UW-Milwaukee Electrical Engineering (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering
- Public university
- Milwaukee, WI
- About 43 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
UW-Milwaukee electrical engineering graduates earn about what electrical engineering graduates earn nationally, $73,603 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $32,498 in federal loans, more than at 98% of electrical engineering programs in the country. Several Wisconsin programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Wisconsin and national columns are the medians across all electrical engineering bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, UW-Milwaukee graduates earn less than the national figure and about $3,578 less than the Wisconsin median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Wisconsin electrical engineering program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Wisconsin 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 22% 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 $345 a month, or 5.6% 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
91% of graduates (40 of 44) were working in Wisconsin one year after graduating. Prices in the Milwaukee area are about 3% below the national average, so a $73,603 salary here buys what about $75,929 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 electrical engineering, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Architectural and Engineering Managers
$142,060Median pay in Wisconsin. 4,550 people work in this job in Wisconsin. 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.
Electrical Engineers
$99,700Median pay in Wisconsin. 3,550 people work in this job in Wisconsin. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 11,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Electronics Engineers, Except Computer
$93,710Median pay in Wisconsin. 360 people work in this job in Wisconsin. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 4,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Computer Hardware Engineers
$83,670Median pay in Wisconsin. 270 people work in this job in Wisconsin. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 9% from 2025 to 2035, with about 4,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About UW-Milwaukee
Electrical Engineering ranks 3rd of 57 bachelor's programs at UW-Milwaukee by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Engineering ($76,982), Computer Science ($73,795), and Electrical Engineering ($73,603).
Other electrical engineering bachelor's programs near Milwaukee
Common questions
The median graduate earns $73,603 one year after graduating and $89,916 five years after. The median across electrical engineering bachelor's programs in Wisconsin is $77,405.
The median federal loan balance is $32,498, which ranks 5th lowest of 5 electrical engineering bachelor's programs in Wisconsin. That works out to about $345 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 44% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 32%. Compare the cost with other Wisconsin programs before deciding.
Most do. 91% (40 of 44) were working in Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin 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 electrical 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