Software Engineering Degrees Near Philadelphia for 2027
The Philadelphia area has 3 programs titled software engineering at 2 schools, and 7 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 Philadelphia’s city limits, so this guide covers the whole Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro area.
Kevin ToFounder & Editor·B.S. in Computer Science, Temple University·Updated
Software engineering programs
3
titled software engineering
ABET-accredited
0
ABET’s list, 2026-09-30
Computer science programs
7
IPEDS 2024
Median pay, software developers
$133,040
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Key takeaways
01The Philadelphia area has 3 degrees titled software engineering, 1 bachelor’s and 2 master’s, at 2 schools, plus 7 computer science programs. Drexel ranks first among the area’s bachelor’s programs, with a score of 36.6 out of 100, #55 nationally. Each program below is checked against the school’s own page. Across Pennsylvania as a whole, 9 programs carry the title.
02Software developers in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro area earned a median of $133,040 in May 2025, against $126,550 across Pennsylvania and $135,980 nationally. The metro area employed 28,480 of them. Nationally, BLS projects the occupation to grow 10.2% from 2025 to 2035, against 3.5% for all occupations.
03Prices near Philadelphia were 2.6% above the national average in 2024, by the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s measure, and housing stood at 113.1 against a national 100. At national prices, the metro area’s developer median goes as far as about $129,670. BEA’s 2024 figures are its latest, a year behind the pay data.
04This page covers the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro area only. The Pennsylvania 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 Philadelphia 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. Philadelphia offers both, and many software engineers hold either one.
What this page covers
Software engineering programs: the 3 bachelor’s and master’s degrees near Philadelphia titled software engineering, each checked against the school’s own page.
Computer science programs: the area’s 7 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 Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia: 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
Drexel: #55 of 75 nationally
Drexel leads near Philadelphia with 36.6 out of 100
Across the country the median bachelor’s score is 56.7 and the highest is 87.0. Its biggest gap is cost, where it earns 0 of 25 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
Drexel: #33 of 44 nationally
Drexel leads near Philadelphia with 39.2 out of 100
Across the country the median master’s score is 52.0 and the highest is 86.9. Its biggest gap is cost, where it earns 8 of 40 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 Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia
Not ranked
Bachelor’s in software engineering
1 program
#1 near Philadelphia
36.6of 100
Drexel
Philadelphia, PA · about 5 mi from central Philadelphia
BSCampus
In-state
$58,293
Out-of-state
$58,293
Completion
73%
Choice of five-year, three co-op or four-year path
Drexel's BS in Software Engineering runs on the quarter calendar and requires a minimum of 187 credits. You pick one of two co-op paths: five years with three co-ops, or four years with one. Co-op cycles are assigned by program and major, so your co-op term may not match the sample plan. The core courses cover programming and development tools, specification and design, software architecture, verification and validation, software evolution and team projects. Required software courses include Introduction to Requirements Engineering, Software Design, Software Architecture, Software Verification and Validation and Software Evolution.
You also take Data Structures, Systems Programming, Computer Networks, Database Management Systems and Software Project Management, plus three terms of Calculus, Discrete Mathematics and two statistics courses. Science is a lab sequence of 18 credits in biology, chemistry or physics. Eighteen credits of computing and informatics electives and 12 free elective credits give you room to steer. The degree finishes with a full-year software team capstone project, the three-term Senior Project sequence.
Master’s in software engineering
2 programs
#1 near Philadelphia
39.2of 100
Drexel
Philadelphia, PA · about 5 mi from central Philadelphia
MSCampus + online
Tuition
$36,234
Out-of-state
$36,234
Grads/yr
27.7
Online
The only master’s program near Philadelphia offered online
Built around AI-assisted development practices
Drexel's MS in Software Engineering is built around AI-assisted development, with weight on architectural modeling, design decisions, trade-off evaluation and quality assurance. Philadelphia and online options both exist, each open to full-time and part-time students. Teams do one intensive, real-world project in the Software Studio capstone. A graduate co-op exists, but only for full-time students who start on campus. The online program is not eligible, and spring entry can't do co-op either.
Terms start in September, January and March, with no summer start. Students can start in fall, winter or spring. You need a four-year bachelor's degree, and if your degree is in another field, expect extra prerequisites before advanced courses. The application asks for a roughly 500-word essay, a resume and one recommendation letter, with two preferred. The GRE is strongly advised for international applicants and for domestic applicants with a GPA under 3.0. The application fee is $65.
