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2026 Highest Paid Petroleum Engineering Grads in the Southeast Region

[Petroleum Engineering](/majors/engineering/petroleum-engineering/) is a field where your choice of school can shape what you earn after graduation. A top-earning program sends graduates into careers with strong starting pay.

To produce this 2026 ranking, College Factual evaluated 3 schools on the early-career earnings of their petroleum engineering graduates.

What’s on this page:

• Highest Paid Petroleum Engineering Grads in the Southeast Region

2026 Highest Paid Petroleum Engineering Grads in the Southeast Region

If you want to know which schools send petroleum engineering graduates into the highest-paying careers, see the list below.

Highest Paid Petroleum Engineering Graduates

1

West Virginia University
Morgantown, WV

$92,874 Average Early-Career Salary

West Virginia University tops our 2026 list of the highest-paying petroleum engineering schools in the Southeast Region. West Virginia University is a public school located in the city of Morgantown. Students who complete the petroleum engineering program here go on to a median salary of roughly $92,874.

2

University Of Louisiana Lafayette
Lafayette, LA

$110,398 Average Early-Career Salary

Students chasing top earnings in petroleum engineering will find them at University Of Louisiana Lafayette, which ranked #2. Located in the city of Lafayette, University Of Louisiana Lafayette is a public institution. After graduating, petroleum engineering degree recipients from University Of Louisiana Lafayette typically earn about $110,398 annually.

3

Louisiana State University And Agricultural And Mechanical College
Baton Rouge, LA

$93,513 Average Early-Career Salary

Louisiana State University And Agricultural And Mechanical College came in at #3 on our 2026 list of the highest-paying petroleum engineering schools. Louisiana State University And Agricultural And Mechanical College is a public school located in the city of Baton Rouge. Early-career petroleum engineering graduates from Louisiana State University And Agricultural And Mechanical College make a median of around $93,513 per year.

View All Petroleum Engineering Rankings >

Notes and References

This ranking is produced by College Factual, 2026 edition. Schools are ranked on the median early-career earnings of their petroleum engineering graduates, drawn primarily from the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard field-of-study earnings and IPEDS).

Ranking method: College Major Earnings · 3 schools evaluated.

*Salary figures reflect median early-career earnings (about 5 years after graduation) and may vary by how long a person takes to complete their degree.

• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), serves as the core of our data about colleges.
• Graduate earnings data comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard) field-of-study earnings.

More about our data sources and methodologies.