2025 Best Industrial Engineering Schools in California
4Colleges in California
329IE Degrees Awarded
$76,711Avg Early-Career Salary
Industrial Engineering is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #87 most popular degree program in the country. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
College Factual looked at 4 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Industrial Engineering Schools in California ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 329 degrees in industrial engineering to qualified students.
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. For our Best Overall Industrial Engineering School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that 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.
The ie school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Industrial Engineering Schools in California.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
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 Industrial Engineering in California
The schools below may not offer all types of ie degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer.
University of Southern California is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in industrial engineering. 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 data year. Those industrial engineering students who get their degree from University of Southern California receive $11,096 more than the average ie grad.
Any student who is interested in industrial engineering needs to check out California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a very large public university located in the small suburb of San Luis Obispo. A Best Colleges rank of #165 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a great university overall.
There were about 85 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the most recent data year. Those industrial engineering students who get their degree from California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo earn $10,515 more than the standard ie grad.
Every student pursuing a degree in industrial engineering needs to look into California State Polytechnic University - Pomona. Located in the large suburb of Pomona, Cal Poly Pomona is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 60th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were about 55 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at Cal Poly Pomona in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the ie program state that they receive average early career wages of $75,110.
Every student pursuing a degree in industrial engineering needs to check out University of San Diego. Located in the city of San Diego, USD is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 35th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were approximately 38 industrial engineering students who graduated with this degree at USD in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the industrial engineering degree program at University of San Diego make $3,933 above the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
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).