Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Industrial Engineering

Schools ranked by payback period — how quickly you recoup your investment through higher earnings.

50

Schools Ranked

$67,098

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

4,576

Graduates

How we calculate value: Payback = (4 years of net price) / (major earnings - $35k baseline). A 2-year payback means you recoup your investment in 2 years through higher earnings vs. not attending college.

#	School	Net Price/yr	Major Earnings	Payback
1	Northwestern University Evanston, IL · Private	$5,849	$79,849	<1 yr
2	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$82,440	<1 yr
3	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$82,440	<1 yr
4	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$82,440	<1 yr
5	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$77,235	1 yrs
6	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN · Public	$8,450	$70,057	1 yrs
7	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public	$10,364	$72,895	1.1 yrs
8	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$66,189	1.1 yrs
9	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public	$11,505	$75,775	1.1 yrs
10	University of Connecticut-Stamford Stamford, CT · Public	$15,152	$82,440	1.3 yrs
11	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH · Public	$13,273	$75,667	1.3 yrs
12	Wayne State University Detroit, MI · Public	$13,612	$77,401	1.3 yrs
13	Florida State University Tallahassee, FL · Public	$11,506	$71,643	1.3 yrs
14	University of Houston Houston, TX · Public	$13,382	$73,530	1.4 yrs
15	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Atlanta, GA · Public	$15,415	$76,283	1.5 yrs
16	Youngstown State University Youngstown, OH · Public	$13,754	$71,957	1.5 yrs
17	University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia, MO · Public	$13,715	$69,338	1.6 yrs
18	North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC · Public	$14,424	$70,253	1.6 yrs
19	West Virginia University Morgantown, WV · Public	$13,077	$68,047	1.6 yrs
20	North Carolina A & T State University Greensboro, NC · Public	$12,647	$66,541	1.6 yrs
21	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN · Public	$12,911	$67,846	1.6 yrs
22	University of Connecticut Storrs, CT · Public	$20,344	$82,440	1.7 yrs
23	Texas State University San Marcos, TX · Public	$12,996	$65,557	1.7 yrs
24	University of South Florida Tampa, FL · Public	$9,669	$57,318	1.7 yrs
25	University of Wisconsin-Platteville Platteville, WI · Public	$13,699	$66,701	1.7 yrs
26	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$73,562	1.8 yrs
27	SUNY Maritime College Throggs Neck, NY · Public	$19,992	$79,081	1.8 yrs
28	University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR · Public	$16,256	$71,854	1.8 yrs
29	Iowa State University Ames, IA · Public	$14,641	$68,101	1.8 yrs
30	University of Central Florida Orlando, FL · Public	$9,426	$55,964	1.8 yrs
31	Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA · Private	$19,026	$75,623	1.9 yrs
32	Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX · Public	$15,248	$66,821	1.9 yrs
33	University of Massachusetts-Amherst Amherst, MA · Public	$16,667	$69,338	1.9 yrs
34	The University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, TX · Public	$15,458	$67,202	1.9 yrs
35	Kansas State University Manhattan, KS · Public	$16,868	$70,456	1.9 yrs
36	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ · Public	$15,561	$66,821	2 yrs
37	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona Pomona, CA · Public	$15,958	$67,287	2 yrs
38	University of Iowa Iowa City, IA · Public	$18,026	$71,351	2 yrs
39	Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Baton Rouge, LA · Public	$19,623	$73,949	2 yrs
40	Northern Illinois University Dekalb, IL · Public	$13,778	$62,409	2 yrs
41	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA · Public	$18,372	$70,628	2.1 yrs
42	University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA · Private	$22,826	$78,029	2.1 yrs
43	Mississippi State University Mississippi State, MS · Public	$18,449	$69,710	2.1 yrs
44	Morgan State University Baltimore, MD · Public	$18,305	$69,338	2.1 yrs
45	Wichita State University Wichita, KS · Public	$14,581	$63,005	2.1 yrs
46	Texas A&M University-College Station College Station, TX · Public	$17,525	$67,571	2.2 yrs
47	Northeastern University Boston, MA · Private	$18,389	$66,541	2.3 yrs
48	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Erie-Behrend College Erie, PA · Public	$21,255	$71,286	2.3 yrs
49	University of Illinois Chicago Chicago, IL · Public	$14,105	$59,576	2.3 yrs
50	Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, MI · Public	$20,840	$69,338	2.4 yrs

Top Earners in Industrial Engineering

See schools ranked by earnings alone, without considering cost.

Best Value Rankings

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Payback uses earnings by major from the College Scorecard's field-of-study file, last updated June 2026, against net price from the June 2026 release. Scorecard publishes the two separately, so they are different vintages.