US College Programs

Petroleum Engineering (Bachelor's) Programs in Texas, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

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

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Texas petroleum engineering bachelor's program pays its graduates $65,451 in their first year, $3,462 less than the national median. UT Austin reports the highest first-year pay ($86,761), and UT Austin the lowest median debt ($17,239).

Median first-year pay$65,451National $68,913
Median pay after 5 years$116,140National $99,276
Median federal debt$23,366National $25,750
Debt-to-earnings32%National 38%

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.

Texas A&M-Kingsville reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Texas petroleum engineering program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 5 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

  1. UT Austin$86,761
  2. Texas Tech$80,460
  3. Texas A&M$69,603
  4. UT Permian Basin$61,299
  5. University of Houston$52,295

Lowest median debt

  1. UT Austin$17,239
  2. Texas A&M$19,000
  3. University of Houston$23,366
  4. UT Permian Basin$24,500
  5. Texas Tech$26,090

Lowest debt for the pay

  1. UT Austin20%
  2. Texas A&M27%
  3. Texas Tech32%
  4. UT Permian Basin40%
  5. University of Houston45%

"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 petroleum engineering, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Architectural and Engineering Managers

$171,370

Median pay in Texas. 19,030 people work in this job in Texas. 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%: $120,460Top 10%: $277,790

Petroleum Engineers

$164,860

Median pay in Texas. 9,140 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $89,990Top 10%: $283,500

Common questions

UT Austin in Austin reports the highest median first-year pay, $86,761. Its median federal debt is $17,239.

Related pages

Petroleum Engineering (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked19 programs by pay and debt

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 Texas rankings when their main campus is in another state.
  • Medians are across the petroleum 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