Bachelor's · Santa Barbara, California
Is Mechanical Engineering at University of California-Santa Barbara worth it?
Medium confidence Medium confidence: 40–99 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 1.8 years.
- Earnings 1 year after graduating
- $86,779
- Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Earnings 4 years after graduating
- $112,070
- Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Typical federal debt at graduation
- $12,583
- NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
- Net cost to graduate, all families
- $71k (likely $71k – $83k)
- AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Earnings bump, year 4
- $72k a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in CA
- 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Payback
- 1.8 years (likely 1.5–2.2)
- Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
- 10-year net return
- $450k (likely $339k – $566k)
- Today's dollars
- 20-year net return
- $1.29M (likely $1.04M – $1.60M)
- Today's dollars
- Odds of finishing (school-wide)
- 84%
- Fall 2019 or AcadYr 2019-20 cohort (differs by institutional calendar), reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
Change income, residency or loans Compare Mechanical Engineering at other schools
Other majors at University of California-Santa Barbara
- Materials Sciences (Doctoral)$164,651
- Computer Science (Bachelor's)$149,190
- Computer Engineering (Bachelor's)$144,703
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Bachelor's)$117,215
- Chemistry (Doctoral)$114,583
- Chemical Engineering (Bachelor's)$113,317
- Applied Mathematics (Bachelor's)$109,360
- Psychology, Other (Doctoral)$106,003
- Pharmacology and Toxicology (Bachelor's)$98,462
- Economics (Bachelor's)$98,178
- Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods (Bachelor's)$96,078
- Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods (Master's)$93,897
Mechanical Engineering at other schools in California
- Cal Poly Maritime Academy$126,395
- Santa Clara University$122,111
- University of California-Berkeley$119,371
- 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-San Diego$104,229
- University of California-Davis$102,161