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2025 Best Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois

10 Colleges in Illinois
3,855 Bachelor's Degrees
$70,871 Avg Early-Career Salary
If you plan on getting your bachelor's degree in engineering, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #6 in the country in terms of popularity. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 10 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 3,855 bachelor's degrees in engineering during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

Choosing a Great Engineering School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Best Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois Your choice of engineering for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality engineering program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a good 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 combination of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

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

More Ways to Rank Engineering Schools

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Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Engineering in Illinois

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in engineering.

10 Top Illinois Schools for a Bachelor's in Engineering

1
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
319 Annual Graduates

Northwestern University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in engineering. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in engineering from Northwestern University

2
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1,818 Annual Graduates

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in engineering. UIUC is a fairly large public university located in the city of Champaign.More information about a bachelor’s in engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

3
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
558 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in engineering needs to check out University of Illinois at Chicago. Located in the large city of Chicago, UIC is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in engineering from University of Illinois at Chicago

4
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
273 Annual Graduates

Illinois Institute of Technology is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in engineering. Illinois Tech is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Chicago.More information about a bachelor’s in engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology

5
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
182 Annual Graduates

Bradley is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Peoria.More information about a bachelor’s in engineering from Bradley University

6
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
168 Annual Graduates

Located in the small suburb of Dekalb, NIU is a public university with a large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in engineering from Northern Illinois University

7
31 Annual Graduates

Olivet Nazarene is a small private not-for-profit university located in the small suburb of Bourbonnais.More information about a bachelor’s in engineering from Olivet Nazarene University

8
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
51 Annual Graduates

Loyola Chicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago.More information about a bachelor’s in engineering from Loyola University Chicago

9
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
179 Annual Graduates

SIUE is a large public university located in the large suburb of Edwardsville.More information about a bachelor’s in engineering from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

10
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
90 Annual Graduates

Located in the distant town of Carbondale, SIUC is a public university with a large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in engineering from Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Best Engineering Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

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

State Colleges Degrees Awarded
Michigan 35 5,354
Ohio 34 6,088
Indiana 33 3,730
Wisconsin 31 2,633

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Engineering Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Mechanical Engineering 838
Computer Engineering 626
Civil Engineering 449
Electrical Engineering 432
Chemical Engineering 276
Biomedical Engineering 258
Industrial Engineering 211
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering 165
Materials Engineering 111
Engineering Physics 107

Related Major Annual Graduates
Biological & Biomedical Sciences 3,619
Mathematics & Statistics 1,375
Physical Sciences 996
Agriculture & Agriculture Operations 835
Natural Resources & Conservation 557
Engineering Technologies 493
Architecture & Related Services 311
Military Technologies & Applied Sciences 5

Notes and References

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