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Chemical Engineering

Students study the design and optimization of chemical processes for manufacturing pharmaceuticals, fuels, plastics, food products, and industrial chemicals at scale. Graduates typically pursue careers in oil and gas, pharmaceutical manufacturing, semiconductor fabrication, food processing, and environmental engineering. Chemical engineering consistently ranks among the highest-paying engineering disciplines at both entry and mid-career levels.

Compare Schools

Schools

158

Programs analyzed

Earnings

$72,288

Avg 1-yr grad earnings

Range $45,164–$87,830

Outlook

68/100

Avg DegreeOutlook Score

AI Risk

High

54% task exposure

Field Overview

What Chemical Engineering graduates do

Your degree prepares you to manipulate matter at a molecular level to create valuable products. Early in your career as a chemical engineer, you might spend your days optimizing processes at a semiconductor fab, developing new polymers for a consumer goods company, or ensuring safety protocols at an oil refinery. A related path in bioengineering could have you designing artificial organs or developing new drug delivery systems.

With experience, you’ll progress from executing technical tasks to leading them. Many chemical engineers move into management, where you’ll oversee entire projects, manage budgets, and guide teams of other engineers. AI will be your partner in this work, automating routine simulations and data analysis. This won't eliminate your job, but it will change it; the focus will shift from performing calculations to interpreting AI-driven results and making critical judgments. While core chemical engineering roles see modest growth, related fields like bioengineering and university teaching are expanding more quickly, offering alternative paths for your expertise.

If Chemical Engineering isn't the right fit, programs like Paper Science and Engineering, Biochemical Engineering, and Biological Engineering draw from adjacent disciplines.

Career Trajectories

Where Chemical Engineering graduates work

Common career paths for Chemical Engineering graduates, with median salaries, projected growth, and AI exposure per role. Roughly 30,300 combined openings per year across these roles.

Role	Median Pay	Annual Openings	10-yr Growth	AI Exposure
Architectural and engineering managers	$167,740 $135K–$207K	14,500	+3.8%	Moderate · 41%
Chemical engineers	$121,860 $96K–$152K	1,100	+2.6%	Moderate · 46%
Engineers, all other	$117,750 $86K–$153K	9,300	+2.1%	Moderate · 46%
Bioengineers and biomedical engineers	$106,950 $87K–$134K	1,300	+5.2%	High · 59%
Engineering teachers, postsecondary	$106,120 $80K–$136K	4,100	+8.1%	High · 50%

Source: BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics, May 2024. Salary range shows 25th–median–75th percentile (national).

Top Institutions

Best schools for Chemical Engineering

Schools ranked by DegreeOutlook Score (earnings × AI resilience × ROI × job-market size). Top 10 of 158.

