UC San Diego Mechanical Engineering (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering
- Public university
- La Jolla, CA
- About 147 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
UC San Diego mechanical engineering graduates earn about what mechanical engineering graduates earn nationally, $69,555 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $20,000 in federal loans, less than at 78% of mechanical engineering programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying mechanical engineering degrees in California.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The California and national columns are the medians across all mechanical engineering bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, UC San Diego graduates earn more than the national figure and about the same as the California median.
Debt and first-year pay at every California mechanical engineering program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the California 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 43% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned $8,428 less in their first year than other graduates. Students who expect to rely on grants should weigh this gap.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $212 a month, or 3.7% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
90% of graduates (108 of 120) were working in California one year after graduating. Prices in the San Diego area are about 12% above the national average, so a $69,555 salary here buys what about $62,165 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 mechanical engineering, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Mechanical Engineers
$130,900Median pay in California. 30,530 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 11% from 2025 to 2035, with about 17,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Cost Estimators
$85,460Median pay in California. 26,020 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 17,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Architectural and Engineering Managers
$210,280Median pay in California. 29,630 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 14,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Aerospace Engineers
$157,620Median pay in California. 9,170 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 3,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About UC San Diego
Mechanical Engineering ranks 6th of 48 bachelor's programs at UC San Diego by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Science ($112,006), Computer Engineering ($96,256), and Mathematics and Computer Science ($89,651).
Other mechanical engineering bachelor's programs near La Jolla
Common questions
The median graduate earns $69,555 one year after graduating and $99,554 five years after. The median across mechanical engineering bachelor's programs in California is $72,436.
The median federal loan balance is $20,000, which ranks 18th lowest of 26 mechanical engineering bachelor's programs in California. That works out to about $212 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 29% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 35%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 20% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several California programs report higher pay.
Most do. 90% (108 of 120) were working in California 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 California 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 mechanical engineering 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