Software Engineering Degrees Near San Jose for 2027
The San Jose area has 2 programs titled software engineering at 1 school, 1 accredited by ABET, and 2 computer science programs. This guide covers each one, what it costs, and what software developers earn in the metro area. Fewer than 5 programs titled software engineering sit inside San Jose’s city limits, so this guide covers the whole San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metro area.
Kevin ToFounder & Editor·B.S. in Computer Science, Temple University·Updated
Software engineering programs
2
titled software engineering
ABET-accredited
1
ABET’s list, 2026-09-30
Computer science programs
2
IPEDS 2024
Median pay, software developers
$213,110
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Key takeaways
01The San Jose area has 2 degrees titled software engineering, 1 bachelor’s and 1 master’s, at 1 school, plus 2 computer science programs. 1 of the software engineering programs is on ABET’s accredited list. San Jose State ranks first among the area’s bachelor’s programs, with a score of 87.0 out of 100, #1 nationally. Each program below is checked against the school’s own page.
02Software developers in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metro area earned a median of $213,110 in May 2025, against $174,410 across California and $135,980 nationally. The metro area employed 87,350 of them. Nationally, BLS projects the occupation to grow 10.2% from 2025 to 2035, against 3.5% for all occupations.
03Prices near San Jose were 10.4% above the national average in 2024, by the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s measure, and housing stood at 211.9 against a national 100. At national prices, the metro area’s developer median goes as far as about $193,030. BEA’s 2024 figures are its latest, a year behind the pay data.
04This page covers the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metro area only. The California guide covers all 9 programs titled software engineering across the state, 5 bachelor’s and 4 master’s, with the same comparisons of cost and pay, so a program elsewhere in the state can be weighed against one here.
05If nothing near San Jose fits, the degree can be taken online. The highest-scoring online programs in our rankings are Kennesaw State’s bachelor’s, at 72.5 out of 100, and Kennesaw State’s master’s, at 67.6. Check with each school that it enrolls students living where you do before you apply.
This guide
Studying software engineering here
A degree titled software engineering puts design, testing and the management of large software projects at the center, where computer science centers on computation itself. San Jose offers both, and many software engineers hold either one.
What this page covers
Software engineering programs: the 2 bachelor’s and master’s degrees near San Jose titled software engineering, each checked against the school’s own page.
Computer science programs: the area’s 2 bachelor’s and master’s programs in computer science, from federal data.
Online programs: software engineering degrees from our rankings that can be completed online.
Not included: associate degrees, certificates, bootcamps, doctoral programs and degrees in related fields such as information technology.
Methodology
How we ranked these programs
Programs near San Jose are ranked against each other at the same degree level, highest score first. The score is out of 100 and comes from our national rankings, so a program carries the same score on every page of this site. It isn’t curved for San Jose: each factor is measured against fixed national standards, which is why even the strongest program here can sit well below 100.
The bachelor’s score
San Jose State: #1 of 75 nationally
San Jose State leads near San Jose with 87.0 out of 100
Across the country the median bachelor’s score is 56.7 and the highest is 87.0. Its biggest gap is completion, where it earns 27 of 35 points. Every scored program is in Best Bachelor’s in Software Engineering.
Scored factors
100 pts total
Cost25 pts
The school’s average net price after grants (IPEDS), in fixed dollar tiers.
Under $12,00025 pts
$12,000 to $15,99920 pts
$16,000 to $19,99915 pts
$20,000 to $24,99910 pts
$25,000 to $31,9995 pts
$32,000 or more0 pts
Completion35 pts
The school’s eight-year completion rate for all entering students (IPEDS Outcome Measures), as a share of the points.
ABET accreditation25 pts
Full points if the program is on ABET’s own accredited list, none if not.
Program size15 pts
Graduates a year, on a log scale that reaches full points at 100.
