As far as college majors go, the field of engineering is still strong and is predicted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to remain that way well into the next decade. The top eight engineering fields five years after graduation are:
- Chemical Engineering
- Computer
- Aerospace
- Electrical
- Industrial
- Mechanical
- Miscellaneous
- Civil
And the two outside of engineering …
- Computer Science
- Business Analytics
Salary, Growth, and Employment
To demonstrate just how strong these field are, here are three charts. The first one is the median salary in each of these fields. As shown below, most of the engineering fields are similar in salary with the exceptions being Aerospace and Computer which are $122,270 and $128,170, respectively. However all the fields listed are well over $80,000/year.
In the next chart, we look at the projected growth, which is a good indicator of where the BLS sees the fields growing in the next 10 years. Of engineering, mechanical is the lowest at 2% with Chemical being the highest at 14%.
While the last chart looked at how the field will grow percentage-wise, the chart below conveys those percentages into how many jobs opening will be projected to fill over the next 10 years. In this case, Bio-medical comes in the smallest at 1,700, while Industrial will need to fill the most jobs at over 36,000. And both of the analyst fields show strong as they have the most openings of all the fields listed in the chart.
Getting the Biggest Return on Education
When all three metrics are put together, it is easy to see that some fields are stronger in one or two areas, but not all three. However, of the engineers, the exception is Industrial as it has the best numbers all around. And either of the Analyst positions would also be great choices as both are strong in all three metrics too.
College is expensive, so getting the most (and quickest) return on your education investment should be a consideration. If looking at a career field, as either an engineer, or analyst, all of these fields are good choices and would make great rewarding and lucrative careers.