Rank #1 · DegreeOutlook Score 77

Lamar University

Beaumont, TX · Public

$87,284 1-yr earnings

30.8x ROI multiple

High AI risk

University of Florida

Gainesville, FL · #2

$87,164/yr · 40.0x ROI

The University of Texas at Austin

Austin, TX · #3

$87,365/yr · 22.7x ROI

Texas A & M University-College Station

College Station, TX · #4

$86,176/yr · 22.6x ROI

#	School	DW Score	1-yr Earnings	ROI
5	University of Houston Houston, TX · Public	76	$84,468	24.5x
6	Oklahoma State University-Main Campus Stillwater, OK · Public	76	$82,466	24.9x
7	North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC · Public	76	$81,492	28.1x
8	Brigham Young University Provo, UT · Private nonprofit	76	$77,565	41.2x
9	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public	75	$85,945	21.8x
10	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA · Public	75	$85,847	20.6x
11	Auburn University Auburn, AL · Public	75	$82,217	20.5x
12	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	75	$81,553	20.3x
13	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public	75	$81,105	22.8x
14	North Carolina A & T State University Greensboro, NC · Public	75	$78,323	31.3x
15	Mississippi State University Mississippi State, MS · Public	75	$78,183	25.6x
16	Kansas State University Manhattan, KS · Public	75	$77,492	23.2x
17	University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR · Public	75	$75,102	25.0x
18	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD · Public	74	$81,777	19.1x
19	University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE · Public	74	$79,603	21.0x
20	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	74	$78,813	20.2x
21	University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus Norman, OK · Public	74	$77,751	22.6x
22	Iowa State University Ames, IA · Public	74	$76,184	21.9x
23	New Mexico State University-Main Campus Las Cruces, NM · Public	74	$75,766	26.4x
24	Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Baton Rouge, LA · Public	74	$74,786	22.3x
25	University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT · Public	74	$73,841	24.5x
26	Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY · Public	74	$72,868	22.8x
27	South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Rapid City, SD · Public	74	$72,785	23.6x
28	Florida State University Tallahassee, FL · Public	74	$70,797	42.4x
29	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona Pomona, CA · Public	74	$69,009	33.8x
30	University of Toledo Toledo, OH · Public	73	$79,750	18.4x
31	University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA · Public	73	$79,737	16.4x
32	Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX · Public	73	$77,586	19.3x
33	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	73	$77,455	17.9x
34	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public	73	$76,680	18.1x
35	University of Idaho Moscow, ID · Public	73	$75,915	23.4x
36	University of South Carolina-Columbia Columbia, SC · Public	73	$75,680	18.7x
37	University of Iowa Iowa City, IA · Public	73	$75,340	19.7x
38	University of North Dakota Grand Forks, ND · Public	73	$73,112	20.1x
39	University of South Florida Tampa, FL · Public	73	$70,659	31.9x
40	West Virginia University Institute of Technology Beckley, WV · Public	73	$69,875	26.8x
41	Ohio University-Eastern Campus Saint Clairsville, OH · Public	73	$67,322	34.7x
42	Ohio University-Chillicothe Campus Chillicothe, OH · Public	73	$67,322	34.7x
43	Ohio University-Southern Campus Ironton, OH · Public	73	$67,322	34.7x
44	Ohio University-Lancaster Campus Lancaster, OH · Public	73	$67,322	34.7x
45	Ohio University-Zanesville Campus Zanesville, OH · Public	73	$67,322	34.7x
46	University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville, VA · Public	72	$85,772	12.8x
47	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public	72	$82,382	15.0x
48	University of Cincinnati-Main Campus Cincinnati, OH · Public	72	$82,372	16.1x
49	University of Maine Orono, ME · Public	72	$78,838	16.6x
50	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public	72	$77,440	15.8x
51	Oregon State University-Cascades Campus Bend, OR · Public	72	$71,618	18.1x
52	University of South Alabama Mobile, AL · Public	72	$71,116	21.7x
53	University of Louisville Louisville, KY · Public	72	$70,675	18.1x
54	University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO · Public	72	$70,359	16.5x
55	West Virginia University Morgantown, WV · Public	72	$69,875	22.3x
56	The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL · Public	72	$69,809	19.4x
57	University of Louisiana at Lafayette Lafayette, LA · Public	72	$63,886	23.3x
58	University of Delaware Newark, DE · Public	71	$80,564	13.7x
59	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	71	$79,551	13.5x
60	Michigan State University East Lansing, MI · Public	71	$79,023	14.0x
61	Missouri University of Science and Technology Rolla, MO · Public	71	$78,369	14.8x
62	University of Massachusetts-Lowell Lowell, MA · Public	71	$77,380	14.1x
63	The University of Tennessee-Knoxville Knoxville, TN · Public	71	$76,302	15.6x
64	Clemson University Clemson, SC · Public	71	$75,951	14.9x
65	University of Arizona Tucson, AZ · Public	71	$73,479	16.6x
66	University of Akron Main Campus Akron, OH · Public	71	$71,873	17.3x
67	Oregon State University Corvallis, OR · Public	71	$71,618	16.8x
68	Wayne State University Detroit, MI · Public	71	$71,373	16.6x
69	University of California-Davis Davis, CA · Public	71	$68,337	16.9x
70	University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY · Public	71	$67,873	19.5x
71	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	71	$67,624	18.1x
72	University of Maryland-Baltimore County Baltimore, MD · Public	71	$66,023	18.0x
73	University of Nevada-Reno Reno, NV · Public	71	$64,039	23.0x
74	University of New Mexico-Main Campus Albuquerque, NM · Public	71	$62,907	26.7x
75	Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VA · Public	70	$79,721	13.0x
76	Miami University-Oxford Oxford, OH · Public	70	$77,542	12.7x
77	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	70	$73,245	14.3x
78	University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown Johnstown, PA · Public	70	$73,072	14.9x
79	University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia, MO · Public	70	$69,950	15.2x
80	Washington State University Pullman, WA · Public	70	$69,820	16.0x
