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2024 Best Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California

20 Colleges in California
984 Master's Degrees
$91,059 Avg Early-Career Salary
Mechanical Engineering is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #29 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

College Factual looked at 20 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 984 master's degrees in mechanical engineering to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Mechanical Engineering School for Your Master's Degree

Best Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California Your choice of mechanical engineering for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for mechanical engineering students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Mechanical Engineering Schools

Rankings by Location Check Out Other Locales
More ME Rankings Other Ranking Categories

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Mechanical Engineering in California

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in mechanical engineering.

10 Top California Schools for a Master's in ME

1
Stanford crest
Stanford University
Stanford, CA

It's hard to beat Stanford University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in mechanical engineering. Located in the large suburb of Stanford, Stanford is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Mechanical Engineering master's degree recipients from Stanford University earn a boost of around $14,268 over the average earnings of mechanical engineering majors.

More information about a master’s in mechanical engineering from Stanford University

2

University of Southern California is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in mechanical engineering. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the me program make around $92,527 in their early career salary.

More information about a master’s in mechanical engineering from University of Southern California

3

University of California - Los Angeles is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in mechanical engineering. UCLA is a fairly large public university located in the city of Los Angeles.

Those mechanical engineering students who get their master's degree from University of California - Los Angeles make $4,534 more than the typical me graduate.

More information about a master’s in mechanical engineering from University of California - Los Angeles

4

It is hard to beat University of California - Berkeley if you wish to pursue a master's degree in mechanical engineering. Located in the city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Master's recipients from the mechanical engineering degree program at University of California - Berkeley get $4,542 more than the standard college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in mechanical engineering from University of California - Berkeley

5
SCU crest
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara, CA

SCU is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Santa Clara.

Mechanical Engineering master's degree recipients from Santa Clara University get an earnings boost of approximately $8,008 above the average income of mechanical engineering majors.

More information about a master’s in mechanical engineering from Santa Clara University

6

Located in the large city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public university with a very large student population.

Master's students who receive their degree from the me program earn about $87,102 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a master’s in mechanical engineering from University of California - San Diego

7
31 Annual Graduates

UC Davis is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Davis.More information about a master’s in mechanical engineering from University of California - Davis

8

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of San Luis Obispo.

Mechanical Engineering master's degree recipients from California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo earn a boost of about $10,728 over the average income of mechanical engineering graduates.

More information about a master’s in mechanical engineering from California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo

9
45 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in mechanical engineering from University of California - Irvine

10
55 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in mechanical engineering from San Jose State University

Best Mechanical Engineering Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Mechanical Engineering Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Washington 183 168
Oregon 158 72
Nevada 105 14
Hawaii 85 12
Alaska 52 7

View All Rankings >

Mechanical Engineering is one of 41 different types of Engineering programs to choose from.

ME Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
General Mechanical Engineering 984

Related Major Annual Graduates
Electrical Engineering 1,849
Computer Engineering 1,115
Civil Engineering 915
Biomedical Engineering 502
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering 303
Systems Engineering 278
General Engineering 261
Materials Engineering 222
Operations Research 202
Other Engineering 200

Notes and References

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