Bachelor's · Berkeley, California
Is Mechanical Engineering at University of California-Berkeley worth it?
High confidence High confidence: 100+ graduates behind the earnings figures.
The verdict · all families, in-state, half paid with loans
Pays back fast: graduates typically recover the cost in about 1.2 years.
- Earnings 1 year after graduating
- $102,407
- Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Earnings 4 years after graduating
- $128,219
- Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Typical federal debt at graduation
- $11,175
- NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
- Net cost to graduate, all families
- $62k (likely $62k – $66k)
- AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Earnings bump, year 4
- $89k a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in CA
- 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Payback
- 1.2 years (likely 1.1–1.5)
- Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
- 10-year net return
- $633k (likely $510k – $746k)
- Today's dollars
- 20-year net return
- $1.67M (likely $1.38M – $1.98M)
- Today's dollars
- Odds of finishing (school-wide)
- 94%
- Fall 2019 or AcadYr 2019-20 cohort (differs by institutional calendar), reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Borrowers making progress / in default, 2 years in
- not reported / ≤ 20%
- NSLDS AY2016-17, AY2017-18 pooled cohorts measured in 2018-19, 2019-20
Change income, residency or loans Compare Mechanical Engineering at other schools
Other majors at University of California-Berkeley
- Law (First professional)$226,996
- Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods (First professional)$226,351
- Information Science/Studies (First professional)$209,391
- Computer Science (Bachelor's)$204,379
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Bachelor's)$200,543
- Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods (Master's)$191,069
- Physics (Doctoral)$177,589
- Chemistry (Doctoral)$168,396
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Master's)$162,352
- Mechanical Engineering (Master's)$147,475
- Business Administration, Management and Operations (Bachelor's)$144,599
- Mechanical Engineering (First professional)$140,788
Mechanical Engineering at other schools in California
- Cal Poly Maritime Academy$126,395
- Santa Clara University$122,111
- Stanford University$117,072
- University of California-Los Angeles$108,875
- California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo$106,750
- California Baptist University$105,046
- University of Southern California$104,649
- University of California-Santa Barbara$104,336
- University of California-San Diego$104,229
- University of California-Davis$102,161