81	Youngstown State University Youngstown, OH · Public	70	$69,609	18.2x
82	Colorado State University-Fort Collins Fort Collins, CO · Public	70	$62,468	17.9x
83	Montana State University Bozeman, MT · Public	70	$62,206	24.5x
84	Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI · Public	69	$80,193	11.9x
85	University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI · Public	69	$75,406	12.6x
86	University of Massachusetts-Amherst Amherst, MA · Public	69	$72,514	13.0x
87	Cleveland State University Cleveland, OH · Public	69	$69,043	15.7x
88	University of California-Riverside Riverside, CA · Public	69	$68,245	15.0x
89	CUNY City College New York, NY · Public	69	$67,450	22.4x
90	Ohio University-Main Campus Athens, OH · Public	69	$67,322	15.0x
91	University of Minnesota-Duluth Duluth, MN · Public	69	$67,152	14.9x
92	University of Kansas Lawrence, KS · Public	69	$63,870	17.5x
93	Tennessee Technological University Cookeville, TN · Public	69	$60,300	20.4x
94	Prairie View A & M University Prairie View, TX · Public	69	$58,627	19.6x
95	The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga Chattanooga, TN · Public	69	$57,952	21.0x
96	University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA · Public	69	$57,540	17.0x
97	Texas A & M University-Kingsville Kingsville, TX · Public	69	$55,622	22.4x
98	University of New Hampshire-Main Campus Durham, NH · Public	68	$71,599	12.1x
99	Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ · Public	68	$67,777	13.2x
100	University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA · Public	68	$59,508	15.0x
101	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	67	$68,025	12.3x
102	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	67	$68,025	12.3x
103	University of Connecticut-Stamford Stamford, CT · Public	67	$68,025	12.3x
104	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	67	$68,025	12.3x
105	University of Kentucky Lexington, KY · Public	67	$65,389	14.8x
106	University of Illinois Chicago Chicago, IL · Public	67	$58,377	14.8x
107	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus Pittsburgh, PA · Public	66	$73,072	9.8x
108	Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, MI · Public	66	$68,632	12.6x
109	University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Mayaguez, PR · Public	66	$47,701	37.8x
110	University of Wyoming Laramie, WY · Public	66	$46,398	30.7x
111	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA · Private nonprofit	65	$81,721	4.9x
112	Colorado School of Mines Golden, CO · Public	65	$68,318	10.3x
113	University of Connecticut Storrs, CT · Public	65	$68,025	10.4x
114	New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ · Public	65	$66,617	11.0x
115	California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA · Public	65	$45,164	31.6x
116	Rice University Houston, TX · Private nonprofit	64	$87,830	4.1x
117	University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Stevens Point, WI · Public	64	$84,047	22.8x
118	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA · Private nonprofit	64	$80,139	4.2x
119	Cornell University Ithaca, NY · Private nonprofit	63	$85,578	3.5x
120	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private nonprofit	63	$83,377	3.5x
121	Northwestern University Evanston, IL · Private nonprofit	63	$80,709	3.6x
122	Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA · Private nonprofit	62	$82,435	3.3x
123	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Terre Haute, IN · Private nonprofit	62	$82,394	3.7x
124	Bucknell University Lewisburg, PA · Private nonprofit	62	$80,653	3.3x
125	University of Dayton Dayton, OH · Private nonprofit	62	$79,865	4.2x
126	Louisiana Tech University Ruston, LA · Public	62	$79,157	18.5x
127	University of Mississippi University, MS · Public	62	$76,685	19.4x
128	Northeastern University Boston, MA · Private nonprofit	61	$81,880	3.1x
129	Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, NJ · Private nonprofit	61	$79,339	3.2x
130	Worcester Polytechnic Institute Worcester, MA · Private nonprofit	61	$78,767	3.3x
131	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY · Private nonprofit	61	$78,263	3.3x
132	Drexel University Philadelphia, PA · Private nonprofit	61	$77,528	3.3x
133	Tufts University Medford, MA · Private nonprofit	61	$75,367	3.3x
134	Trine University Angola, IN · Private nonprofit	61	$72,875	5.3x
135	Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH · Private nonprofit	60	$83,706	2.8x
136	Lafayette College Easton, PA · Private nonprofit	60	$79,602	2.9x
137	Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN · Private nonprofit	60	$75,639	3.1x
138	Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY · Private nonprofit	60	$73,984	3.4x
139	Manhattan College Riverdale, NY · Private nonprofit	60	$73,333	3.8x
140	Widener University Chester, PA · Private nonprofit	60	$71,160	3.6x
141	Clarkson University Potsdam, NY · Private nonprofit	59	$75,887	3.1x
142	Villanova University Villanova, PA · Private nonprofit	59	$72,379	2.9x
143	University of Rochester Rochester, NY · Private nonprofit	59	$71,028	3.1x
144	University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA · Private nonprofit	58	$68,234	2.9x
145	Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL · Private nonprofit	58	$64,526	3.6x
146	Florida Institute of Technology Melbourne, FL · Private nonprofit	58	$53,145	5.3x
147	New York University New York, NY · Private nonprofit	57	$60,392	3.3x
148	Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY · Private nonprofit	57	$55,154	3.3x
149	Tuskegee University Tuskegee, AL · Private nonprofit	57	$51,473	8.0x
150	New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Socorro, NM · Public	56	$57,215	14.8x
151	University of Alabama in Huntsville Huntsville, AL · Public	55	$60,528	11.9x
152	Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD · Private nonprofit	55	$51,267	3.4x
153	University of Tulsa Tulsa, OK · Private nonprofit	55	$47,705	4.5x
154	Rowan University Glassboro, NJ · Public	52	$61,045	8.7x
155	Milwaukee School of Engineering Milwaukee, WI · Private nonprofit	51	$55,333	2.9x
156	Kettering University Flint, MI · Private nonprofit	49	$71,411	2.8x
157	Syracuse University Syracuse, NY · Private nonprofit	48	$72,864	1.9x
158	Washington University in St Louis Saint Louis, MO · Private nonprofit	47	$69,801	1.8x

