Software Engineering Degrees Near Washington for 2027
The Washington area has 1 program titled software engineering at 1 school, and 12 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 Washington’s city limits, so this guide covers the whole Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area.
Kevin ToFounder & Editor·B.S. in Computer Science, Temple University·Updated
Software engineering programs
1
titled software engineering
ABET-accredited
0
ABET’s list, 2026-09-30
Computer science programs
12
IPEDS 2024
Median pay, software developers
$154,930
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Key takeaways
01The Washington area has 1 degree titled software engineering, a master’s, at 1 school, plus 12 computer science programs. George Mason ranks first among the area’s master’s programs, with a score of 78.7 out of 100, #6 nationally. Each program below is checked against the school’s own page. It is George Mason’s master’s (16 miles from Washington’s center). Across District of Columbia as a whole, 0 programs carry the title.
02Software developers in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area earned a median of $154,930 in May 2025, against $136,880 across District of Columbia and $135,980 nationally. The metro area employed 69,060 of them. Nationally, BLS projects the occupation to grow 10.2% from 2025 to 2035, against 3.5% for all occupations.
03Prices near Washington were 8.9% above the national average in 2024, by the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s measure, and housing stood at 151.1 against a national 100. At national prices, the metro area’s developer median goes as far as about $142,270. BEA’s 2024 figures are its latest, a year behind the pay data.
04This page covers the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area only. The District of Columbia guide covers all 0 programs titled software engineering across the state, 0 bachelor’s and 0 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 Washington 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. Washington offers both, and many software engineers hold either one.
What this page covers
Software engineering programs: the 1 bachelor’s or master’s degree near Washington titled software engineering, each checked against the school’s own page.
Computer science programs: the area’s 12 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 Washington 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 Washington: each factor is measured against fixed national standards, which is why even the strongest program here can sit well below 100.
The master’s score
George Mason: #6 of 44 nationally
No software engineering master’s is inside Washington’s city limits
The highest score in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area is George Mason in Fairfax, VA, 78.7 out of 100. Across the country the median master’s score is 52.0 and the highest is 86.9. George Mason’s biggest gap is program size, where it earns 16.7 of 30 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 Washington 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 Washington
Not ranked
Master’s in software engineering
1 program
#1 near Washington
78.7of 100
George Mason
Fairfax, VA · about 16 mi from central Washington
MSCampus
Tuition
$13,726
Out-of-state
$35,677
Grads/yr
30.7
Bridge courses and test-out exams to fill prerequisite gaps
George Mason spells out exactly what you need before you start. Your bachelor's work should cover five areas: intro programming, one object-oriented language from the Java, C++ or C# family, plus data structures and algorithms, machine organization and discrete math. You can show that with undergraduate transcripts, with bridge courses from the School of Computing (COMP 501, 502, 503 and 511), or by passing a test-out exam. Students who earn a B or better in each bridge course can then apply for full admission, and test-out exams are given before classes begin and can only be taken once.
The page also asks for a statement of goals and a current resume. The degree needs 30 graduate credits across ten courses. Four courses are required, covering object-oriented specification, software architecture, interface development and testing. Electives can come from computer science, information security, information systems, operations research and statistics, and a 6-credit thesis is possible with a faculty sponsor. The program draws students from computer science, engineering, mathematics, science and business, and classes meet late in the afternoon.
Compare
Programs side by side
Washington 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. Grads/yr: IPEDS, three-year average. ABET: ABET’s list, retrieved 2026-09-30. #: the program’s rank among Washington’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 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area whose campus is outside Washington’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
6 schools, 12 programs in the table below.
Computer science is the neighboring degree, and many software engineers hold it. 1 program names a software engineering track, tagged below. 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
Private
$57,952
median of 5 schools
Prices near Washington were 108.9 against a national 100 in 2024, and housing 151.1, 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 undergraduate tuition, one figure per school, for the 6 schools with a bachelor’s program in this guide; 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 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area employed 69,060 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, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV. 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 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area.
Industry
Businesses
Employees
Payroll per employee
Computer systems design and related services
10,829
228,213
$119,000
Software publishers
567
28,768
$195,100
Data processing, hosting and related services
717
36,988
$149,600
Computer and electronic product manufacturing
153
8,307
$119,200
The first three of those industries employ 10.3% of the metro area’s private-sector workers, against 2.6% nationally, 3.9 times the national share.
Of these industries, computer systems design and related services employs the most people in the metro area, 228,213, while software publishers pays the most per employee, $195,100.
Businesses, employees (mid-March) and annual payroll: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, metropolitan areas and United States (cbp23msa, cbp23us), private sector, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area; payroll per employee covers every job in the industry, not only developers.
Pay
What software developers earn
$96,45010th
$123,72025th
$154,930median
$176,23075th
$213,66090th
Software developers, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area, BLS OEWS May 2025. National median: $135,980.
The metro area’s median is $154,930, $18,950 above the national $135,980. Half of the metro area’s software developers earn between $123,720 and $176,230.
BEA puts prices in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area at 108.9 against a national 100 (2024), so the median goes as far as $142,270 would nationally, $6,290 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 Washington 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 Washington’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. No bachelor’s around Washington is titled software engineering (George Mason offers a master’s for later), but you’ve got 12 computer science bachelor’s programs across the metro, including American University, George Washington University, Georgetown and nine more, and employers hire from both. 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 Washington, that’s one software engineering program and 22 computer science programs across the metro, so you really can choose. One of the city’s computer science programs runs a software engineering track, which gets you some of both. An easy way to decide: put George Mason’s course list next to American University’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 George Mason, 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 10,829 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 Washington is Shippensburg’s bachelor’s in Shippensburg, about 84 miles away. Check any program’s accreditation before you apply.
5
Look for your first job nearby
The Washington area had 69,060 software developers in May 2025, earning a median of $154,930. The biggest software industries here are computer systems design (228,213 jobs) and data processing and hosting (36,988 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 Washington fits, these are the highest-scoring online programs in our rankings. Confirm with each school that it enrolls students living near Washington.
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 Washington?
1 degree titled software engineering, a master’s, at 1 school. 0 of them are on ABET’s accredited list.
How much do software engineers make near Washington?
Software developers, the BLS occupation that includes software engineers, earned a median of $154,930 near Washington in May 2025. The 10th percentile was $96,450 and the 90th $213,660.
Is Washington pay worth it after cost of living?
BEA puts Washington’s prices at 108.9 against a national 100 in 2024. Divided by that, the developer median of $154,930 is worth about $142,270 at national prices.
Who hires software engineers near Washington?
No source counts software hiring by company the same way in every metro, so we don’t name employers. The Census Bureau counted 10,829 computer systems design businesses in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metro area in 2023, employing 228,213 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 Washington 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 Washington.
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 Washington to the nearest ABET-accredited software engineering program (straight line).