#2 near Philadelphia
38.0of 100
Villanova
Villanova, PA · about 11 mi from central Philadelphia
MSCampus
Tuition
$21,261
Out-of-state
$21,261
Grads/yr
13.7
Grand Challenges project with an advisor you arrange
Villanova's MS in Software Engineering takes ten three-credit courses. Requirements Engineering, Software Design and Evolution and Software Engineering are among the required six, with Computer Systems, Database Systems and Programming for Machine Learning. The other four are electives. One elective is a thesis course, CSC 9030, which extends the Grand Challenges coursework into a full master's thesis and suits you if you may go on to a doctorate. Grand Challenges is an independent project with an advisor you arrange yourself, and the page estimates about 150 hours of work.
You can add a practicum track with a one-credit course, CSC 8990, but it requires work experience in a related field. Admission needs a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited school with at least a 3.0 GPA. You also need proficiency in a language like Java, C++ or C, plus computer organization or architecture, operating systems, discrete structures, two semesters of calculus, and probability and statistics. Prerequisites can be finished at any accredited college, including a community college, or through Villanova's part-time studies.
Compare
Programs side by side
Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia’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 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro area whose campus is outside Philadelphia’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
4 schools, 7 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
Private
$56,551
median of 4 schools
Prices near Philadelphia were 102.6 against a national 100 in 2024, and housing 113.1, 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 4 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 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro area employed 28,480 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, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD. 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 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro area.
Industry
Businesses
Employees
Payroll per employee
Computer systems design and related services
3,624
43,386
$117,500
Software publishers
472
17,986
$156,900
Data processing, hosting and related services
554
13,822
$114,100
Computer and electronic product manufacturing
254
13,471
$112,100
The first three of those industries employ 2.6% of the metro area’s private-sector workers, against 2.6% nationally, close to the national share.
Of these industries, computer systems design and related services employs the most people in the metro area, 43,386, while software publishers pays the most per employee, $156,900.
Businesses, employees (mid-March) and annual payroll: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, metropolitan areas and United States (cbp23msa, cbp23us), private sector, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro area; payroll per employee covers every job in the industry, not only developers.
Pay
What software developers earn
$82,96010th
$103,92025th
$133,040median
$165,14075th
$190,18090th
Software developers, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro area, BLS OEWS May 2025. National median: $135,980.
The metro area’s median is $133,040, $2,940 below the national $135,980. Half of the metro area’s software developers earn between $103,920 and $165,140.
BEA puts prices in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro area at 102.6 against a national 100 (2024), so the median goes as far as $129,670 would nationally, $6,310 less 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 Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia’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 Philadelphia you’ve got one bachelor’s program titled software engineering, at Drexel, plus 14 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 Philadelphia, that’s three software engineering programs and 19 computer science programs across the metro, so you really can choose. An easy way to decide: put Drexel’s course list next to La Salle 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 Drexel and Villanova, ask how they connect students with internships. Drexel includes a capstone or senior project where you build real software with a team. With 3,624 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 Philadelphia is Monmouth’s bachelor’s in West Long Branch, about 62 miles away. Check any program’s accreditation before you apply.
5
Look for your first job nearby
The Philadelphia area had 28,480 software developers in May 2025, earning a median of $133,040. The biggest software industries here are computer systems design (43,386 jobs) and software publishing (17,986 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 Philadelphia fits, these are the highest-scoring online programs in our rankings. Confirm with each school that it enrolls students living near Philadelphia.
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 Philadelphia?
3 degrees titled software engineering, 1 bachelor’s and 2 master’s, at 2 schools. 0 of them are on ABET’s accredited list.
What is the best software engineering school near Philadelphia?
Drexel ranks first of the 1 ranked bachelor’s programs near Philadelphia, with a score of 36.6 out of 100 (#55 nationally). The score combines completion, net price, ABET accreditation and program size.
How much do software engineers make near Philadelphia?
Software developers, the BLS occupation that includes software engineers, earned a median of $133,040 near Philadelphia in May 2025. The 10th percentile was $82,960 and the 90th $190,180.
Is Philadelphia pay worth it after cost of living?
BEA puts Philadelphia’s prices at 102.6 against a national 100 in 2024. Divided by that, the developer median of $133,040 is worth about $129,670 at national prices.
Who hires software engineers near Philadelphia?
No source counts software hiring by company the same way in every metro, so we don’t name employers. The Census Bureau counted 3,624 computer systems design businesses in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metro area in 2023, employing 43,386 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 Philadelphia 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 Philadelphia.
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 Philadelphia to the nearest ABET-accredited software engineering program (straight line).
