Degree profile

Petroleum Engineering Degrees (2026 stats)

Last updated: April 29, 2026 Source: College Scorecard

Executive Summary (TL;DR)

Petroleum Engineering maps to BLS occupations averaging about $114,867, with roughly 69,280 workers nationwide in those roles. Median program completion runs near 57%; median in-state published tuition is about $10,364.

Petroleum Engineering: what the data shows

Common questions about petroleum engineering degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.

What is a petroleum engineering degree?

A Petroleum Engineering program is classified under NCES CIP 14.2500 in the Petroleum Engineering field family (00.14).

IPEDS counted 488 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.

Types of petroleum engineering degrees and related programs

Other NCES program codes in the 00.14 family with pages on EDsmart Data:

How long does it take to get a petroleum engineering degree?

Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 14.2500 in our file:

  • 1 Bachelor's (100.0% of IPEDS total)—typically four years

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 petroleum 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 jobs can you get with a petroleum engineering degree?

Our degree→occupation mapping links Petroleum Engineering to the BLS roles below. Employment is U.S. OEWS; median wage is national May 2024 where published in our extract.

OccupationU.S. employmentMedian annual wage
Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians136,390$78,680
Computer Hardware Engineers75,710$155,020
Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters43,640$39,270
Brickmasons and Blockmasons53,520$60,800
Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians36,880$52,080
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products293,930$100,070

See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.

Is a petroleum engineering degree worth it?

College Scorecard national medians for the Petroleum Engineering bachelor's program family: median debt $36,080, median earnings $104,823 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.52.

About 5.5% 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 $10,364 and median net price is $16,378.

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 Petroleum Engineering and the types of students that study this field.

Tuition Costs for Common Institutions

$10,364 Median In-State Public

$48,602 Median Out of State Private

Tuition costs for Petroleum Engineering majors are, on average, $10,364 for in-state public colleges, and $48,602 for out of state private colleges.

Tuition costs comparison for Petroleum Engineering programs.

Degrees Awarded Over Time

488 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023

This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Petroleum Engineering from 2015 to 2023.

Historical trend of degrees awarded in Petroleum Engineering.

Top 5 Schools by Enrollment

# School State Enrollment
1 Texas A&M University-College Station TX 59,099
2 The University of Texas at Austin TX 42,100
3 University of Houston TX 37,175
4 Texas Tech University TX 32,446
5 Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College LA 29,207

Schools with the largest enrollment offering Petroleum Engineering programs.

Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition

# School State Tuition
1 University of Wyoming WY $6,938
2 Texas A & M International University TX $7,846
3 Montana Technological University MT $8,050
4 University of Alaska Fairbanks AK $8,640
5 New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology NM $9,058

Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Petroleum Engineering programs.

Top 5 Lowest Net Price

# School State Net Price
1 Texas A & M International University TX $3,061
2 New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology NM $8,265
3 The University of Texas Permian Basin TX $9,144
4 University of Alaska Fairbanks AK $9,634
5 Texas A&M University-Kingsville TX $10,204

Schools with the lowest average net price for Petroleum Engineering programs.

Graduation Rates

56.95% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)

57.64% Average Graduation Rate

144 Institutions Reporting

43.28% - 72.24% Interquartile Range

Graduation/completion rates for Petroleum Engineering programs across institutions.

Related specializations

Other NCES program codes in the 00.14 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.

Degree Levels (IPEDS)

Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 14.2500 in the survey year used in our extract (1 total across levels below).

  • 1 Bachelor's (100.0% 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 Petroleum Engineering graduates alone.

Related occupations (BLS OEWS)

Occupation Mean annual wage U.S. employment
Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians$88,062136,390
Computer Hardware Engineers$188,33375,710
Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters$53,31243,640
Brickmasons and Blockmasons$74,53853,520
Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians$58,11636,880
Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products$131,986293,930

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 Petroleum Engineering CIP family (5 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Petroleum Engineering graduate.

  • $36,080 median federal loan debt among completers
  • $104,823 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
  • 0.52 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
  • 5.5% 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

$136,006 Average wage, mapped occupations (OEWS)

Occupations mapped to Petroleum Engineering average $136,006 a year in the BLS OEWS extract.

Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Petroleum Engineering majors.

Occupations by Share

69,280 2023 Workforce

The number of Petroleum Engineering graduates in the workforce has been growing.

Various jobs filled by those with a major in Petroleum Engineering by share of the total number of graduates.

Diversity

Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Petroleum 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 Petroleum Engineering.

Age distribution for Petroleum Engineering degree holders in the workforce.

Gender Distribution

Gender distribution data is not available for this degree program.

Gender distribution of Petroleum Engineering degree recipients.

Race and Ethnicity Distribution

Race and ethnicity distribution data is not available for this degree program.

Racial and ethnic distribution of Petroleum Engineering degree recipients.

Degrees Awarded

The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Petroleum Engineering are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.

Distribution of degree types awarded in Petroleum Engineering.

Skills

Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Petroleum Engineering field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Required Skills

Petroleum Engineering majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.

Rating of how necessary various skills are for Petroleum 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 Petroleum Engineering majors.

About

Petroleum Engineering

In 2023, 488 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Petroleum Engineering.

CIP Code

14.2500 - Petroleum Engineering

What the data shows

At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $36,080 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $104,823, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.52. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Petroleum Engineering graduate.

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).

Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $10,364 in-state at public colleges and $48,602 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.