The master’s score
San Jose State: #4 of 44 nationally
San Jose State leads near San Jose with 82.9 out of 100
Across the country the median master’s score is 52.0 and the highest is 86.9. Its biggest gap is research activity, where it earns 0 of 15 points. Every scored program is in Software Engineering Master’s Programs.
Scored factors
100 pts total
Cost40 pts
The school’s graduate tuition (IPEDS), in fixed dollar tiers.
Under $10,00040 pts
$10,000 to $14,99932 pts
$15,000 to $19,99924 pts
$20,000 to $29,99916 pts
$30,000 to $39,9998 pts
$40,000 or more0 pts
Program size30 pts
Graduates a year, on a log scale that reaches full points at 500.
Research activity15 pts
The school’s Carnegie research class, from IPEDS.
R115
R29
Doctoral/professional3
Other0
ABET-accredited department15 pts
Full points if the school’s software engineering or computer science bachelor’s is on ABET’s list.
Each program is ranked against the others near San Jose at the same degree level, by the score our national rankings use. Tuition is IPEDS 2023–24; grad rate is the school’s. Full details for a ranked program are on its ranking page.
Bachelor’s
Master’s
Top 3 near San Jose
Not ranked
Bachelor’s in software engineering
1 program
#1 near San Jose
87.0of 100
San Jose State
San Jose, CA · about 5 mi from central San Jose
BSCampus
In-state
$5,742
Out-of-state
$17,622
Completion
77%
✓ ABET-accredited
Senior design paired with a global and social issues course
San Jose State's BS is 123 units: 24 of university requirements, 33 of major preparation and 66 in the major. Preparation includes three calculus courses, discrete mathematics, two physics courses and a biology course. Calculus I and II and Physics I need a C or better, and the other major courses need a C- or better. Major courses include two software engineering classes, Software Engineering Process Management, Software Quality Engineering, Enterprise Software Platforms, Computer Networks, Object-Oriented Design, Information Security and a database course.
Senior Design Project runs as a two-course sequence, two units then three, next to a Global and Social Issues in Engineering sequence, and both sequences need a C or better. Six units of upper-division electives are picked with an advisor. The department page says the degree covers data science topics including probability, data visualization and data ethics. The BS is accredited by ABET's Engineering Accreditation Commission under the general criteria and the software program criteria.
Master’s in software engineering
1 program
#1 near San Jose
82.9of 100
San Jose State
San Jose, CA · about 5 mi from central San Jose
MSCampus
Tuition
$7,176
Out-of-state
$16,680
Grads/yr
322.3
Choice of enterprise or cloud specializations
Check which catalog year applies to you, because San Jose State's MSSE has changed. For students admitted from Fall 2020, the degree is 33 semester units: 6 in the degree core, 9 in specialization courses, 9 in electives, a 3-unit written English class and a 6-unit project or thesis. The core is Software Systems Engineering and Enterprise Software Platforms. Beginning in Fall 2026, the former third core course, CMPE 255 Data Mining, is no longer required and an extra elective replaces it. You choose a specialization, take its two core courses, and add one choice course from a different specialization.
Electives can be any graduate CMPE course numbered 200 or higher with a short list of exclusions, and the 2022-2023 catalog adds that up to 15 units of upper-division undergraduate work may count. Fifteen units must be finished before the culminating experience begins, including the core and your specialization core. CMPE 294 or ENGR 200W satisfies the written English requirement. The project route is CMPE 295A and 295B, and the thesis route is CMPE 299A and 299B. Internships are optional through CMPE 298I.
Compare
Programs side by side
San Jose software engineering programs compared, by level
Tuition: IPEDS 2023–24, at the program’s level (a master’s figure is the school’s graduate average). Grad rate: the school’s six-year rate for bachelor’s students; N/A on master’s rows, because federal data has no graduation rate for master’s programs. Grads/yr: IPEDS, three-year average. ABET: ABET’s list, retrieved 2026-09-30. #: the program’s rank among San Jose’s ranked programs at its level; NR, not ranked. Score: out of 100, the same score as on the ranking pages.
