Bachelor's · Davis, California
Is Computer Engineering at University of California-Davis 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 1.1 years.
- Earnings 1 year after graduating
- $101,743
- Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Earnings 4 years after graduating
- $156,201
- Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Typical federal debt at graduation
- $12,093
- NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
- Net cost to graduate, all families
- $61k (likely $61k – $76k)
- AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Earnings bump, year 4
- $116k a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in CA
- 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Payback
- 1.1 years (likely 1.0–1.3)
- Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
- 10-year net return
- $875k (likely $732k – $1.01M)
- Today's dollars
- 20-year net return
- $2.23M (likely $1.88M – $2.60M)
- Today's dollars
- Odds of finishing (school-wide)
- 86%
- 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 Computer Engineering at other schools
Other majors at University of California-Davis
- Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Master's)$163,702
- Business Administration, Management and Operations (Master's)$155,416
- Computer and Information Sciences, General (Master's)$150,872
- Veterinary Biomedical and Clinical Sciences (First professional)$149,260
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Master's)$145,917
- Medicine (First professional)$144,130
- Physics (Doctoral)$141,034
- Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences, Other (Master's)$138,731
- Computer and Information Sciences, General (Bachelor's)$138,673
- Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General (Master's)$137,579
- Law (First professional)$136,814
- Educational Administration and Supervision (Doctoral)$130,291
Computer Engineering at other schools in California
- University of California-Los Angeles$228,705
- University of Southern California$166,369
- Santa Clara University$163,765
- University of California-San Diego$149,139
- California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo$148,950
- University of California-Santa Barbara$144,703
- University of California-Irvine$132,357
- University of California-Santa Cruz$124,641
- San Diego State University$116,842
- University of California-Riverside$107,193