Ranked #35 in popularity, civil engineering is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
College Factual looked at 244 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Civil Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 14,335 bachelor's degrees in civil engineering to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Civil Engineering School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The civil eng bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality civil eng program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Earnings
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to civil engineering students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other civil engineering students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How much debt civil engineering students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized civil engineering related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for civil engineering students working on their bachelor's degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Civil Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Civil Engineering in the United States
Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for civil engineering students seeking a a bachelor's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
It is hard to beat University of California - Davis if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. UC Davis is a very large public university located in the small suburb of Davis.
Bachelor's recipients from the civil engineering major at University of California - Davis earn $6,073 above the standard college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
It is hard to beat University of Southern California if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Those civil engineering students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Southern California make $16,170 more than the average civil eng student.
Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in civil engineering has to check out New Jersey Institute of Technology. NJIT is a large public school located in the city of Newark.
Soon after graduating, civil eng bachelor's recipients generally earn around $68,288 in the first five years of their career.
Texas A&M University - College Station is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. Texas A&M College Station is a very large public university located in the midsize city of College Station.
Civil Engineering bachelor's degree recipients from Texas A&M University - College Station receive an earnings boost of about $6,701 above the typical income of civil engineering graduates.
UIUC is a very large public university located in the city of Champaign.
Those civil engineering students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign receive $4,305 more than the typical civil eng grad.
Georgia Tech is a very large public school located in the large city of Atlanta.
Those civil engineering students who get their bachelor's degree from Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus make $6,596 more than the standard civil eng graduate.
Located in the large suburb of Hoboken, Stevens is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.
Civil Engineering bachelor's degree recipients from Stevens Institute of Technology get an earnings boost of around $4,919 over the average income of civil engineering graduates.
Located in the city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a very large student population.
Those civil engineering students who get their bachelor's degree from University of California - Berkeley receive $9,050 more than the average civil eng grad.
UW Seattle is a very large public university located in the large city of Seattle.
Civil Engineering bachelor's degree recipients from University of Washington - Seattle Campus get an earnings boost of about $4,265 over the average earnings of civil engineering graduates.
UCLA is a fairly large public university located in the city of Los Angeles.
Bachelor's recipients from the civil engineering major at University of California - Los Angeles get $6,418 more than the standard college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Virginia Tech is a fairly large public school located in the city of Blacksburg.
Civil Engineering bachelor's degree recipients from Virginia Tech earn a boost of around $5,193 above the typical earnings of civil engineering majors.
Located in the medium-sized city of Worcester, WPI is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.
Those civil engineering students who get their bachelor's degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute receive $7,327 more than the typical civil eng student.
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a fairly large public university located in the small suburb of San Luis Obispo.
Bachelor's recipients from the civil engineering degree program at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo earn $11,581 more than the typical graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the civil engineering degree program at Cornell University get $11,169 above the standard college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
UT Austin is a very large public university located in the city of Austin.
Those civil engineering students who get their bachelor's degree from The University of Texas at Austin earn $6,061 more than the standard civil eng graduate.
Notre Dame is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Notre Dame.
Civil Engineering bachelor's degree recipients from University of Notre Dame receive an earnings boost of about $5,407 over the typical earnings of civil engineering graduates.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Civil Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools award.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
The civil eng bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality civil eng program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
