Chemical Engineering (Bachelor's) Programs in Michigan, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

  • 6 programs report first-year pay
  • 6 also report federal debt
  • Bachelor's in Chemical Engineering

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Michigan chemical engineering bachelor's program pays its graduates $75,217 in their first year, $1,376 more than the national median. Michigan Tech reports the highest first-year pay ($80,193), and University of Michigan the lowest median debt ($21,250).

Median first-year pay$75,217National $73,841
Median pay after 5 years$95,843National $97,933
Median federal debt$27,787National $23,274
Debt-to-earnings37%National 32%

All 6 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

Debt and first-year pay at every Michigan chemical engineering program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Michigan medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 6 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to chemical engineering, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Architectural and Engineering Managers

$166,930

Median pay in Michigan. 14,820 people work in this job in Michigan. 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.

Bottom 10%: $117,490Top 10%: $218,050

Bioengineers and Biomedical Engineers

$100,940

Median pay in Michigan. 330 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $64,610Top 10%: $147,370

Chemical Engineers

$103,230

Median pay in Michigan. 670 people work in this job in Michigan. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $63,930Top 10%: $155,420

Common questions

Michigan Tech in Houghton reports the highest median first-year pay, $80,193. Its median federal debt is $24,750.

Related pages

About this data

  • Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
  • 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 Michigan rankings when their main campus is in another state.
  • Medians are across the chemical engineering bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

Sources

  1. U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
  2. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
  3. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
  4. NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024