---
title: Is a Biomedical/Medical Engineering degree worth the debt?
cip: 1405
source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard — Field of Study (2026-06-10 release)
sourceId: src:doe:college-scorecard:field-of-study:2026-06-10
---

# Is a Biomedical/Medical Engineering degree worth the debt?

Leading with the **Bachelor's**, across **102** colleges (102 of 102 programs report earnings):

- **Median pay, 1 year after completion:** $55,042 ($58,866 at 2 years)
- **Median federal debt:** $21,500 (federal loans only)
- **Debt-to-earnings:** 0.41× a first year's pay
- **Across-college spread (middle 50%):** $47,762–$62,176 — the program you choose moves the number this much.


**How to read this:** these are MEDIANS across college programs, measured **1–2 years after completion** (early career, graduates only) — NOT lifetime earnings, and NOT comparable to a college's 10-years-after-entry figure. They cover **federally-aided completers at programs large enough to report**; small programs are suppressed. A field median is not a prediction of your outcome, not causal (who enters a field differs by field), and **not a "best majors" ranking** — earnings are one dimension of worth. Verify by field at the official College Scorecard (https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/).

## By degree level

| Level | Pay (1yr) | Federal debt | Debt/pay | Colleges | Programs reporting |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Bachelor's | $55,042 | $21,500 | 0.41× | 102 | 102/102 |
| Master's | $73,107 | $41,000 | 0.55× | 31 | 31/31 |

## Where a Bachelor's in this field reports the highest early-career pay

Reflects who enrolls and where, not causal program quality.

| College | Pay (1yr) | Federal debt |
| --- | --- | --- |
| University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (IL) | $74,716 | $16,850 |
| University of Pennsylvania (PA) | $72,773 | $15,593 |
| California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo (CA) | $72,746 | $20,500 |
| George Washington University (DC) | $69,299 | $23,000 |
| The University of Texas at Austin (TX) | $69,298 | $21,071 |
| Washington University in St Louis (MO) | $68,716 | $21,000 |
| Texas A&M University-College Station (TX) | $68,154 | $19,000 |
| Duke University (NC) | $67,573 | $13,894 |
| Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus (GA) | $67,345 | $21,375 |
| Marquette University (WI) | $66,407 | $26,975 |
| Rochester Institute of Technology (NY) | $66,107 | $28,308 |
| California State University-Long Beach (CA) | $65,701 | $15,500 |
| Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (IN) | $65,537 | $26,441 |
| Wentworth Institute of Technology (MA) | $63,963 | $27,000 |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY) | $63,784 | $26,000 |

RECORDED College Scorecard figures + one DERIVED ratio (debt-to-earnings). Informs and compares; not advice on what to major in. Each college's full record: `/education/<slug>`.

Structured data: `/education/fields/biomedical-medical-engineering.jsonld` · `/education/fields/biomedical-medical-engineering.json`