Is a Mechanical Engineering degree worth it?
Across 303 schools, graduates of Mechanical Engineering earn a median $91,489 five years out on $22,750 of debt. Most go on to work as Mechanical Engineers (15% of them, per Census ACS). These earnings and debt figures come from the U.S. Dept. of Education.
Median 5-yr pay
$91,489
Median debt
$22,750
Years to pay off
2.5
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
52%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
+3.5%
BLS 2024–2034
Gender pay gap
-4.1%
$93,684 vs $97,494
Net price
$18,018/yr
Debt-test failures
0%
of programs
'Real' premium
+$26,271
vs avg, adjusted
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Mechanical Engineering in full →Data: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, O*NET, AI-exposure measures (Eloundou/AIOE), Zillow. Earnings reflect federally-aided graduates; see the full story for methodology and limitations.