Cleveland State Chemistry (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Chemistry
- Public university
- Cleveland, OH
- About 17 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Cleveland State chemistry graduates earn more than graduates of most chemistry programs nationally, $48,147 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $24,744 in federal loans, close to the national median of $23,600. It is one of the higher-paying chemistry degrees in Ohio.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Ohio and national columns are the medians across all chemistry bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Cleveland State graduates earn about the national figure and about the same as the Ohio median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Ohio chemistry program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Ohio medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 35% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $262 a month, or 6.5% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
92% of graduates (22 of 24) were working in Ohio one year after graduating. Prices in the Cleveland area are about 6% below the national average, so a $48,147 salary here buys what about $51,262 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to chemistry, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
$78,800Median pay in Ohio. 49,540 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 63,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Data Scientists
$102,630Median pay in Ohio. 6,100 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 35% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Natural Sciences Managers
$137,170Median pay in Ohio. 1,560 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 9,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health
$78,540Median pay in Ohio. 2,460 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 7,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Cleveland State
Chemistry ranks 14th of 43 bachelor's programs at Cleveland State by first-year earnings. The top three are Chemical Engineering ($69,043), Electrical Engineering ($68,875), and Computer Engineering ($68,852).
Other chemistry bachelor's programs near Cleveland
Common questions
The median graduate earns $48,147 one year after graduating and $65,091 five years after. The median across chemistry bachelor's programs in Ohio is $43,595.
The median federal loan balance is $24,744, which ranks 2nd lowest of 8 chemistry bachelor's programs in Ohio. That works out to about $262 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 51% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 55%.
Most do. 92% (22 of 24) were working in Ohio one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Ohio comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the chemistry program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024