Chemical Engineering Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Chemical Engineering maps to BLS occupations averaging about $64,987, with roughly 1,596,050 workers nationwide in those roles. About 7,901 bachelor's completions in IPEDS 2023; median program completion runs near 66%.
Key Statistics
Chemical Engineering: what the data shows
Common questions about chemical engineering degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a chemical engineering degree?
A Chemical Engineering program is classified under NCES CIP 14.0701 in the Chemical Engineering field family (14.07).
A program that prepares individuals to apply mathematical and scientific principles to the design, development and operational evaluation of systems employing chemical processes, such as chemical reactors, kinetic systems, electrochemical systems, energy conservation processes, heat and mass transfer systems, and separation processes; and the applied analysis of chemical problems such as corrosion, particle abrasion, energy loss, pollution, and fluid mechanics
IPEDS counted 7,901 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
How long does it take to get a chemical engineering degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 14.0701 in our file:
- 43 Associate (0.5% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 7,901 Bachelor's (83.0% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 1,567 Master's (16.5% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 11 Doctorate (0.1% of IPEDS total)—varies by program
Time to completion depends on enrollment intensity and transfer credits; figures above describe credential type, not calendar time for every student.
What do you learn in chemical engineering?
O*NET skill ratings for occupations mapped to this major emphasize Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Writing, Critical Thinking, Service Orientation, and related competencies. See the Skills section for the full list in our extract.
What degree do you need?
For Teachers, Postsecondary (top mapped occupation), O*NET incumbent surveys in our career profile report these education credentials most often: Some college (29%), High School or Equivalent (27%), Bachelors Degree (22%). Bachelor's awards account for a majority of IPEDS completions for CIP 14.0701, but occupation data show multiple pathways.
O*NET education distributions describe incumbent workers, not minimum legal or employer requirements.
What jobs can you get with a chemical engineering degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Chemical Engineering to the BLS roles below. Employment is U.S. OEWS; median wage is national May 2024 where published in our extract.
| Occupation | U.S. employment | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Teachers, Postsecondary | 1,500,000 | — |
| Secondary School Teachers | 1,072,540 | $64,580 |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Is a chemical engineering degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Chemical Engineering bachelor's program family: median debt $31,271, median earnings $98,158 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.43.
About 3.3% of graduates in this field family were not working and not enrolled one year after completion in Scorecard's national program medians.
Among schools reporting in our Scorecard extract, median published in-state tuition is $12,688 and median net price is $17,648.
We do not score "worth" on opinion—compare debt, earnings, wages for mapped occupations, and completion data above against your cost and career target.
Institutions
Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Chemical Engineering and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$12,688 Median In-State Public
$64,562 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Chemical Engineering majors are, on average, $12,688 for in-state public colleges, and $64,562 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Chemical Engineering programs.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
7,901 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Chemical Engineering from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Chemical Engineering.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,674 |
| 2 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,674 |
| 3 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,674 |
| 4 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | 59,615 |
| 5 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | 59,615 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Chemical Engineering programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | College of the Mainland | TX | $2,310 |
| 2 | Austin Community College District | TX | $2,550 |
| 3 | Lone Star College System | TX | $3,330 |
| 4 | College of Southern Idaho | ID | $3,360 |
| 5 | McLennan Community College | TX | $3,660 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Chemical Engineering programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | College of the Mainland | TX | $1,342 |
| 2 | Middlesex Community College | MA | $2,624 |
| 3 | CUNY City College | NY | $3,776 |
| 4 | CUNY City College | NY | $3,776 |
| 5 | CUNY City College | NY | $3,776 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Chemical Engineering programs.
Graduation Rates
65.85% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
64.13% Average Graduation Rate
285 Institutions Reporting
52.01% - 81.69% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for Chemical Engineering programs across institutions.
Where students complete this major (IPEDS)
Bachelor's-level completions (IPEDS Completions, award level 5) summed by institution state. State is taken from IPEDS Directory (HD2023) for each reporting institution.
Geographic concentration
The largest number of reported bachelor's completions for Chemical Engineering is in CA (643 completions). That state represents about 8.1% of U.S. bachelor's completions reported for this CIP in the IPEDS file we use.
Among states, the highest concentration relative to all bachelor's degrees awarded in-state is DE (0.59% of that state's bachelor's completions).
