Average earnings for United States (U.S.) work terms in 2025
All U.S. undergraduate work term data is self-reported by students and presented in U.S. Dollars (USD) from the period of January to December 2025.
| Faculty / program | Work term 1 |
Work term 2 |
Work term 3 |
Work term 4 |
Work term 5 |
Work term 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Faculty of Engineering (All ENG programs including Architecture, Software Engineering) |
$25.74 USD (average) Low:$17.25 High:$55.00 |
$31.43 USD (average) Low:$17.86 High:$65.00 |
$37.21 USD (average) Low:$17.86 High:$75.00 |
$39.09 USD (average) Low:$18.00 High:$69.24 |
$41.87 USD (average) Low:$18.00 High:$66.00 |
$44.09 USD (average) Low:$18.00 High:$75.00 |
|
Faculty of Mathematics (All Math programs including Computer Science and Computing & Financial Management) |
$27.67 USD (average) Low:$17.50 High:$57.21 |
$33.31 USD (average) Low:$17.00 High:$70.00 |
$45.38 USD (average) Low:$19.29 High:$73.56 |
$47.03 USD (average) Low:$21.00 High:$77.00 |
$48.43 USD (average) Low:$17.00 High:$67.50 |
$52.36 USD (average) Low:$24.55 High:$80.00 |
Note: While students from all faculties completed co-op work terms with US employers, only those with sufficient sample size have been reported. During 2025 some students worked for US companies from a remote location in Canada. Although not physically located in the US, these jobs have been counted as US employers.
Unpaid/underpaid work terms
In some situations, unpaid co-op jobs will be approved for work term credit, as long as the job conforms to the guidelines for unpaid/underpaid work terms.
This data is provided for informational purposes only. Co-operative and Experiential Education at the University of Waterloo does not establish or recommend pay level for co-op students, and this information should only be used as a guideline to be reconciled with the known market conditions for the position. Please exercise diligence in applying this information to your specific situation.