Bachelor's · Merced, California
Is Mechanical Engineering at University of California-Merced worth it?
High confidence High confidence: 100+ 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 1.6 years.
- Earnings 1 year after graduating
- $76,817
- Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Earnings 4 years after graduating
- $102,084
- Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Typical federal debt at graduation
- $12,757
- NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
- Net cost to graduate, all families
- $49k (likely $49k – $64k)
- AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Earnings bump, year 4
- $62k a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in CA
- 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Payback
- 1.6 years (likely 1.4–2.0)
- Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
- 10-year net return
- $370k (likely $291k – $441k)
- Today's dollars
- 20-year net return
- $1.10M (likely $920k – $1.29M)
- Today's dollars
- Odds of finishing (school-wide)
- 68%
- Fall 2019 or AcadYr 2019-20 cohort (differs by institutional calendar), reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Borrowers making progress / in default, 2 years in
- not reported / ≤ 10%
- NSLDS AY2016-17, AY2017-18 pooled cohorts measured in 2018-19, 2019-20
Change income, residency or loans Compare Mechanical Engineering at other schools
Other majors at University of California-Merced
- Computer Engineering (Bachelor's)$102,575
- Biomedical/Medical Engineering (Bachelor's)$88,795
- Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering (Bachelor's)$83,007
- Applied Mathematics (Bachelor's)$82,156
- Business Administration, Management and Operations (Bachelor's)$68,277
- Economics (Bachelor's)$67,692
- Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods (Master's)$67,444
- Cell/Cellular Biology and Anatomical Sciences (Doctoral)$64,613
- Political Science and Government (Bachelor's)$62,815
- Biology, General (Bachelor's)$59,249
- English Language and Literature, General (Bachelor's)$58,623
- Chemistry (Bachelor's)$56,888
Mechanical Engineering at other schools in California
- Cal Poly Maritime Academy$126,395
- Santa Clara University$122,111
- University of California-Berkeley$119,371
- Stanford University$117,072
- University of California-Los Angeles$108,875
- California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo$106,750
- California Baptist University$105,046
- University of Southern California$104,649
- University of California-Santa Barbara$104,336
- University of California-San Diego$104,229