Computer Software Engineering Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Computer Software Engineering maps to BLS occupations averaging about $64,987, with roughly 1,596,050 workers nationwide in those roles. About 2,610 bachelor's completions in IPEDS 2023; median program completion runs near 62%.
Key Statistics
Computer Software Engineering: what the data shows
Common questions about computer software engineering degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a computer software engineering degree?
A Computer Software Engineering program is classified under NCES CIP 14.0903 in the Computer Engineering field family (14.09).
A program that prepares individuals to apply scientific and mathematical principles to the design, analysis, verification, validation, implementation, and maintenance of computer software systems using a variety of computer languages. Includes instruction in discrete mathematics, probability and statistics, computer science, managerial science, and applications to complex computer systems
IPEDS counted 2,610 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
Types of computer software engineering degrees and related programs
Other NCES program codes in the 14.09 family with pages on EDsmart Data:
- Computer Engineering, General (CIP 14.0901)
- Computer Hardware Engineering (CIP 14.0902)
How long does it take to get a computer software engineering degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 14.0903 in our file:
- 181 Associate (3.2% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 2,610 Bachelor's (46.2% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 2,852 Master's (50.5% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 3 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 computer software 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%).
O*NET education distributions describe incumbent workers, not minimum legal or employer requirements.
What jobs can you get with a computer software engineering degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Computer Software 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 computer software engineering degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Computer Engineering bachelor's program family: median debt $38,455, median earnings $109,015 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.49.
About 4.4% 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 $11,309 and median net price is $18,267.
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 Computer Software Engineering and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$11,309 Median In-State Public
$45,900 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Computer Software Engineering majors are, on average, $11,309 for in-state public colleges, and $45,900 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Computer Software Engineering programs.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
2,610 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Computer Software Engineering from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Computer Software Engineering.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern New Hampshire University | NH | 163,164 |
| 2 | Western Governors University | UT | 155,088 |
| 3 | Grand Canyon University | AZ | 73,371 |
| 4 | Grand Canyon University | AZ | 73,371 |
| 5 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,674 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Computer Software Engineering programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amarillo College | TX | $2,136 |
| 2 | Truckee Meadows Community College | NV | $3,352 |
| 3 | Itawamba Community College | MS | $3,420 |
| 4 | Henry Ford College | MI | $3,568 |
| 5 | Metropolitan Community College-Kansas City | MO | $3,630 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Computer Software Engineering programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Henry Ford College | MI | $660 |
| 2 | Texas A & M International University | TX | $3,637 |
| 3 | CUNY City College | NY | $3,776 |
| 4 | CUNY City College | NY | $3,776 |
| 5 | Ohio University-Eastern Campus | OH | $3,925 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Computer Software Engineering programs.
Graduation Rates
61.76% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
60.67% Average Graduation Rate
485 Institutions Reporting
49.33% - 73.06% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for Computer Software 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 Computer Software Engineering is in UT (496 completions). That state represents about 19.0% 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 UT (0.46% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| UT | 496 | 19.0% | 0.46% |
| CA | 385 | 14.8% | 0.09% |
| AZ | 228 | 8.7% | 0.16% |
| FL | 182 | 7.0% | 0.08% |
| TX | 177 | 6.8% | 0.06% |
| IA | 151 | 5.8% | 0.32% |
| PA | 129 | 4.9% | 0.08% |
| NY | 124 | 4.8% | 0.04% |
| IL | 92 | 3.5% | 0.07% |
| GA | 90 | 3.5% | 0.08% |
| OH | 89 | 3.4% | 0.06% |
| AL | 65 | 2.5% | 0.10% |
| WI | 56 | 2.1% | 0.07% |
| PR | 53 | 2.0% | 0.18% |
| IN | 46 | 1.8% | 0.04% |
| WA | 38 | 1.5% | 0.06% |
| NE | 37 | 1.4% | 0.12% |
| MN | 28 | 1.1% | 0.03% |
Related specializations
Other NCES program codes in the 14.09 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.
- Computer Engineering, General CIP 14.0901
- Computer Hardware Engineering CIP 14.0902
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 14.0903 in the survey year used in our extract (5,646 total across levels below).
- 181 Associate (3.2% of IPEDS total)
- 2,610 Bachelor's (46.2% of IPEDS total)
- 2,852 Master's (50.5% of IPEDS total)
- 3 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 Computer Software 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 Computer Engineering CIP family (35 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Computer Software Engineering graduate.
- $38,455 median federal loan debt among completers
- $109,015 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 0.49 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 4.4% 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 Computer Software Engineering majors is $40,621.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Computer Software Engineering majors.
Occupations by Share
1,596,050 2023 Workforce
The number of Computer Software Engineering graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Computer Software Engineering by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Computer Software 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 Computer Software Engineering.
Age distribution for Computer Software Engineering degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
2,610 Total Degrees Awarded
2,138 Male (81.92%)
472 Female (18.08%)
Gender distribution of Computer Software Engineering degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
1,358 White (52.03%)
371 Asian (14.21%)
358 Hispanic or Latino (13.72%)
149 Black or African American (5.71%)
105 Two or More Races (4.02%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Computer Software Engineering degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Computer Software Engineering are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Computer Software Engineering.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Computer Software Engineering field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Computer Software Engineering majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Computer Software 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 Computer Software Engineering majors.
About
A program that prepares individuals to apply scientific and mathematical principles to the design, analysis, verification, validation, implementation, and maintenance of computer software systems using a variety of computer languages. Includes instruction in discrete mathematics, probability and statistics, computer science, managerial science, and applications to complex computer systems
In 2023, 2,610 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Computer Software Engineering.
CIP Code
14.0903 - Computer Software Engineering
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $38,455 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $109,015, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.49. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Computer Software Engineering graduate.
Men earned 27.1% of 5,994 Computer Software 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 $11,309 in-state at public colleges and $45,900 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.