Is a Nuclear Engineering degree worth it?
Across 11 schools, graduates of Nuclear Engineering earn a median $97,907 five years out on $22,500 of debt. Most go on to work as Engineers, All Other (16% of them, per Census ACS). These earnings and debt figures come from the U.S. Dept. of Education.
Median 5-yr pay
$97,907
Median debt
$22,500
Years to pay off
2.4
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
55%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
-0.6%
BLS 2024–2034
Net price
$17,303/yr
Debt-test failures
0%
of programs
'Real' premium
+$24,237
vs avg, adjusted
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Nuclear 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.