---
title: Is a Civil Engineering degree worth the debt?
cip: 1408
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 Civil Engineering degree worth the debt?

Leading with the **Bachelor's**, across **220** colleges (220 of 220 programs report earnings):

- **Median pay, 1 year after completion:** $61,387 ($60,837 at 2 years)
- **Median federal debt:** $22,500 (federal loans only)
- **Debt-to-earnings:** 0.38× a first year's pay
- **Across-college spread (middle 50%):** $58,441–$63,634 — 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 | $61,387 | $22,500 | 0.38× | 220 | 220/220 |
| Master's | $69,936 | $21,044 | 0.30× | 72 | 72/72 |

## 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 Southern California (CA) | $75,576 | $8,125 |
| California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo (CA) | $72,381 | $20,424 |
| San Jose State University (CA) | $70,515 | — |
| University of Virginia-Main Campus (VA) | $70,229 | $14,400 |
| Stevens Institute of Technology (NJ) | $69,771 | $27,000 |
| Columbia University in the City of New York (NY) | $69,428 | — |
| University of California-Berkeley (CA) | $69,327 | $14,342 |
| Northeastern University (MA) | $69,279 | $24,750 |
| Manhattan University (NY) | $68,261 | $27,000 |
| University of Colorado Boulder (CO) | $68,046 | $19,318 |
| University of Alaska Fairbanks (AK) | $67,843 | $14,500 |
| California State University-Chico (CA) | $67,761 | $21,125 |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY) | $67,648 | $26,250 |
| Cornell University (NY) | $67,621 | $12,500 |
| Loyola Marymount University (CA) | $67,573 | $27,000 |

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/civil-engineering.jsonld` · `/education/fields/civil-engineering.json`