If you are choosing between aerospace, electrical, and mechanical engineering, the job-market data gives a clearer answer than most advice. Aerospace graduates have the lowest unemployment of the three. Electrical engineers receive the strongest starting offers. Mechanical engineering has by far the most job openings.
The broader market for new graduates is soft. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York puts unemployment for recent college graduates at about 5.7% in mid-2026, up from 4.7% two years earlier, and above the rate for all workers. Engineering majors generally hold up well, but which one you choose still matters. New York Fed.
The numbers side by side
How recent graduates are doing. These figures cover graduates aged 22 to 27. Underemployment is the share working in jobs that typically do not require a degree.
| Aerospace | Electrical | Mechanical | Computer Eng. | Computer Sci. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unemployment | 2.2% | 3.2% | 4.4% | 7.8% | 7.0% |
| Underemployment | 14.7% | 21.1% | 20.1% | 15.8% | 19.1% |
| Median wage, early career | $85,000 | $82,000 | $80,000 | $90,000 | $87,000 |
| Median wage, mid-career | $130,000 | $123,000 | $120,000 | $131,000 | $120,000 |
| Average starting offer (NACE) | $79,482 | $90,526 | $76,699 | $93,310 | $101,661 |
Unemployment, underemployment, and median wages: New York Fed, released February 2026 from 2024 Census data. Mid-career means ages 35–45. Starting offers: NACE, Class of 2024; NACE’s 2026 breakdown by major is not public.
How big each job market is. These are federal projections for the occupation, not the major. Graduates often cross over.
| Occupation | Jobs today | Growth, 2025–35 | Openings per year | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aerospace engineers | 68,700 | 8% | 3,800 | $134,960 |
| Electrical and electronics engineers | 297,900 | 8% | 16,300 | $125,040 |
| Mechanical engineers | 298,500 | 11% | 17,800 | $104,110 |
| Computer hardware engineers | 76,100 | 9% | 4,100 | $161,740 |
| Software developers and testers | 1,905,400 | 10% | 106,100 | $134,040 |
Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, projections released August 27, 2026, with May 2025 pay.
Two notes on reading these tables. The New York Fed figures are from 2024, before the market softened further, so they probably flatter today’s conditions somewhat. And aerospace is a small major, so its rates rest on a smaller survey sample than mechanical engineering’s.
Aerospace: best outcomes, smallest field
Aerospace ranks 11th-lowest for unemployment among 73 majors the New York Fed tracks, and 3rd for mid-career pay. Its underemployment rate is the lowest of any engineering discipline. Graduates who want aerospace work are mostly getting engineering jobs.
The catch is size. BLS projects about 3,800 aerospace engineer openings a year, against 17,800 for mechanical engineers. Aerospace companies hire many mechanical, electrical, and software engineers, and many aerospace graduates take jobs with “mechanical” or “systems” in the title. The two degrees are closer substitutes than their names suggest.
Demand is currently strongest in defense. The Pentagon plans to spend its entire $152 billion reconciliation package in fiscal 2026, including $25 billion for munitions. Breaking Defense. Anduril has started production at its Ohio plant and plans a workforce of about 4,000 there. Breaking Defense. Shield AI chose the Seattle area for X-BAT production; see our coverage of that announcement. One trade-off: defense work often requires a security clearance, and some clearances require U.S. citizenship. BLS.
Commercial aerospace is recovering more slowly. Boeing is moving 737 production toward 47 aircraft a month and reports a record backlog of about $715 billion. Boeing Q2 results. Much of its recent hiring has been for factory jobs rather than engineers.
Electrical: the strongest current demand
Electrical engineering grads received higher average starting offers than aerospace or mechanical grads, by $11,000 to $14,000 in NACE’s Class of 2024 data. Demand from outside aerospace explains much of that.
- Semiconductors. McKinsey and the SEMI Foundation estimate the U.S. could be short up to 157,000 chip workers by 2030, and 73% of chip employers report difficulty filling engineering roles. CNBC.
- Power and the grid. Data centers and electrification are driving demand for power engineers, and 40% of power-sector executives report hiring difficulty. IEEE Spectrum.
AI is reducing entry-level software hiring, but the data-center build-out behind it is increasing demand for people who design chips and the hardware that powers them. An EE degree also leads directly into aerospace work in avionics, radar, power systems, and flight electronics. See the avionics technician pathway for the hands-on side of that field.
Mechanical: the most doors, lower pay
Mechanical engineering is the broadest option. BLS projects 17,800 openings a year and the fastest growth of the three at 11%. NACE reports that at least 60% of responding employers planned to hire mechanical engineering majors from the Class of 2026, one of only three majors it named. NACE.
The trade-off is pay. Mechanical engineers have the lowest BLS median pay and starting offers of the three, and recent-graduate unemployment of 4.4%, close to the 4.2% average across all majors. Mechanical engineering is also a common route into aerospace manufacturing and into aerospace design roles.
The surprise: computer majors
Computer engineering has the highest early-career median wage in the table, and the second-highest recent-graduate unemployment of all 73 majors (7.8%). Computer science is close behind at 7.0%. Majors that looked safe a few years ago now carry the most entry-level risk.
The likely reason is a shift toward experience. Indeed found that entry-level roles made up only 4.5% of software-development job postings in early 2026. Indeed Hiring Lab. The Dallas Fed finds that job losses in AI-exposed fields are concentrated among workers under 25. Dallas Fed. Software skills still matter in aerospace, but they work best paired with an engineering field rather than on their own.
Other majors worth a look
- Civil engineering: 2.3% unemployment and 15.6% underemployment. It is a quiet strong performer.
- Engineering technologies: 1.7% unemployment, but 44% underemployment. Graduates find work, often in technician roles. That can be a good fit if you prefer hands-on work; see the aviation maintenance and avionics pathways.
- Physics: 6.6% unemployment, and 67% of physics graduates hold a graduate degree, the highest share of any major. Plan on graduate school if you choose it.
What matters more than the major
Across every field, experience is the strongest signal. NACE reports that employers converted 63.1% of their 2024–25 interns into full-time hires, the highest rate in five years. NACE. In a market where entry-level postings are shrinking, an internship is often how new grads get hired.
For students, that suggests a practical order of priorities:
- Pick the major that matches the work you want. All three engineering degrees have solid outcomes; the differences are smaller than the gap between engineering and the average major.
- Get an internship or co-op before senior year. Start by browsing companies with internship programs and the hiring trends overview.
- Build a project you can explain. A documented project gives you something concrete to discuss in applications. Try your first aerospace AI project, or explore the aerospace engineer pathway.