Federal records show a $228,705 median four years after graduation, with important limits on who is counted.
LOS ANGELES — The bachelor’s program in computer engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, placed sixth in a nationwide comparison of graduate earnings, with a reported annual median of $228,705 four years after completion, according to an analysis of federal records.
The comparison examined nearly 25,000 bachelor’s programs and drew on research by the HEA Group, which analyzed graduate income by field of study and institution. The ranking reflects the outcomes of a defined group of former students, not all UCLA graduates or students currently enrolled at the university.
Pomona College in Claremont also appeared among the 10 highest-earning programs, with median earnings of $217,051 for computer science. Stanford University’s computer science program recorded $214,907, while the corresponding program at the University of California, Berkeley, recorded $204,379. Duke University’s mathematics program topped the comparison at $297,029, although the reported earnings population comprised only 17 people.
The underlying federal figures generally cover students who completed their degrees in the 2017–18 and 2018–19 academic years, received federal student aid and had recorded income four years after graduation. For these cohorts, earnings were measured in 2022 and 2023 using federal tax information; published amounts incorporate inflation adjustments. Graduates who received no federal aid, were enrolled in further education during the measurement period or had no reported earnings are not represented in those earnings medians.
A median is the middle value in the measured group, not a salary earned by every graduate. The figures also cannot establish that attending a particular institution or selecting a particular major directly caused higher earnings.
UCLA describes computer engineering as a joint major of its computer science and electrical and computer engineering departments. The $228,705 median should therefore not be generalized to its other engineering programs.
The economic value of a degree also depends on costs and financial aid. For the 2026–27 academic year, UCLA estimates nine-month expenses of $45,500 for California residents and $84,770 for nonresidents living in campus residence halls. The budgets cover fees, housing, food and other expenses, and are not the net price paid by every student. They also describe current costs, rather than the expenses faced by the earlier graduating cohorts whose earnings were measured.
A separate HEA Group study published in August examined 2,958 academic programs at 386 California institutions. It reported statewide, completer-weighted earnings of $125,120 for bachelor’s-level computer engineering and $123,693 for bachelor’s-level nursing and related fields. Those statewide figures combine multiple institutions and should not be directly equated with the UCLA program’s median.
