The Summer 2013 report shows continuing salary increases for new college graduates overall, running 2.4% higher than 2012 salaries. According to NACE, the average salary for 2013 bachelor’s degree graduates now stands at $45,327. The economic recovery continues in a positive direction across most academic disciplines.
Business (BS) majors saw overall entry-level salaries increase 7.9% to $55,635. Finance major’s salaries actually increased a whopping 10% to $58,100, and are the highest paid business majors.
Engineering salaries increased by 2.3% with overall average BS salaries reaching $62,062 up from the 2012 average salary of $60,639. Mechanical engineering majors and electrical engineering majors saw the largest year-over-year salary increases. Even with some declines, salaries for technical major’s run $11,000 to almost $25,000 higher than the average new college graduate salary.
NACE reported that the computer science field dropped 2.5% (national data) from $60,038 last year to $58,547 this year, but computer science majors had an overall average salary increase of 3.1% to an average salary of $64,100 up from last year’s average of $62,200.
Here is how our majors stacked up on average:
BS data for the 2013 over 2012 national average salaries for technical degrees found at CSUS are as follows:
Civil engineering (BS) new grads: +.9% to $58,000
Construction Science/Management (BS) new grads: -1.7% to $56,400
Electrical engineering (BS) new grads: +3.3% to $62,500
Computer engineering (BS) new grads: -2.1% to $70,300
Computer Science (BS) new grads: + 3.1% to $64,100
Mechanical engineering (BS) new grads: +4.2% to $63,900
MS data for the 2013 over 2012 national average salaries for technical degrees found at CSUS are as follows (some majors had insufficient data to be included):
Computer Science (MS) new grads: -8.7% to $73,400
Electrical/Electronics (MS) new grads: -8.9% to $66,500
Mechanical engineering (MS) new grads: -10.8% to $67,500
Salaries for CSUS graduates tend to run closer to the top of the chart below due to the fact that Sacramento is in the high cost of living area of Northern California and students frequently graduate with major project and work experience.
Previous NACE salary reports included 90th percentile data (more relevant in CA and high cost of living areas in the country), but is no longer available through NACE. This column was replaced in 2013 with 75th percentile data.
Other excellent sources for salary information include http://www.glassdoor.com and http://www.salary.com.
Bachelors Degrees | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 75th Percentile | Average | 25th Percentile | |
| CE | $68,900 | $58,000 | $46,800 |
| CM | $66,400 | $56,400 | $44,800 |
| CpE | $80,900 | $70,300 | $53,900 |
| CS | $75,000 | $64,100 | $49,800 |
| EEE | $74,700 | $62,500 | $50,200 |
| ME | $75,500 | $63,900 | $50,600 |
Masters Degrees | |||
| 75th Percentile | Average | 25th Percentile | |
| CE | * | * | * |
| CpE | * | * | * |
| CS | $83,900 | $73,400 | $57,400 |
| EEE | $78,200 | $66,500 | $52,100 |
| ME | $77,900 | $67,500 | $53,000 |
* No offers were reported for statistical analysis