Top states by count of bachelor's completions for this CIP (IPEDS).
| State | Bachelor's completions (this CIP) | % of U.S. total (this CIP) | % of state's all bachelor's |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA | 643 | 8.1% | 0.14% |
| TX | 639 | 8.1% | 0.22% |
| OH | 586 | 7.4% | 0.42% |
| PA | 488 | 6.2% | 0.29% |
| NY | 388 | 4.9% | 0.14% |
| MI | 308 | 3.9% | 0.27% |
| MA | 299 | 3.8% | 0.23% |
| IN | 256 | 3.2% | 0.25% |
| AL | 247 | 3.1% | 0.36% |
| IL | 241 | 3.0% | 0.17% |
| FL | 230 | 2.9% | 0.10% |
| CO | 220 | 2.8% | 0.31% |
| NJ | 208 | 2.6% | 0.24% |
| NC | 202 | 2.6% | 0.16% |
| MO | 181 | 2.3% | 0.25% |
| LA | 173 | 2.2% | 0.37% |
| TN | 162 | 2.0% | 0.22% |
| MN | 156 | 2.0% | 0.18% |
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 14.0701 in the survey year used in our extract (9,522 total across levels below).
- 43 Associate (0.5% of IPEDS total)
- 7,901 Bachelor's (83.0% of IPEDS total)
- 1,567 Master's (16.5% of IPEDS total)
- 11 Doctorate (0.1% of IPEDS total)
Source: IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), summed by award level for this CIP.
Careers & Jobs
Occupations linked to this major in our degree→career mapping, with wages and employment from processed BLS career profiles in this repo.
Across these BLS occupations, employment-weighted mean pay is about $64,987. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Chemical Engineering graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Teachers, Postsecondary | $36,511 | 1,500,000 |
| Secondary School Teachers | $104,813 | 1,072,540 |
Open each occupation for full career profile charts and industry breakdowns on EDsmart Data.
Program outcomes (College Scorecard)
National medians across bachelor's programs in the Chemical Engineering CIP family (48 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Chemical Engineering graduate.
- $31,271 median federal loan debt among completers
- $98,158 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 0.43 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 3.3% of graduates not working and not enrolled one year out (program cohort)
Source: College Scorecard program-level outcomes aggregated by 4-digit CIP family.
Employment
Wages and industry mix below use BLS OEWS data for occupations linked to this major in our mapping—not a graduate earnings survey.
Yearly Income for Common Jobs
$40,621 Average Wage in Workforce
The average salary for Chemical Engineering majors is $40,621.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Chemical Engineering majors.
Occupations by Share
1,596,050 2023 Workforce
The number of Chemical Engineering graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Chemical Engineering by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Chemical Engineering in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Chemical Engineering.
Age distribution for Chemical Engineering degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
7,901 Total Degrees Awarded
4,609 Male (58.33%)
3,292 Female (41.67%)
Gender distribution of Chemical Engineering degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
4,530 White (57.33%)
1,016 Asian (12.86%)
971 Hispanic or Latino (12.29%)
351 Two or More Races (4.44%)
316 Black or African American (4.00%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Chemical Engineering degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Chemical Engineering are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Chemical Engineering.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Chemical Engineering field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Chemical Engineering majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Chemical Engineering majors.
Skills Bar Chart
This bar chart shows the same information as the radar chart, displaying the importance of each skill.
Skill importance ratings for Chemical Engineering majors.
About
A program that prepares individuals to apply mathematical and scientific principles to the design, development and operational evaluation of systems employing chemical processes, such as chemical reactors, kinetic systems, electrochemical systems, energy conservation processes, heat and mass transfer systems, and separation processes; and the applied analysis of chemical problems such as corrosion, particle abrasion, energy loss, pollution, and fluid mechanics
In 2023, 7,901 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Chemical Engineering.
CIP Code
14.0701 - Chemical Engineering
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $31,271 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $98,158, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.43. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Chemical Engineering graduate.
Men earned 40.0% of 10,624 Chemical Engineering completions in the IPEDS file used here.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $64,987. The largest mapped role by headcount is Teachers, Postsecondary (1,500,000 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $12,688 in-state at public colleges and $64,562 at private institutions for programs in this field.
Data Sources
This page uses data from the following sources:
- College Scorecard - U.S. Department of Education
- Institutional characteristics, costs, completion rates, and earnings data
- Data years: 2015-2024
- Source: collegescorecard.ed.gov
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)
- Employment and wage data by occupation
- Latest data: May 2024
- Source: bls.gov/oes
- O*NET Online - U.S. Department of Labor
- Occupational skills, knowledge, abilities, and work activities
- Database version: 28.0 (August 2023)
- Source: onetcenter.org
- IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) - National Center for Education Statistics
- Institutional data, completions, enrollment, and financial aid
- Data years: 2015-2024
- Source: nces.ed.gov/ipeds
- Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS)
- Demographic and workforce data
- Latest data: 2023 ACS 5-Year Estimates
- Source: census.gov/acs
Data Processing: All data has been processed, cleaned, and aggregated for presentation. Where specific data points are unavailable, estimates are based on available data and clearly marked.
Last Updated: Data reflects the most recent available information as of January 2025.
Methodology
Data for this profile is sourced from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard dataset, IPEDS completion data, and Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data.
All financial figures are adjusted for inflation and represent the most recent available data. Employment and wage data are from the most recent Census Bureau ACS PUMS estimates.