Is a Chemical Engineering degree worth it?
Across 153 schools, graduates of Chemical Engineering earn a median $97,080 five years out on $22,732 of debt — most often working as Architectural and Engineering Managers. Every figure is a real, published federal number.
Median 5-yr pay
$97,080
Median debt
$22,732
Years to pay off
2.4
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
48%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
+3.5%
BLS 2024–2034
Gender pay gap
-1.2%
$98,880 vs $100,071
Net price
$17,962/yr
Debt-test failures
0%
of programs
'Real' premium
+$29,413
vs avg, adjusted
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Chemical Engineering in full →Data: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, O*NET, AI-exposure measures (Eloundou/AIOE), Zillow. Earnings reflect federally-aided graduates; see the full story for methodology and limitations.