Mines Graduates Now Top $70,000 in Average Starting Salary

The average starting salary for recent graduates of South Dakota Mines is now $70,036. Mines graduates also enjoy a 98% placement rate in their field of study or graduate school. These most recent numbers are based on the graduating class of 2022, reflecting their job status one year after competing their degree.

The 2022 cohort of Mines graduates were hired by 186 different companies with an average starting bonus offer of $5,229.

“These numbers point to the outstanding value of a Mines degree and reflect the importance of our mission,” says Mines President Jim Rankin. “There is a critical need to meet the increasing industry demand for highly trained STEM professionals; this includes the jobs being created by the booming high-tech industry right here in South Dakota.”

Thirty-nine percent of the 2022 Mines cohort stayed in South Dakota, either attending graduate school or working at 58 different companies located in 15 cities. This includes 47 graduates working for 39 companies in the Black Hills region.

Mines began tracking the average starting salary for male and female graduates three years ago. Women's starting salary has outpaced men's all three years. Female Mines graduates in 2022 landed an average salary of $71,848 compared to $69,379 for men. These numbers reflect the ongoing industry demand for women in STEM.

Students with internship experience during their college career also fared better than those without. Graduates who completed at least one internship while in school landed an average starting salary of $72,458 compared to those without an internship of $62,558.

A study by Georgetown University in 2022 that ranks 4,500 colleges in the country on return on investment showed South Dakota Mines is the top four-year public university in the state with 40-year lifetime average earnings of over $1.52 million. This number is nearly half a million dollars more than the second South Dakota school on the list. The Georgetown study also ranks Mines in the top 27 four-year public colleges in the nation for a lifetime return on investment. South Dakota Mines topped other schools on the list such as Rutgers, Purdue, Texas A&M and the University of Minnesota.