2025 Best Industrial Engineering Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

a master's degree in industrial engineering is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #62 out of 343 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

College Factual reviewed 5 schools in Illinois to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of industrial engineering. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 150 master's degrees in industrial engineering during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Industrial Engineering School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of industrial engineering for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

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 master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on industrial engineering students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other industrial engineering students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How much debt industrial engineering students go into to obtain their master'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 industrial engineering related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for industrial engineering students working on their master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Industrial Engineering Master's Degree Schools in Illinois list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Industrial Engineering in Illinois

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in industrial engineering.

Top Illinois Schools for a Master's in IE

1

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL

35 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a master's degree in industrial engineering has to look into University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in industrial engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2

University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL

37 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a master's degree in industrial engineering needs to check out University of Illinois at Chicago. UIC is a very large public university located in the city of Chicago.More information about a master’s in industrial engineering from University of Illinois at Chicago

3

Bradley University
Peoria, IL

12 Annual Graduates

Bradley University is a wonderful option for individuals interested in a master's degree in industrial engineering. Located in the medium-sized city of Peoria, Bradley is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a master’s in industrial engineering from Bradley University

4

Northern Illinois University
Dekalb, IL

33 Annual Graduates

Northern Illinois University is a great decision for students pursuing a master's degree in industrial engineering. NIU is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Dekalb.More information about a master’s in industrial engineering from Northern Illinois University

5

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Edwardsville, IL

32 Annual Graduates

Located in the large suburb of Edwardsville, SIUE is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in industrial engineering from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Best Industrial Engineering Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Industrial Engineering Schools in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Michigan	211	259
Ohio	207	33
Indiana	191	81
Wisconsin	173	32

View All Rankings >

Industrial Engineering Related Rankings by Major

One of 41 majors within the Engineering area of study, Industrial Engineering has other similar majors worth exploring.

IE Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
General Industrial Engineering	150

Majors Similar to IE

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Civil Engineering	331
Electrical Engineering	302
Mechanical Engineering	239
Computer Engineering	127
Other Engineering	127
Biomedical Engineering	122
Materials Engineering	93
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering	65
Chemical Engineering	61
Construction Engineering	53

Notes and References

• 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). More about our data sources and methodologies.