Nearby
Within driving distance
Programs in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metro area whose campus is outside San Jose’s city limits.
City limits: Census TIGER incorporated place boundaries; campus locations: IPEDS 2024. Distances are straight-line miles from the city’s Census internal point, rounded.
Computer science
Computer science programs
1 school, 2 programs in the table below.
Computer science is the neighboring degree, and many software engineers hold it. These rows come from federal data, not from each school’s page.
Tuition: IPEDS 2023–24, in-state, before fees and aid; undergraduate for a bachelor’s, and for a master’s the school-wide average across graduate students, which excludes program fees. School grad rate: the school’s six-year rate for bachelor’s students (IPEDS); N/A on master’s rows, because federal data has no graduation rate for master’s programs. ABET: on ABET’s computing (CAC) or engineering (EAC) list, retrieved 2026-10-05; a blank cell means not accredited. A school is in the table when it has at least two of a tuition figure, a grad rate or ABET accreditation, and a program page we could link; the rest are listed under it. SE track: named on the school’s own page.
Cost
What it costs
Too few schools here publish a federal tuition figure for a San Jose median, so this is each program’s own figure: graduate tuition for a master’s, undergraduate for a bachelor’s, as on its card.
Prices near San Jose were 110.4 against a national 100 in 2024, and housing 211.9, by the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s Regional Price Parities. 2024 is BEA’s latest year, a year behind the May 2025 pay figures on this page.
Tuition: IPEDS 2023–24, each program’s school-wide figure at its level (graduate or undergraduate). A median needs at least 3 schools. Excludes fees, housing and aid. Prices: BEA Regional Price Parities by metro area, 2024, all items and housing services.
Job market
The software job market
The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metro area employed 87,350 software developers in May 2025. Nationally, BLS projects software developer jobs to grow 10.2% from 2025 to 2035, against 3.5% for all occupations.
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, metropolitan areas, May 2025, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA. Metro estimates are published for fewer occupations than state estimates; the occupations BLS doesn’t publish here are left out. Growth: BLS Employment Projections, 2025-35, national.
Who hires
Who hires software developers
We don’t list company names: no source counts software hiring by employer the same way in every metro. What the Census Bureau does count is the businesses themselves, by industry, in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metro area.
Industry
Businesses
Employees
Payroll per employee
Computer systems design and related services
2,788
82,481
$202,500
Software publishers
685
91,253
$294,200
Data processing, hosting and related services
421
26,679
$272,900
Computer and electronic product manufacturing
503
42,925
$150,800
The first three of those industries employ 16.9% of the metro area’s private-sector workers, against 2.6% nationally, 6.4 times the national share.
Of these industries, software publishers employs the most people in the metro area, 91,253, at $294,200 in payroll per employee.
Businesses, employees (mid-March) and annual payroll: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, metropolitan areas and United States (cbp23msa, cbp23us), private sector, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metro area; payroll per employee covers every job in the industry, not only developers.
Pay
What software developers earn
$138,42010th
$173,65025th
$213,110median
$226,08075th
$289,15090th
Software developers, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metro area, BLS OEWS May 2025. National median: $135,980.
The metro area’s median is $213,110, $77,130 above the national $135,980. Half of the metro area’s software developers earn between $173,650 and $226,080.
BEA puts prices in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metro area at 110.4 against a national 100 (2024), so the median goes as far as $193,030 would nationally, $57,050 more than the national median.
BEA price parities, 2024; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, metropolitan areas, May 2025.
Steps
How to become a software engineer
The path to software engineering near San Jose is the same one people take everywhere: a degree, real experience before you graduate, and a first job search. What changes is the schools you can choose from and who’s hiring nearby. Here are the five steps, with San Jose’s options in each.
1
Start with a bachelor’s degree
Most software developer jobs ask for a bachelor's degree, and you don’t need work experience to get your first one. Around San Jose you’ve got one bachelor’s program titled software engineering, at San Jose State, plus two computer science bachelor’s programs across the metro if you want a wider net. Before you fall for one, compare what they cost; the tuition figures above make that quick.
