Chemical Engineering (Bachelor's) Programs in Pennsylvania, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt
- 9 programs report first-year pay
- 9 also report federal debt
- Bachelor's in Chemical Engineering
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
The median Pennsylvania chemical engineering bachelor's program pays its graduates $79,602 in their first year, $5,761 more than the national median. Lehigh University reports the highest first-year pay ($82,435), and Lafayette College the lowest median debt ($17,000).
All 9 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.
One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.
Debt and first-year pay at every Pennsylvania chemical engineering program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Pennsylvania medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 9 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
Quick picks
Highest first-year pay
- Lehigh University$82,435
- Penn State$82,218
- UPenn$81,721
- Bucknell University$80,653
- Lafayette College$79,602
Lowest median debt
- Lafayette College$17,000
- UPenn$20,500
- University of Pittsburgh$26,548
- Penn State$26,831
- Lehigh University$27,000
Lowest debt for the pay
"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
$164,690Median pay in Pennsylvania. 9,640 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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.
Bioengineers and Biomedical Engineers
$122,560Median pay in Pennsylvania. 950 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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.
Chemical Engineers
$116,970Median pay in Pennsylvania. 810 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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.
Common questions
Lehigh University in Bethlehem reports the highest median first-year pay, $82,435. Its median federal debt is $27,000.
Lafayette College reports the lowest median federal debt, $17,000, with first-year pay of $79,602.
The median across 9 Pennsylvania chemical engineering bachelor's programs is $79,602 in the first year after graduating and $102,119 five years after.
9 Pennsylvania programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 9 of them also report federal debt.
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 Pennsylvania 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
- 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
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024