Chemical Engineering

Stem Major

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Total Degrees​
Awarded in 2022
11,982
declining 5.58%
Median In-State​
Public Tuition
$9,064
growing 1.45%
Median Out-of-State​
Private Tuition
$56,000
growing 3.07%
Average Wage
$131,370
growing 7.94%
People in Workforce
4.83M
growing 3.48%
Average Employee Age
43
declining 0.361%

About

In 2022, the locations with the highest concentration of Chemical Engineering degree recipients are College Station, TX, New York, NY, and Raleigh, NC. In 2022, the locations with a relatively high number of Chemical Engineering degree recipients are Golden, CO, Socorro, NM, and Houghton, MI. The most common degree awarded to students studying Chemical Engineering is a bachelors degree.

Institutions

Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Chemical Engineering and the types of students that study this field. Texas A & M University-College Station awards the most degrees in Chemical Engineering in the US, but The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and Colorado School of Mines have the highest percentage of degrees awarded in Chemical Engineering.

Tuition costs for Chemical Engineering majors are, on average, $9,064 for in-state public colleges, and $56,000 for out of state private colleges.

The most common sector, by number of institutions, that offers Chemical Engineering programs are Public, 4-year or above institutions (139 total). The most common sector, by number of degrees awarded, is Public, 4-year or above (9,354 completions).

Institutions

The most common sector, by number of degrees awarded in Chemical Engineering, is Public, 4-year or above (9,354 completions in 2022).

The following chart shows the share of universities that offer Chemical Engineering programs, by the total number of completions, colored and grouped by their sector.

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Tuition Costs for Common Institutions

$9,064
Median In-State Public
$56,000
Median Out of State Private

Texas A & M University-College Station has the most Chemical Engineering degree recipients, with 294 degrees awarded in 2022.

The following bar chart shows the state tuition for the top 5 institutions with the most degrees awarded in Chemical Engineering.

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Specialized Colleges

Out of all institutions that offer Chemical Engineering programs and have at least 5 graduates in those programs, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art has the highest percentage of degrees awarded in Chemical Engineering, with 12.2%.

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Degrees Awarded by County

Counties with the Most Degrees Awarded in Chemical Engineering

This map shows the counties in the United States colored by the highest number of degrees awarded in Chemical Engineering by year.

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Growth in Awarded Degrees

Counties with the Fastest Growing Number of Degrees Awarded

This map shows the counties in the United States colored by the highest growth in degrees awarded for Chemical Engineering.

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Employment

Information on the businesses and industries that employ Engineering graduates and on wages and locations for those in the field.

The average salary for Engineering majors is $131,370 and the most common occupations are Software developers, Miscellaneous engineers, including nuclear engineers, and Civil engineers.

The industry that employs the most Engineering majors is Architectural, engineering & related services, though the highest paying industry, by average wage, is Internet publishing, broadcasting & web search portals.

Yearly Income for Common Jobs

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Chemical Engineering is from the 2 Digit Course Engineering.
$131,370
Average Wage in Workforce
± $1,266
7.94%
1 Year Growth
± 1.27%

The average salary for Engineering majors is $131,370 and the most common occupations are Software developers, Miscellaneous engineers, including nuclear engineers, and Civil engineers.

This chart shows the average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Engineering majors.

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Highest Paying Locations

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Chemical Engineering is from the 2 Digit Course Engineering.

This map shows the public use micro areas (PUMAs) in the United States colored by the average salary of Engineering majors.

Note that the census collects information tied to where people live, not where they work. It is possible that Engineering majors live and work in the same place, but it is also possible that they live and work in two different places.

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Most Common

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Chemical Engineering is from the 2 Digit Course Engineering.

The most common occupations Engineering majors, by number of employees, are Software developers, Miscellaneous engineers, including nuclear engineers, and Civil engineers.

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Most Specialized

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Chemical Engineering is from the 2 Digit Course Engineering.

Compared to other majors, there are an unusually high number of Engineering majors working as Chemical engineers, Civil engineers, and Petroleum, mining & geological engineers, including mining safety engineers.

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Highest Paid

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Chemical Engineering is from the 2 Digit Course Engineering.

The highest paid occupations by median income for Engineering majors are Podiatrists, Surgeons, and Physicians.

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Occupations by Share

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Chemical Engineering is from the 2 Digit Course Engineering.
4.83M
2022 Workforce
± 53,105
3.48%
1 Year Growth
± 1.52%

The number of Engineering graduates in the workforce has been growing at a rate of 3.48%, from 4.67M in 2021 to 4.83M in 2022.

The largest single share of Engineering graduates go on to work as Software developers (8.83%). This chart shows the various jobs filled by those with a major in Engineering by share of the total number of graduates.

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Most Common

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Chemical Engineering is from the 2 Digit Course Engineering.

The most common industries that employ Engineering majors, by number of employees, are Architectural, engineering & related services, Computer Systems Design, and Construction.

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Highest Paid

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Chemical Engineering is from the 2 Digit Course Engineering.

