Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Civil Engineering

Schools ranked by payback period — how quickly you recoup your investment through higher earnings.

50

Schools Ranked

$60,160

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

15,666

Graduates

How we calculate value: Payback = (4 years of net price) / (major earnings - $35k baseline). A 2-year payback means you recoup your investment in 2 years through higher earnings vs. not attending college.

#	School	Net Price/yr	Major Earnings	Payback
1	Rice University Houston, TX · Private	$6,152	$71,957	<1 yr
2	California State University-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public	$5,700	$61,516	<1 yr
3	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus Tacoma, WA · Public	$8,147	$66,342	1 yrs
4	Cornell University Ithaca, NY · Private	$9,785	$73,321	1 yrs
5	CUNY City College New York, NY · Public	$7,521	$64,706	1 yrs
6	Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN · Private	$7,694	$64,913	1 yrs
7	Brigham Young University-Idaho Rexburg, ID · Private	$5,422	$57,318	1 yrs
8	Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY · Private	$8,106	$64,706	1.1 yrs
9	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$66,342	1.1 yrs
10	University of Florida Gainesville, FL · Public	$8,394	$64,642	1.1 yrs
11	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public	$8,450	$62,707	1.2 yrs
12	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$67,061	1.2 yrs
13	Florida International University Miami, FL · Public	$7,292	$59,485	1.2 yrs
14	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$67,061	1.3 yrs
15	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$67,061	1.3 yrs
16	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public	$10,364	$67,450	1.3 yrs
17	California State University-Fresno Fresno, CA · Public	$8,030	$59,666	1.3 yrs
18	California State University-Fullerton Fullerton, CA · Public	$9,017	$60,117	1.4 yrs
19	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$66,045	1.4 yrs
20	The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Edinburg, TX · Public	$5,452	$50,439	1.4 yrs
21	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	$13,423	$71,351	1.5 yrs
22	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public	$12,644	$68,592	1.5 yrs
23	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public	$11,505	$65,148	1.5 yrs
24	University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks, AK · Public	$11,587	$63,997	1.6 yrs
25	University of Central Florida Orlando, FL · Public	$9,426	$58,092	1.6 yrs
26	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private	$14,020	$70,680	1.6 yrs
27	The University of Texas at San Antonio San Antonio, TX · Public	$10,316	$60,771	1.6 yrs
28	University of California-Davis Davis, CA · Public	$14,193	$67,516	1.7 yrs
29	California State University-Sacramento Sacramento, CA · Public	$12,602	$64,406	1.7 yrs
30	California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA · Public	$11,189	$60,943	1.7 yrs
31	University of Alaska Anchorage Anchorage, AK · Public	$12,985	$66,325	1.7 yrs
32	Missouri University of Science and Technology Rolla, MO · Public	$11,656	$62,746	1.7 yrs
33	Michigan Technological University Houghton, MI · Public	$11,794	$63,217	1.7 yrs
34	University of North Florida Jacksonville, FL · Public	$10,194	$58,673	1.7 yrs
35	San Jose State University San Jose, CA · Public	$17,338	$74,845	1.7 yrs
36	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$72,645	1.8 yrs
37	University of Nevada-Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV · Public	$11,929	$61,681	1.8 yrs
38	University of Houston Houston, TX · Public	$13,382	$65,457	1.8 yrs
39	University of South Florida Tampa, FL · Public	$9,669	$55,964	1.8 yrs
40	University of Wyoming Laramie, WY · Public	$9,394	$55,512	1.8 yrs
41	Lafayette College Easton, PA · Private	$13,393	$65,238	1.8 yrs
42	University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA · Public	$13,275	$62,707	1.9 yrs
43	California State University-Chico Chico, CA · Public	$16,738	$69,617	1.9 yrs
44	University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville, VA · Public	$16,019	$68,666	1.9 yrs
45	University of Arizona Tucson, AZ · Public	$13,644	$63,005	1.9 yrs
46	Lamar University Beaumont, TX · Public	$13,580	$63,005	1.9 yrs
47	University of Connecticut-Stamford Stamford, CT · Public	$15,152	$67,061	1.9 yrs
48	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	$12,911	$61,603	1.9 yrs
49	West Virginia University Institute of Technology Beckley, WV · Public	$10,775	$58,092	1.9 yrs
50	University of Missouri-St Louis Saint Louis, MO · Public	$11,291	$59,350	1.9 yrs

Top Earners in Civil Engineering

See schools ranked by earnings alone, without considering cost.

Best Value Rankings

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Payback uses earnings by major from the College Scorecard's field-of-study file, last updated June 2026, against net price from the June 2026 release. Scorecard publishes the two separately, so they are different vintages.