Network Engineering Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Network Engineering maps to BLS occupations averaging about $114,867, with roughly 69,280 workers nationwide in those roles. About 118,394 bachelor's completions in IPEDS 2023; median program completion runs near 56%.
Key Statistics
Network Engineering: what the data shows
Common questions about network engineering degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a network engineering degree?
A Network Engineering program is classified under NCES CIP 14.0000 in the 14.0000 field family (14.00).
IPEDS counted 118,394 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
Types of network engineering degrees and related programs
Other NCES program codes in the 14.00 family with pages on EDsmart Data:
- Aerospace Engineering (CIP 14.0000)
- Engineering (CIP 14.0000)
- Software Engineering (CIP 14.0000)
How long does it take to get a network engineering degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 14.0000 in our file:
- 6,440 Associate (3.6% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 118,394 Bachelor's (65.9% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 54,723 Master's (30.4% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 180 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 network engineering?
O*NET skill ratings for occupations mapped to this major emphasize Equipment Maintenance, Repairing, Troubleshooting, Operations Monitoring, Quality Control Analysis, Complex Problem Solving, and related competencies. See the Skills section for the full list in our extract.
What degree do you need?
For Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians (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 14.0000, 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 network engineering degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Network 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians | 36,880 | $52,080 |
| Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products | 293,930 | $100,070 |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Institutions
Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Network Engineering and the types of students that study this field.
Institutions awarding the most Network Engineering degrees
| # | Institution | State | Completions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Purdue University-Main Campus | IN | 4,103 |
| 2 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | 3,995 |
| 3 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | GA | 3,742 |
| 4 | Northeastern University | MA | 3,594 |
| 5 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 2,902 |
| 6 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | MI | 2,900 |
| 7 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | IL | 2,739 |
| 8 | North Carolina State University at Raleigh | NC | 2,682 |
| 9 | University of California-Berkeley | CA | 2,410 |
| 10 | University of Florida | FL | 2,355 |
IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), all award levels for this CIP in our extract.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
118,394 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Network Engineering from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Network Engineering.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Husson University | ME | 2,395 |
| 2 | The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston | TX | 559 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Network Engineering programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Husson University | ME | $22,194 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Network Engineering programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Husson University | ME | $20,798 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Network Engineering programs.
Graduation Rates
55.50% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
56.31% Average Graduation Rate
364 Institutions Reporting
44.34% - 69.94% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for Network 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 Network Engineering is in CA (14,031 completions). That state represents about 11.8% 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 MT (4.60% 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 | 14,031 | 11.8% | 3.12% |
| TX | 9,533 | 8.1% | 3.25% |
| NY | 6,138 | 5.2% | 2.23% |
| PA | 5,970 | 5.0% | 3.50% |
| FL | 5,803 | 4.9% | 2.53% |
| OH | 5,368 | 4.5% | 3.88% |
| MI | 4,915 | 4.2% | 4.29% |
| MA | 4,546 | 3.8% | 3.57% |
| IN | 4,025 | 3.4% | 3.89% |
| IL | 3,879 | 3.3% | 2.80% |
| GA | 3,728 | 3.1% | 3.25% |
| NC | 3,145 | 2.7% | 2.54% |
| VA | 3,143 | 2.6% | 2.56% |
| CO | 3,054 | 2.6% | 4.26% |
| AZ | 2,705 | 2.3% | 1.95% |
| AL | 2,505 | 2.1% | 3.70% |
| NJ | 2,489 | 2.1% | 2.88% |
| WI | 2,421 | 2.0% | 3.18% |
Related specializations
Other NCES program codes in the 14.00 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.
- Aerospace Engineering CIP 14.0000
- Engineering CIP 14.0000
- Software Engineering CIP 14.0000
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 14.0000 in the survey year used in our extract (179,737 total across levels below).
- 6,440 Associate (3.6% of IPEDS total)
- 118,394 Bachelor's (65.9% of IPEDS total)
- 54,723 Master's (30.4% of IPEDS total)
- 180 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 $114,867. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Network Engineering graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians | $58,116 | 36,880 |
| Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products | $131,986 | 293,930 |
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
$136,006 Average Wage in Workforce
The average salary for Network Engineering majors is $136,006.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Network Engineering majors.
Occupations by Share
69,280 2023 Workforce
The number of Network Engineering graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Network Engineering by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Network 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 Network Engineering.
Age distribution for Network Engineering degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
118,394 Total Degrees Awarded
88,262 Male (74.55%)
30,132 Female (25.45%)
Gender distribution of Network Engineering degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
63,671 White (53.78%)
17,673 Hispanic or Latino (14.93%)
15,357 Asian (12.97%)
5,127 Black or African American (4.33%)
5,119 Two or More Races (4.32%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Network Engineering degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Network Engineering are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Network Engineering.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Network Engineering field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Network Engineering majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Network 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 Network Engineering majors.
About
Network Engineering
In 2023, 118,394 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Network Engineering.
CIP Code
14.0000 - Network Engineering
What the data shows
Men earned 26.3% of 197,615 Network Engineering completions in the IPEDS file used here.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $114,867. The largest mapped role by headcount is Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians (136,390 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
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.