Master's · Stanford, California
Is Civil Engineering at Stanford University worth it?
Medium confidence Medium confidence: 40–99 graduates behind the earnings figures.
The verdict · all families, in-state, half paid with loans
Pays back fast: graduates typically recover the cost in about 2.7 years.
- Earnings 1 year after graduating
- $94,540
- Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Earnings 4 years after graduating
- $120,428
- Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Typical federal debt at graduation
- $49,079
- NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
- Typical borrowing (no graduate net price is published)
- $52k (likely $52k – $52k)
- AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Earnings bump, year 4
- $52k a year vs bachelor's graduates 4 years out in CA
- 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Payback
- 2.7 years (likely 2.1–3.5)
- Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
- 10-year net return
- $262k (likely $131k – $414k)
- Today's dollars
- 20-year net return
- $918k (likely $593k – $1.27M)
- Today's dollars
Change income, residency or loans Compare Civil Engineering at other schools
Scorecard reports no net price for graduate programs; cost is based on what graduates typically borrowed.
Other majors at Stanford University
- Business Administration, Management and Operations (Master's)$261,816
- Law (First professional)$259,944
- Computer Science (Master's)$255,667
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Doctoral)$231,917
- Medical Illustration and Informatics (Master's)$230,298
- Mechanical Engineering (Doctoral)$218,808
- Computer Science (Bachelor's)$214,907
- Engineering-Related Fields (Master's)$206,093
- Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods (Master's)$206,046
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Master's)$181,705
- Chemistry (Doctoral)$170,898
- Mechanical Engineering (Master's)$167,632
Civil Engineering at other schools in California
- University of Southern California$130,675
- California State University-Los Angeles$120,651
- University of California-San Diego$112,223
- California State Polytechnic University-Pomona$110,863
- California State University-Fullerton$108,826
- California State University-Sacramento$108,193
- University of California-Davis$106,894
- California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo$106,004
- California State University-Long Beach$105,034
- California State University-Northridge$104,388