State College, PA has twenty-two mechanical engineering schools within a 100-mile radius of its city center. York College Pennsylvania, the highest ranked school in this group with a mechanical engineering program, has a total student population of 5,564. It is the 294th highest ranked school in the USA and the 26th highest in the state of Pennsylvania (#1 is University of Pennsylvania). To learn more about mechanical engineering programs in State College, ratemyprofessors.com has reviews of mechanical engineering professors at York College Pennsylvania such as David Babcock, Emine Celik, Jennifer Dawson, Timothy Garrison, Jim Kearns, and Stephen Kuchnicki.
Mechanical Engineering students from State College schools who go on to become mechanical engineers, mechanical design engineers, mechanical drafters, mechanical designers, etc. have a good chance at finding employment. For example, there are 232,660 people working as mechanical engineers alone in the US, and their average annual salary is $80,580. Also, Mechanical engineering technicians make on average $50,700 per year and there are about 43,580 of them employed in the US today.
State College lies in Centre county, which is one of the 32 counties in Pennsylvania. Overall, the State College area has 66,460 total employed workers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a 2.0% unemployment rate, $19.39/hr average worker wage, and a $40,330 average annual salary.
Of the 22 mechanical engineering schools with a 100-mile radius of State College, only 2 have a student population over 10k. After taking into account tuition, living expenses, and financial aid, Commonwealth Technical Institute comes out as the most expensive ($26,329/yr) for mechanical engineering students, with Westmoreland County Community College as the lowest, reported at only $2,481/yr.
| Name | State | Population | # of Schools | Avg School Rank | Total Programs | Distance from State College |
| Altoona | PA | 45,489 | 5 | 33.0431 | 98 | 34.5 miles |
| Lewisburg | PA | - | 1 | 40.8804 | 78 | 52.4 miles |
| Carlisle | PA | - | 2 | 37.9041 | 58 | 53.8 miles |
| Sunbury | PA | - | 2 | 33.8045 | 7 | 56.0 miles |
| Mechanicsburg | PA | - | 1 | 6.86716 | 7 | 60.1 miles |
| Harrisburg | PA | 46,941 | 9 | 12.8661 | 254 | 62.6 miles |
| Johnstown | PA | - | 7 | 24.555 | 182 | 64.5 miles |
| Blairsville | PA | - | 1 | 33.1288 | 4 | 77.7 miles |
| Hagerstown | MD | - | 3 | 18.5628 | 88 | 80.0 miles |
| Emmitsburg | MD | - | 1 | 64.5126 | 59 | 80.4 miles |
| York | PA | - | 10 | 26.4605 | 240 | 82.8 miles |
| Pottsville | PA | - | 3 | 16.975 | 32 | 87.6 miles |
| Martinsburg | WV | - | 4 | 26.5943 | 55 | 92.7 miles |
| Export | PA | - | 1 | 1.01296 | 0 | 96.3 miles |
| Frederick | MD | 59,727 | 2 | 38.8415 | 121 | 97.1 miles |
| Bel Air | MD | - | 2 | 17.834 | 59 | 98.3 miles |