The 50 colleges that score highest for Chemical engineering on public federal data: selectivity, graduate earnings, program size, academic strength and graduate depth. It is a starting point for your research, not a judgment of quality.
50 colleges · each name links to its page, with sources · data snapshot October 2, 2026 · Updated October 2, 2026
How we rank programs · showing the top 50 of 50 core colleges ranked, those with enough graduates and earnings data · All top-programs lists
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| Rank | College | State | What we measured | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Columbia University in the City of New York | NY | Median earnings $144,940 (field-wide) · 14 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | MA | Median earnings $122,093 · 51 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 3 | Stanford University | CA | Median earnings $115,859 (field-wide) · 11 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 4 | Princeton University | NJ | Median earnings $117,748 (field-wide) · 29 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 5 | University of Pennsylvania | PA | Median earnings $109,884 · 23 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 6 | University of Chicago | IL | Median earnings $91,885 (college-wide) · 59 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 7 | University of California-Berkeley | CA | Median earnings $121,027 · 120 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 8 | Cornell University | NY | Median earnings $116,165 · 35 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 9 | Vanderbilt University | TN | Median earnings $121,641 · 24 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 10 | Northwestern University | IL | Median earnings $111,040 · 28 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 11 | Rice University | TX | Median earnings $113,605 · 22 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 12 | California Institute of Technology | CA | Median earnings $128,566 (college-wide) · 10 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 13 | University of California-Los Angeles | CA | Median earnings $108,066 · 67 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 14 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | GA | Median earnings $104,104 · 144 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 15 | Carnegie Mellon University | PA | Median earnings $110,378 · 51 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 16 | The University of Texas at Austin | TX | Median earnings $115,423 · 138 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 17 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | MI | Median earnings $109,405 · 81 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 18 | University of Notre Dame | IN | Median earnings $113,614 · 61 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 19 | Johns Hopkins University | MD | Median earnings $94,671 · 64 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 20 | University of Florida | FL | Median earnings $109,607 · 117 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 21 | Washington University in St Louis | MO | Median earnings $107,843 · 38 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 22 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | IL | Median earnings $104,317 · 145 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 23 | University of Virginia-Main Campus | VA | Median earnings $105,724 · 33 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 24 | Purdue University-Main Campus | IN | Median earnings $104,514 · 137 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 25 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | Median earnings $111,073 · 217 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 26 | University of Washington-Seattle Campus | WA | Median earnings $109,551 · 57 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 27 | University of Southern California | CA | Median earnings $100,646 · 38 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 28 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | WI | Median earnings $101,676 · 120 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 29 | Tulane University of Louisiana | LA | Median earnings $112,914 (field-wide) · 15 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 30 | University of California-Santa Barbara | CA | Median earnings $113,317 · 44 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 31 | Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus | PA | Median earnings $103,728 · 130 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 32 | Northeastern University | MA | Median earnings $107,767 · 93 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 33 | Ohio State University-Main Campus | OH | Median earnings $98,851 · 187 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 34 | University of Maryland-College Park | MD | Median earnings $102,149 · 39 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 35 | University of California-San Diego | CA | Median earnings $96,798 · 89 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 36 | North Carolina State University at Raleigh | NC | Median earnings $104,705 · 170 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 37 | Tufts University | MA | Median earnings $98,682 (field-wide) · 23 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 38 | University of California-Davis | CA | Median earnings $102,649 · 54 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 39 | University of California-Irvine | CA | Median earnings $97,656 · 40 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 40 | New York University | NY | Median earnings $89,744 · 49 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 41 | Rutgers University-New Brunswick | NJ | Median earnings $100,729 · 62 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 42 | University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus | PA | Median earnings $97,324 · 82 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 43 | Case Western Reserve University | OH | Median earnings $96,533 · 39 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 44 | University of Rochester | NY | Median earnings $92,102 · 31 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 45 | Auburn University | AL | Median earnings $106,726 · 76 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 46 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | VA | Median earnings $106,011 · 78 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 47 | University of Minnesota-Twin Cities | MN | Median earnings $92,946 · 108 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 48 | University of Delaware | DE | Median earnings $103,910 · 82 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 49 | Lehigh University | PA | Median earnings $101,720 · 37 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 50 | University of Houston | TX | Median earnings $110,184 · 78 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees |
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