Engineering majors’ average starting salary to rise 4%
Engineering Staffing Report
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Engineering majors from the class of 2019 have a projected average starting salary of $69,188, up 4% from last year and the highest of all majors, according to a report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Computer science graduates are projected to receive the second-highest starting salary at $67,539.
Agriculture and natural resources majors are projected to see the greatest gain in starting salary at 4.1%.
The news is generally positive for Class of 2019 graduates overall at this early juncture in the salary reporting cycle. All reported disciplines are expected to see gains - albeit relatively small ones - except one, and that decrease is only 0.1%.
Broad category | 2019 projected average salary | 2018 projected average salary | Percent change |
Engineering | $69,188 | $66,521 | 4.0% |
Computer science | $67,539 | $66,005 | 2.3% |
Math & sciences | $62,177 | $61,867 | 0.5% |
Business | $57,657 | $56,720 | 1.7% |
Social sciences | $57,310 | $56,689 | 1.1% |
Humanities | $56,651 | $56,688 | -0.1% |
Agriculture & natural resources | $55,750 | $53,565 | 4.1% |
Communications | $52,056 | $51,448 | 1.2% |
Data for the report came from NACE’s Winter 2019 Salary Survey, which included 186 survey responses collected in the US from Aug. 1 through Dec. 3, 2018.