graduates go on to work as Software developers (8.83%). This chart shows the various jobs filled by those with a major in Engineering by share of the total number of graduates.
The most common industries that employ Engineering majors, by number of employees, are Architectural, engineering & related services, Computer Systems Design, and Construction.
The highest paying industries of Engineering majors, by average wage, are Internet publishing, broadcasting & web search portals, Offices of physicians, and Oil & gas extraction.
The number of Engineering graduates in the workforce has been growing at a rate of 3.48%, from 4.67M in 2021 to 4.83M in 2022.
The industry which employs the most Engineering graduates by share is Architectural, engineering & related services, followed by Computer Systems Design. This visualization shows the industries that hire those who major in Engineering.
This map shows the public use micro areas (PUMAs) in the United States where there are a relatively high population of Engineering majors.
Note that the census collects information tied to where people live, not where they work. It is possible that Engineering majors live and work in the same place, but it is also possible that they live and work in two different places.
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Engineering in the United States.
The average age of a person in the workforce with a degree in Engineering is 43.
The most common degree type these workers hold is a Bachelors Degree. Male employees are more likely to hold Engineering degrees, and White students are the most common race/ethnicty group awarded degrees in Engineering (23,675 students).
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Engineering. The most common ages of employees with this major are 30 and 29 years old, which represent 2.86% and 2.73% of the population, respectively.
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Mechanical Engineering are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Research Doctorate.
The most common degree types held by the working population in Engineering are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Doctorate degree.
This chart shows the granted degrees by sex at the 5 institutions that graduate the most students in Mechanical Engineering.
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Mechanical Engineering for each race & ethnicity. White students earned the largest share of the degrees with this major.
This chart illustrates the differences by sex for each race & ethnicity of Bachelors Degree recipients in Mechanical Engineering.
White Male students, who earn most of the degrees in this field, are the most common combination of race/ethnicity and sex.
There are a relatively high number of people that were born in India that hold Engineering degrees (4.18 times more than expected), and the most common country of origin by total numbers for non-US students earning a degree in this field is India (492,137 degree recipients).
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Mechanical Engineering field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Mechanical Engineering majors need many skills, but most especially Reading Comprehension. The revealed comparative advantage (RCA) shows that Mechanical Engineering majors need more than the average amount of Management of Financial Resources, Management of Material Resources, and Mathematics.
These two visualizations, one a radial chart and one a bar chart, show the same information, a rating of how necessary the following skills are for Mechanical Engineering majors. Toggle between "value" and "RCA" to see the absolute rating of that skill (value) and the revealed comparative advantage (RCA), or how much greater or lesser that skill's rating is than the average. The longer the bar or the closer the line comes to the circumference of the circle, the more important that skill is. The importance of Management of Financial Resources is very distinctive for majors, but the Reading Comprehension, Mathematics, and Speaking are the three most important skills for people in the field.