2
Pick between software engineering and computer science
Employers hire from both majors. Software engineering leans toward building and maintaining large systems as a team; computer science gives you a broader base in theory. Around San Jose, that’s two software engineering programs and six computer science programs across the metro, so you really can choose. An easy way to decide: put San Jose State’s course list next to Stanford’s and see which you’d rather spend four years in. Compare them.
3
Build experience before you graduate
Internships are often what turn a degree into a job offer. When you talk to San Jose State, ask how they connect students with internships. Look for a capstone where you build real software with a team; it gives you something concrete to talk about in interviews. With 2,788 computer systems design firms in the metro, a summer role close to home is realistic.
4
Know where licensing stands
You don’t need a license to work as a software engineer, and there’s no longer a licensing exam for it: the last one was given in April 2019. Accreditation still matters if you might want a license or certification later, since those often ask for an ABET-accredited degree. The closest accredited software engineering program to San Jose is San Jose State’s bachelor’s in San Jose, about 5 miles away. Check any program’s accreditation before you apply.
5
Look for your first job nearby
The San Jose area had 87,350 software developers in May 2025, earning a median of $213,110. The biggest software industries here are software publishing (91,253 jobs) and computer systems design (82,481 jobs), so start your search with those firms. Ask your program which local employers hire its graduates, and go to its career fairs from your first year. Across the country there are about 95,300 openings a year, so you can widen the search if you’re willing to move.
Online options
Online software engineering degrees
If no program near San Jose fits, these are the highest-scoring online programs in our rankings. Confirm with each school that it enrolls students living near San Jose.
Tuition: IPEDS 2023–24 out-of-state, the rate an online student from another state usually pays (a master’s figure is the school’s graduate average); a published rate is the school’s own price. National rank and score: our national ranking at the program’s level.
How many software engineering programs are near San Jose?
2 degrees titled software engineering, 1 bachelor’s and 1 master’s, at 1 school. 1 of them is on ABET’s accredited list.
What is the best software engineering school near San Jose?
San Jose State ranks first of the 1 ranked bachelor’s programs near San Jose, with a score of 87.0 out of 100 (#1 nationally). The score combines completion, net price, ABET accreditation and program size.
Which software engineering programs near San Jose are ABET-accredited?
San Jose State (bachelor’s), according to ABET’s accredited program list retrieved 2026-09-30.
How much do software engineers make near San Jose?
Software developers, the BLS occupation that includes software engineers, earned a median of $213,110 near San Jose in May 2025. The 10th percentile was $138,420 and the 90th $289,150.
Is San Jose pay worth it after cost of living?
BEA puts San Jose’s prices at 110.4 against a national 100 in 2024. Divided by that, the developer median of $213,110 is worth about $193,030 at national prices.
Who hires software engineers near San Jose?
No source counts software hiring by company the same way in every metro, so we don’t name employers. The Census Bureau counted 2,788 computer systems design businesses in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metro area in 2023, employing 82,481 people. Nationally, the industries that employ the most software developers are computer systems design and related services, software publishers and management of companies and enterprises.
Can San Jose residents take a software engineering degree online?
Yes. Kennesaw State, Minnesota-Crookston and University of Arizona are among the online software engineering programs in our rankings. Check with each school that it enrolls students living near San Jose.
2NCES IPEDS institutional charges, 2023–24Tuition at the program’s level, and undergraduate tuition per school for the cost medians. Excludes fees, housing and aid.
3NCES IPEDS graduation ratesThe school’s six-year graduation rate, for the whole school rather than the program; IPEDS DRVGR2023 where the main pull has no figure.
4Each school’s own program pageProgram name, delivery, credits, and every bullet on the program cards, quoted from the saved page. Read .
13NCES IPEDS HD2024: campus coordinatesCampus latitude and longitude, for the distance from San Jose to the nearest ABET-accredited software engineering program (straight line).
