Best Petroleum Engineering Programs in Texas (2026)
Updated
Part of Best Engineering Colleges in Texas
This page ranks the 6 Petroleum Engineering programs in Texas by the median earnings of Petroleum Engineering graduates four years after completing. The University of Texas at Austin leads the list at $139,867, followed by Texas Tech University at $139,864, a gap of just $3.
Across the listed schools, the median figure is $104,668, with a range from $139,867 to $77,469. For 1 of the 6 programs the earnings figure is the two-year completion median rather than the four-year one.
All 6 schools are 6 public institutions. The University of Texas at Austin ranks 9th on Azimuth's composite ranking among the 1,467 public and private nonprofit four-year institutions Azimuth ranks nationally.
Texas A&M University-Kingsville posts the lowest average net price on the list at $12,090, while The University of Texas Permian Basin has the highest admission rate, admitting 95% of applicants.
The ranked list
| Rank | School | Program Earnings | Average net price | Net price, families under $30K | Admission rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The University of Texas at Austin · Austin, TX | $139,867 | $19,857 | $12,553 | 26.6% |
| The University of Texas at Austin reports median earnings of $139,867 for its Petroleum Engineering graduates four years after completing, the highest on this list. | |||||
| 2 | Texas Tech University · Lubbock, TX | $139,864 | $19,070 | $12,457 | 72.7% |
| Texas Tech University admits 73% of applicants and posts median earnings of $139,864 for its Petroleum Engineering graduates four years after completing. | |||||
| 3 | Texas A&M University-College Station · College Station, TX | $114,686 | $21,315 | $12,784 | 57.4% |
| With 93 graduates in the earnings cohort, Texas A&M University-College Station reports a median of $114,686 for its Petroleum Engineering graduates four years after completing. | |||||
| 4 | University of Houston · Houston, TX | $94,651 | $14,276 | $10,929 | 73.9% |
| University of Houston carries an average net price of $14,276 and reports median earnings of $94,651 for its Petroleum Engineering graduates four years after completing. | |||||
| 5 | The University of Texas Permian Basin · Odessa, TX | $87,532 | $12,723 | $11,930 | 94.9% |
| The University of Texas Permian Basin admits 95% of applicants and its Petroleum Engineering graduates earned a median of $87,532 four years after completing. | |||||
| 6 | Texas A&M University-Kingsville · Kingsville, TX | $77,469 | $12,090 | $10,207 | 90.9% |
| Texas A&M University-Kingsville reports median earnings of $77,469 for its Petroleum Engineering graduates four years after completing, and graduates across all fields who borrowed left with a median of $22,934 in federal loans. | |||||
How this list is ordered
Programs are ordered by the median earnings of their Petroleum Engineering graduates four years after completing, or two years for programs that report only a two-year figure, highest first. The figure captures federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled after completing. For 1 of the 6 listed programs the figure is the two-year completion median rather than the four-year one. The metric does not adjust for graduate school enrollment, cost, or who enrolls, and it is not a measure of teaching quality. The University of Texas at Austin and Texas Tech University sit just $3 apart at the top, while the spread from first to last reaches $62,398.
Job market context in Texas
Occupations linked to Petroleum Engineering in Texas include Petroleum Engineers and Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary. The median annual wage across those occupations is $147,850, and a quarter of workers in those occupations earn less than $103,830. State projections show about 2,710 openings a year, or roughly 993 openings a year for every hundred graduates, with more projected openings than graduates. Projections for 2024 to 2034 put employment in those occupations about 12.8% higher. Wages and top occupations exclude management occupations; openings include them. The ranking above uses graduate earnings four years after completing, not the occupation-wide wage figures shown here.