A degree in industrial engineering is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #87 out of 395 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 95 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for industrial engineering students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 8,087 degrees in industrial engineering annually.
The ie program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Industrial Engineering rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for industrial engineering schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Industrial Engineering Schools ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
Best Schools for Industrial Engineering in the United States
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the ie degrees they offer, see the list below. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Any student who is interested in industrial engineering has to take a look at Northwestern University. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were about 79 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the industrial engineering degree program at Northwestern University get $13,100 above the standard graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus is a great option for students pursuing a degree in industrial engineering. Georgia Tech is a fairly large public school located in the city of Atlanta. A Best Colleges rank of #19 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Georgia Tech is a great school overall.
There were about 459 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Georgia Tech in the most recent year we have data available. Those industrial engineering students who get their degree from Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus earn $11,115 more than the standard ie student.
Any student pursuing a degree in industrial engineering needs to check out Columbia University in the City of New York. Columbia is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York. A Best Colleges rank of #15 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Columbia is a great university overall.
There were approximately 104 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent data year.
Texas A&M University - College Station is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in industrial engineering. Texas A&M College Station is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of College Station. A Best Colleges rank of #42 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Texas A&M College Station is a great university overall.
There were approximately 391 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Texas A&M College Station in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the ie program earn around $76,382 in their early career salary.
Located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were approximately 247 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the industrial engineering degree program at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor make $11,772 above the standard college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #13 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were about 83 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the industrial engineering major at University of Southern California get $11,096 more than the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the suburb of Clemson, Clemson is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 2nd out of 45 schools for overall quality in the state of South Carolina.
There were about 352 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Clemson in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the industrial engineering program at Clemson University earn $13,984 more than the standard graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Virginia Tech is a very large public school located in the small city of Blacksburg. This school ranks 2nd out of 57 colleges for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were roughly 231 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Virginia Tech in the most recent year we have data available. Those industrial engineering students who get their degree from Virginia Tech make $5,726 more than the average ie student.
Located in the small city of West Lafayette, Purdue is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 3rd out of 41 schools for overall quality in the state of Indiana.
There were roughly 331 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Purdue in the most recent year we have data available. Those industrial engineering students who get their degree from Purdue University - Main Campus make $4,668 more than the standard ie student.
Lehigh is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Bethlehem. This university ranks 4th out of 103 colleges for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.
There were roughly 66 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Lehigh in the most recent year we have data available. Industrial Engineering degree recipients from Lehigh University get an earnings boost of about $4,431 above the average income of industrial engineering graduates.
UW - Madison is a fairly large public university located in the city of Madison. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were about 159 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent year we have data available. Those industrial engineering students who get their degree from University of Wisconsin - Madison receive $3,724 more than the standard ie graduate.
Located in the city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 91 colleges for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were roughly 181 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the industrial engineering major at Ohio State University - Main Campus get $4,165 above the average graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Iowa State is a very large public university located in the city of Ames. This university ranks 2nd out of 37 schools for overall quality in the state of Iowa.
There were about 160 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Iowa State in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the industrial engineering degree program at Iowa State University get $5,926 above the average graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
UMN Twin Cities is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Minneapolis. This university ranks 1st out of 52 colleges for overall quality in the state of Minnesota.
There were approximately 97 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at UMN Twin Cities in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the ie program report average early career income of $73,777.
UW Seattle is a very large public university located in the city of Seattle. A Best Colleges rank of #44 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UW Seattle is a great university overall.
There were about 70 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at UW Seattle in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the industrial engineering degree program at University of Washington - Seattle Campus get $22,387 above the average graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Raleigh, NC State is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 4th out of 93 schools for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were roughly 133 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at NC State in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the industrial engineering degree program at North Carolina State University earn $4,344 more than the standard college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
UIUC is a very large public university located in the small city of Champaign. A Best Colleges rank of #41 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 109 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the ie program earn an average of $78,313 for their early career.
Located in the city of Troy, RPI is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population. This school ranks 6th out of 136 schools for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were roughly 57 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at RPI in the most recent data year. After graduating, ie degree recipients generally earn about $74,787 at the beginning of their careers.
Pitt is a very large public university located in the city of Pittsburgh. This university ranks 6th out of 103 colleges for overall quality in the state of Pennsylvania.
There were roughly 93 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Pitt in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the ie program report average early career earnings of $76,707.
Rest of the Top Best Industrial Engineering Schools
Honorable Mentions
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Industrial Engineering 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 ie program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Industrial Engineering rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for industrial engineering schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
