Electrical Engineering Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Electrical Engineering maps to BLS occupations averaging about $129,396, with roughly 83,710 workers nationwide in those roles. About 17,407 bachelor's completions in IPEDS 2023; median program completion runs near 58%.
Key Statistics
Electrical Engineering: what the data shows
Common questions about electrical engineering degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a electrical engineering degree?
A Electrical Engineering program is classified under NCES CIP 19.1503 in the 19.0015 field family (19.15).
IPEDS counted 17,407 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
How long does it take to get a electrical engineering degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 19.1503 in our file:
- 8,973 Associate (30.5% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 17,407 Bachelor's (59.1% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 3,052 Master's (10.4% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 17 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 electrical engineering?
O*NET skill ratings for occupations mapped to this major emphasize Complex Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Systems Analysis, Judgment and Decision Making, and related competencies. See the Skills section for the full list in our extract.
What degree do you need?
For Electronics Engineers, Except Computer (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 19.1503, 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 electrical engineering degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Electrical 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Electronics Engineers, Except Computer | 93,940 | $127,590 |
| Electrical Engineers | 188,790 | $111,910 |
| Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians | 136,390 | $78,680 |
| Computer Hardware Engineers | 75,710 | $155,020 |
| Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters | 43,640 | $39,270 |
| Brickmasons and Blockmasons | 53,520 | $60,800 |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Is a electrical engineering degree worth it?
Among schools reporting in our Scorecard extract, median published in-state tuition is $4,863 and median net price is $8,532.
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 Electrical Engineering and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$4,863 Median In-State Public
$18,000 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Electrical Engineering majors are, on average, $4,863 for in-state public colleges, and $18,000 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Electrical Engineering programs.
Institutions awarding the most Electrical Engineering degrees
| # | Institution | State | Completions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brigham Young University-Idaho | ID | 2,253 |
| 2 | Cerritos College | CA | 1,067 |
| 3 | City College of San Francisco | CA | 916 |
| 4 | Texas Tech University | TX | 622 |
| 5 | The University of Alabama | AL | 618 |
| 6 | College of the Sequoias | CA | 503 |
| 7 | California State University-Long Beach | CA | 494 |
| 8 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | VA | 472 |
| 9 | College of the Desert | CA | 415 |
| 10 | Arizona State University Digital Immersion | AZ | 400 |
IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), all award levels for this CIP in our extract.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
17,407 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Electrical Engineering from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Electrical Engineering.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grand Canyon University | AZ | 68,619 |
| 2 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,398 |
| 3 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | 59,099 |
| 4 | Ivy Tech Community College | IN | 54,926 |
| 5 | Lone Star College System | TX | 47,486 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Electrical Engineering programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Imperial Valley College | CA | $1,126 |
| 2 | San Diego City College | CA | $1,150 |
| 3 | Irvine Valley College | CA | $1,156 |
| 4 | San Bernardino Valley College | CA | $1,185 |
| 5 | Luna Community College | NM | $1,202 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Electrical Engineering programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miami Lakes Educational Center and Technical College | FL | $98 |
| 2 | Coastal Pines Technical College | GA | $124 |
| 3 | Colegio Universitario de San Juan | PR | $200 |
| 4 | Cleveland Community College | NC | $414 |
| 5 | Henry Ford College | MI | $576 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Electrical Engineering programs.
Graduation Rates
57.90% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
58.08% Average Graduation Rate
191 Institutions Reporting
45.74% - 70.12% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for Electrical 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 Electrical Engineering is in CA (2,270 completions). That state represents about 13.0% 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 ID (2.29% 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 | 2,270 | 13.0% | 0.51% |
| TX | 1,698 | 9.8% | 0.58% |
| UT | 856 | 4.9% | 0.79% |
| AL | 757 | 4.3% | 1.12% |
| VA | 665 | 3.8% | 0.54% |
| ID | 649 | 3.7% | 2.29% |
| OH | 593 | 3.4% | 0.43% |
| NY | 533 | 3.1% | 0.19% |
| AZ | 527 | 3.0% | 0.38% |
| NC | 473 | 2.7% | 0.38% |
| GA | 466 | 2.7% | 0.41% |
| MI | 400 | 2.3% | 0.35% |
| IL | 383 | 2.2% | 0.28% |
| FL | 370 | 2.1% | 0.16% |
| TN | 368 | 2.1% | 0.50% |
| NE | 366 | 2.1% | 1.21% |
| OK | 336 | 1.9% | 0.81% |
| RI | 330 | 1.9% | 1.30% |
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 19.1503 in the survey year used in our extract (29,449 total across levels below).
- 8,973 Associate (30.5% of IPEDS total)
- 17,407 Bachelor's (59.1% of IPEDS total)
- 3,052 Master's (10.4% of IPEDS total)
- 17 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 $129,396. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Electrical Engineering graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Electronics Engineers, Except Computer | $162,232 | 93,940 |
| Electrical Engineers | $152,423 | 188,790 |
| Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians | $88,062 | 136,390 |
| Computer Hardware Engineers | $188,333 | 75,710 |
| Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters | $53,312 | 43,640 |
| Brickmasons and Blockmasons | $74,538 | 53,520 |
Open each occupation for full career profile charts and industry breakdowns on EDsmart Data.
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
$152,002 Average Wage in Workforce
The average salary for Electrical Engineering majors is $152,002.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Electrical Engineering majors.
Occupations by Share
83,710 2023 Workforce
The number of Electrical Engineering graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Electrical Engineering by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Electrical 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 Electrical Engineering.
Age distribution for Electrical Engineering degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
17,407 Total Degrees Awarded
2,055 Male (11.81%)
15,352 Female (88.19%)
Gender distribution of Electrical Engineering degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
9,769 White (56.12%)
3,468 Hispanic or Latino (19.92%)
1,891 Black or African American (10.86%)
879 Asian (5.05%)
692 Two or More Races (3.98%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Electrical Engineering degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Electrical Engineering are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Electrical Engineering.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Electrical Engineering field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Electrical Engineering majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Electrical 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 Electrical Engineering majors.
About
Electrical Engineering
In 2023, 17,407 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Electrical Engineering.
CIP Code
19.1503 - Electrical Engineering
What the data shows
Women earned 92.2% of 53,684 Electrical Engineering completions in the IPEDS file used here.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $129,396. The largest mapped role by headcount is Electronics Engineers, Except Computer (93,940 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $4,863 in-state at public colleges and $18,000 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.