Aerospace Engineeringat University of California-Davis
Graduates earn $71,633/yr in their first year — about 2.0% below the national Aerospace Engineering average. Base-case 10-year earnings $943K; scenarios range from $815K to $967K depending on AI disruption.
What this degree looks like at UC Davis
First-year earnings of $71,633 track close to the $73,060 national median for Aerospace Engineering programs. This is a middle-of-the-road outcome on salary alone.
The 15.5x earnings multiple means ten-year projected earnings exceed tuition cost by an order of magnitude. By pure financial math, this is a standout.
AI risk is moderate — 41% task exposure — and the 16% scenario spread suggests disruption would dent but not destroy the earnings outlook.
At $18,748 in median debt against $71,633 in first-year earnings, graduates can expect to clear their loan balance in under six months of full earnings.
At #29 out of 57 programs, University of California-Davis's financial outcomes for Aerospace Engineering trail the majority of peers. The value case depends on other factors.
The five-year earnings trajectory from $71,633 to $98,457 shows 37% growth, reflecting steady but unremarkable salary progression.
Three scenarios, ten years out
Each scenario is a different assumption about how AI reshapes the career paths this major feeds into. Earnings projections stack the full 10-year cumulative trajectory; scores use the same 0–100 metric as the hero, recomputed under that scenario's assumptions.
10 year projection
Year-by-year earnings under each scenario. Base case reflects BLS growth patterns applied to UC Davis's starting earnings; optimistic and pessimistic adjust for AI's effect on each career path this major feeds into.
Common career destinations for this program's graduates, weighted by the school's specific occupation mix. Salary is BLS national median; AI risk is per-role task-exposure research.
Peer schools offering Aerospace Engineering
How UC Davis stacks up against other schools offering this major.
Other top programs at UC Davis
Other highest-scoring programs offered at UC Davis, ranked by DegreeOutlook Score.
Frequently asked about Aerospace Engineering at UC Davis
How does University of California-Davis's Aerospace Engineering program score?
A score of 72/100 reflects decent absolute metrics, but University of California-Davis trails the majority of Aerospace Engineering programs on relative rankings. Context matters more than the raw number.
How vulnerable is Aerospace Engineering to AI automation?
AI won't 'replace' Aerospace Engineering careers outright, but it is likely to reduce the number of job openings. We model 41% task exposure, which compresses field employment probability in our scenarios.