The highest paying industries of Engineering majors, by average wage, are Internet publishing, broadcasting & web search portals, Offices of physicians, and Oil & gas extraction.

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Industries by Share

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Chemical Engineering is from the 2 Digit Course Engineering.
4.83M
2022 Workforce
± 53,105
3.48%
1 Year Growth
± 1.52%

The number of Engineering graduates in the workforce has been growing at a rate of 3.48%, from 4.67M in 2021 to 4.83M in 2022.

The industry which employs the most Engineering graduates by share is Architectural, engineering & related services, followed by Computer Systems Design. This visualization shows the industries that hire those who major in Engineering.

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Specialty Locations

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Chemical Engineering is from the 2 Digit Course Engineering.

This map shows the public use micro areas (PUMAs) in the United States where there are a relatively high population of Engineering majors.

Note that the census collects information tied to where people live, not where they work. It is possible that Engineering majors live and work in the same place, but it is also possible that they live and work in two different places.

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Diversity

Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Engineering in the United States.

The average age of a person in the workforce with a degree in Engineering is 43.

The most common degree type these workers hold is a Bachelors Degree. Male employees are more likely to hold Engineering degrees, and White students are the most common race/ethnicty group awarded degrees in Engineering (6,154 students).

Workforce Age

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Chemical Engineering is from the 2 Digit Course Engineering.
43
Average Age in 2022
± 0.147 Years
0.361%
1 Year Change
± 0.486%

This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Engineering. The most common ages of employees with this major are 30 and 29 years old, which represent 2.86% and 2.73% of the population, respectively.

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Degrees Awarded

The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Chemical Engineering are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Research Doctorate.

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Workforce Degrees

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Chemical Engineering is from the 2 Digit Course Engineering.

The most common degree types held by the working population in Engineering are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Doctorate degree.

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Sex Imbalance for Common Institutions

Male (60.2%)
Most Common Sex with a Degree in this Field

This chart shows the granted degrees by sex at the 5 institutions that graduate the most students in Chemical Engineering.

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Race & Ethnicity by Degrees Awarded

Most Common Race or Ethnicity
  1. White
    6,154 degrees awarded
  2. Non-resident Alien
    2,027 degrees awarded
  3. Asian
    1,455 degrees awarded

This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Chemical Engineering for each race & ethnicity. White students earned the largest share of the degrees with this major.

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Race & Ethnicity by Sex

This chart illustrates the differences by sex for each race & ethnicity of Bachelors Degree recipients in Chemical Engineering.

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Global Diversity

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Chemical Engineering is from the 2 Digit Course Engineering.
Most Common Countries of Origin
  1. India
    492,137 degree recipients
  2. China
    153,488 degree recipients
  3. Mexico
    93,296 degree recipients
High Relative Number of Students
  1. India
    4.18 times more than expected
  2. Libya
    3.47 times more than expected
  3. Iran
    3.19 times more than expected

There are a relatively high number of people that were born in India that hold Engineering degrees (4.18 times more than expected), and the most common country of origin by total numbers for non-US students earning a degree in this field is India (492,137 degree recipients).

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Skills

Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Chemical Engineering field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Chemical Engineering majors need many skills, but most especially Reading Comprehension. The revealed comparative advantage (RCA) shows that Chemical Engineering majors need more than the average amount of Management of Financial Resources, Management of Material Resources, Mathematics, Quality Control Analysis, Technology Design, Troubleshooting, Management of Personnel Resources, Negotiation, Coordination, Time Management, Complex Problem Solving, Judgment and Decision Making, Instructing, Persuasion, Programming, Monitoring, Active Learning, Operation Monitoring, Writing, Science, Systems Analysis, Reading Comprehension, Social Perceptiveness, Service Orientation, Critical Thinking, Learning Strategies, Speaking, Active Listening, Systems Evaluation, Operations Analysis, Operation and Control, Equipment Maintenance, Equipment Selection, Installation, and Repairing.

These two visualizations, one a radial chart and one a bar chart, show the same information, a rating of how necessary the following skills are for Chemical Engineering majors. Toggle between "value" and "RCA" to see the absolute rating of that skill (value) and the revealed comparative advantage (RCA), or how much greater or lesser that skill's rating is than the average. The longer the bar or the closer the line comes to the circumference of the circle, the more important that skill is. The importance of Management of Financial Resources is very distinctive for majors, but the Reading Comprehension, Complex Problem Solving, Mathematics, Critical Thinking, Judgment and Decision Making, Writing, Active Listening, Speaking, Time Management, Coordination, Active Learning, Monitoring, Social Perceptiveness, Management of Personnel Resources, Instructing, Negotiation, Persuasion, Systems Analysis, Service Orientation, Learning Strategies, Systems Evaluation, Quality Control Analysis, Management of Financial Resources, Management of Material Resources, Science, Operation Monitoring, Operations Analysis, Troubleshooting, Technology Design, Programming, Operation and Control, Equipment Maintenance, Equipment Selection, Installation, and Repairing are the three most important skills for people in the field.

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Bar Chart

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