Browse all 158 Chemical Engineering programs ranked by graduate outcomes →

Highest Earnings Top 5

Rice University TX	$87,830
The University of Texas at Austin TX	$87,365
Lamar University TX	$87,284
University of Florida FL	$87,164
Texas A & M University-College Station TX	$86,176

Best ROI Top 5

Florida State University FL	42.4x
Brigham Young University UT	41.2x
University of Florida FL	40.0x
University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez PR	37.8x
Ohio University-Eastern Campus OH	34.7x

Chemical Engineering vs Other Majors

See how Chemical Engineering compares to similar fields on earnings, AI risk, and career paths.

Chemical Engineering vs Chemistry

Related majors

Similar fields of study often offered alongside Chemical Engineering.

Mechanical Engineering Electrical Engineering Civil Engineering Computer Engineering Biomedical Engineering Industrial Engineering Aerospace Engineering Environmental Engineering Materials Engineering Agricultural Engineering Petroleum Engineering Architectural Engineering

FAQ

Frequently asked about Chemical Engineering

What's the typical salary after a Chemical Engineering degree?

Across 158 schools, Chemical Engineering graduates earn an average of $72,288 per year in their first year after graduation. Earnings range from $45,164 to $87,830 depending on the school.

What is the AI automation risk for Chemical Engineering?

Our analysis classifies Chemical Engineering as "High" for AI risk — approximately 54% of typical job tasks overlap with current AI capabilities. That puts most of the daily work in the automation-sensitive category.

Which school has the best Chemical Engineering program?

Our data ranks Lamar University first among 158 Chemical Engineering programs. Its score of 77/100 reflects strong outcomes across earnings ($87,284/yr), return on investment, and career durability.

Is a Chemical Engineering degree worth the investment?

Typical graduates earn 16.1 times what they paid in tuition within a decade. This is a strong return on investment. Look at per-school ROI in the table above — averages can mask significant variation.