2023 Best Industrial Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools

For its 2023 ranking, College Factual looked at 85 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for industrial engineering students pursuing a bachelor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 5,876 bachelor's degrees in industrial engineering to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

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

The IE bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality IE 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

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 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 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

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 - The number of industrial engineering students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
• 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 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 industrial engineering related body.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Industrial Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools list to help you make the college 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 Industrial Engineering in the United States

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for industrial engineering students seeking a a bachelor's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

12 Top Schools for a Bachelor's in IE

#1

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

72 Annual Graduates

$84,644 Median Starting Salary

$17,831 Median Student Debt

It is hard to beat Northwestern University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering. Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Evanston.

Industrial Engineering bachelor's degree recipients from Northwestern University get an earnings boost of approximately $18,142 above the average earnings of industrial engineering graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from Northwestern University

#2

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, MI

187 Annual Graduates

$75,644 Median Starting Salary

$20,000 Median Student Debt

Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering has to look into University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. U-M is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor.

Those industrial engineering students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor receive $9,142 more than the typical IE graduate.

More information about a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

#3

Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus

Atlanta, GA

338 Annual Graduates

$74,354 Median Starting Salary

$23,500 Median Student Debt

Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering has to check out Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus. Located in the city of Atlanta, Georgia Tech is a public school with a very large student population.

Those industrial engineering students who get their bachelor's degree from Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus earn $7,852 more than the typical IE student.

More information about a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus

#4

Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, VA

205 Annual Graduates

$70,925 Median Starting Salary

$24,000 Median Student Debt

Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering has to check out Virginia Tech. Located in the city of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Those industrial engineering students who get their bachelor's degree from Virginia Tech make $4,423 more than the standard IE grad.

More information about a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from Virginia Tech

#5

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA

87 Annual Graduates

$70,709 Median Starting Salary

$21,500 Median Student Debt

USC is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles.

Those industrial engineering students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Southern California make $4,207 more than the typical IE student.

More information about a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from University of Southern California

#6

Texas A&M University - College Station

College Station, TX

217 Annual Graduates

$67,166 Median Starting Salary

$20,500 Median Student Debt

Located in the city of College Station, Texas A&M College Station is a public university with a very large student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the IE program report average early career earnings of $67,166.

More information about a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from Texas A&M University - College Station

#7

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Madison, WI

105 Annual Graduates

$74,061 Median Starting Salary

$20,500 Median Student Debt

Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Bachelor's recipients from the industrial engineering major at University of Wisconsin - Madison make $7,559 above the typical college grad in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from University of Wisconsin - Madison

#8

Lehigh University

Bethlehem, PA

52 Annual Graduates

$72,069 Median Starting Salary

$22,115 Median Student Debt

Located in the small city of Bethlehem, Lehigh is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.

Those industrial engineering students who get their bachelor's degree from Lehigh University earn $5,567 more than the typical IE graduate.

More information about a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from Lehigh University

#9

Purdue University - Main Campus

West Lafayette, IN

264 Annual Graduates

$70,780 Median Starting Salary

$19,750 Median Student Debt

Purdue is a fairly large public university located in the small city of West Lafayette.

Industrial Engineering bachelor's degree recipients from Purdue University - Main Campus get an earnings boost of around $4,278 above the average income of industrial engineering majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from Purdue University - Main Campus

#10

Clemson University

Clemson, SC

160 Annual Graduates

$65,182 Median Starting Salary

$24,756 Median Student Debt

Located in the suburb of Clemson, Clemson is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the IE program earn around $65,182 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from Clemson University

#11

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Champaign, IL

80 Annual Graduates

$68,901 Median Starting Salary

$19,000 Median Student Debt

Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population.

Those industrial engineering students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign receive $2,399 more than the average IE grad.

More information about a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

#12

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Minneapolis, MN

88 Annual Graduates

$67,765 Median Starting Salary

$21,939 Median Student Debt

Located in the city of Minneapolis, UMN Twin Cities is a public university with a fairly large student population.

After graduation, IE bachelor's recipients typically make around $67,765 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in industrial engineering from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Additional Noteworthy Schools

Here are some additional great schools for Industrial Engineering students that almost earned our Best Industrial Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools award.

Industrial Engineering by Region

View the Best Industrial Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

View All Rankings >

Industrial Engineering Related Rankings by Major

One of 40 majors within the Engineering area of study, Industrial Engineering has other similar majors worth exploring.

Majors Similar to IE

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.

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