Best Mechanical Engineer programs in New York, ranked by enrollment
Perform engineering duties in planning and designing tools, engines, machines, and other mechanically functioning equipment.
25 schools in New York run programs that feed this job, graduating 2,474 people a year. The job pays a median of $102,440 in New York across about 8,590 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in New York that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
1 programs in New York that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in New York (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own New York page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mechanical Engineeringmain feeder CIP 14.1901In New York → | 2,474 | 100.0% | 25 | $70,724 | $24,833 |
Top 25 schools in New York
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 21 of the 25 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 278 | Mechanical Engineering | $76,263 | 70% | $28,133 | 67% |
| 2 | Cornell University Ithaca, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 271 | Mechanical Engineering | $85,440 | 95% | $17,613 | 9% |
| 3 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 222 | Mechanical Engineering | $73,833 | 84% | $28,900 | 63% |
| 4 | Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 214 | Mechanical Engineering | $72,036 | 96% | $15,315 | 4% |
| 5 | Binghamton University Vestal, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 191 | Mechanical Engineering | $66,371 | 82% | — | 39% |
| 6 | University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 190 | Mechanical Engineering | $65,094 | 75% | — | 74% |
| 7 | Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 158 | Mechanical Engineering | $68,729 | 76% | — | 49% |
| 8 | Clarkson University Potsdam, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 154 | Mechanical Engineering | $73,168 | 75% | $27,281 | 77% |
| 9 | New York University New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 127 | Mechanical Engineering | $64,687 | 88% | $29,023 | 9% |
| 10 | Manhattan University Riverdale, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 84 | Mechanical Engineering | $70,841 | 64% | $26,807 | 79% |
| 11 | CUNY City College New York, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 79 | Mechanical Engineering | $65,905 | 57% | — | 60% |
| 12 | Syracuse University Syracuse, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 76 | Mechanical Engineering | $66,789 | 84% | $28,851 | 46% |
| 13 | United States Military Academy West Point, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 73 | Mechanical Engineering | — | 87% | — | 12% |
| 14 | University of Rochester Rochester, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 73 | Mechanical Engineering | $73,828 | 85% | $25,874 | 40% |
| 15 | SUNY Maritime College Throggs Neck, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 43 | Mechanical Engineering | $77,895 | 64% | — | 72% |
| 16 | The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 36 | Mechanical Engineering | — | 81% | $14,337 | 21% |
| 17 | New York Institute of Technology Old Westbury, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 34 | Mechanical Engineering | $56,254 | 59% | $22,158 | 81% |
| 18 | Hofstra University Hempstead, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 31 | Mechanical Engineering | $65,641 | 69% | $34,539 | 68% |
| 19 | SUNY Polytechnic Institute Utica, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 31 | Mechanical Engineering | $60,249 | 55% | — | 81% |
| 20 | Alfred University Alfred, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 30 | Mechanical Engineering | $63,747 | 57% | $22,481 | 74% |
| 21 | Union College Schenectady, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 27 | Mechanical Engineering | $68,407 | 80% | $25,885 | 44% |
| 22 | State University of New York at New Paltz New Paltz, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 22 | Mechanical Engineering | $66,274 | 72% | — | 62% |
| 23 | CUNY LaGuardia Community College Long Island City, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 15 | Mechanical Engineering | — | 24% | — | — |
| 24 | Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology Flushing, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Mechanical Engineering | $74,472 | 39% | $40,821 | — |
| 25 | CUNY Hostos Community College Bronx, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 5 | Mechanical Engineering | — | 16% | — | — |
All 25 schools in New York
Every school in New York with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester Institute of Technology | Rochester | Private not-for-profit | 278 | 1 |
| Cornell University | Ithaca | Private not-for-profit | 271 | 1 |
| Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | Troy | Private not-for-profit | 222 | 1 |
| Columbia University in the City of New York | New York | Private not-for-profit | 214 | 1 |
| Binghamton University | Vestal | Public | 191 | 1 |
| University at Buffalo | Buffalo | Public | 190 | 1 |
| Stony Brook University | Stony Brook | Public | 158 | 1 |
| Clarkson University | Potsdam | Private not-for-profit | 154 | 1 |
| New York University | New York | Private not-for-profit | 127 | 1 |
| Manhattan University | Riverdale | Private not-for-profit | 84 | 1 |
| CUNY City College | New York | Public | 79 | 1 |
| Syracuse University | Syracuse | Private not-for-profit | 76 | 1 |
| United States Military Academy | West Point | Public | 73 | 1 |
| University of Rochester | Rochester | Private not-for-profit | 73 | 1 |
| SUNY Maritime College | Throggs Neck | Public | 43 | 1 |
What mechanical engineers earn in New York
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $104,110. New York pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in New York
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Mechanical Engineers page.
How to become a Mechanical Engineer
Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in New York
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 3 majors mapped to Mechanical Engineers3 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 14.1101Engineering Mechanics
- 14.1901Mechanical Engineering
- 14.4101Electromechanical Engineering
Common questions
Answers for people weighing mechanical engineers programs in New York.
What degree do you need to become a Mechanical Engineer?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Mechanical Engineering, which awarded 2,474 degrees in New York in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Mechanical Engineer?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Mechanical Engineering. Together they graduate about 2,474 people a year in New York.
How much do mechanical engineers earn in New York?+
The median is $102,440 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 1.6% below the U.S. median of $104,110. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for mechanical engineers growing?+
BLS projects a +9.1% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 18,100 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in New York?+
25 institutions in New York reported graduates from at least one of the 1 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do mechanical engineers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Engineer, Stack Engineer, Design Engineer, Product Engineer, Project Engineer, Research Engineer among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 17-2141.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
Explore every U.S. college in one conversation
Clema turns plain-language questions into sourced answers across every U.S. institution — earnings, aid, acceptance, graduation, safety, and athletics from IPEDS, College Scorecard, and 10+ federal datasets, built in.
Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card