Best Engineering Technologist programs in California, ranked by enrollment
All engineering technologists and technicians, except drafters, not listed.
74 schools in California run programs that feed this job, graduating 2,403 people a year. The job pays a median of $80,480 in California across about 7,330 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in California that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
16 programs in California that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in California (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own California page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 15.0501In California → | 1,310 | 54.5% | 30 | $36,407 | $10,250 |
| 2 | CIP 15.0401In California → | 655 | 27.3% | 31 | $60,286 | $15,383 |
| 3 | CIP 15.1202In California → | 157 | 6.5% | 2 | $48,829 | $21,696 |
| 4 | CIP 15.1701In California → | 106 | 4.4% | 12 | $63,554 | $17,750 |
| 5 | CIP 15.0614In California → | 59 | 2.5% | 1 | $57,188 | $22,000 |
| 6 | Undersea Warfaremain feeder CIP 29.0307In California → | 32 | 1.3% | 1 | — | — |
| 7 | CIP 15.0806In California → | 18 | 0.7% | 1 | $61,021 | $24,436 |
| 8 | CIP 15.0304In California → | 17 | 0.7% | 2 | $59,859 | $15,372 |
| 9 | CIP 15.0617In California → | 15 | 0.6% | 1 | $57,188 | $22,000 |
| 10 | CIP 15.1503In California → | 15 | 0.6% | 2 | $68,912 | $25,236 |
| 11 | CIP 15.1204In California → | 6 | 0.2% | 3 | $48,829 | $21,696 |
| 12 | CIP 15.1201In California → | 4 | 0.2% | 1 | $48,829 | $21,696 |
| 13 | CIP 15.0101In California → | 3 | 0.1% | 1 | $50,625 | $21,717 |
| 14 | CIP 15.0607In California → | 3 | 0.1% | 1 | $57,188 | $22,000 |
| 15 | Engineering Acousticsmain feeder CIP 29.0303In California → | 2 | 0.1% | 1 | — | — |
| 16 | CIP 15.1703In California → | 1 | 0.0% | 1 | $63,554 | $17,750 |
Top 25 schools in California
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 7 of the 74 schools in this state.
All 74 schools in California
Every school in California with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California Institute of Arts & Technology | National City | Private for-profit | 153 | 2 |
| Riverside City College | Riverside | Public | 144 | 1 |
| Los Angeles Trade Technical College | Los Angeles | Public | 129 | 3 |
| Foothill College | Los Altos Hills | Public | 126 | 2 |
| Solano Community College | Fairfield | Public | 106 | 1 |
| El Camino Community College District | Torrance | Public | 91 | 1 |
| Summit College | San Bernardino | Private for-profit | 88 | 1 |
| Orange Coast College | Costa Mesa | Public | 87 | 1 |
| College of the Desert | Palm Desert | Public | 79 | 2 |
| San Jose City College | San Jose | Public | 74 | 2 |
| Cypress College | Cypress | Public | 70 | 1 |
| MiraCosta College | Oceanside | Public | 67 | 1 |
| Butte College | Oroville | Public | 60 | 1 |
| Mt San Antonio College | Walnut | Public | 60 | 2 |
| Escondido Adult School | Escondido | Public | 59 | 1 |
What engineering technologists and technicians earn in California
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $78,350. California pays above the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in California
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Engineering Technologists and Technicians page.
How to become a Engineering Technologist
Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0- Typical entry education
- Associate's degree
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in California
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 25 majors mapped to Engineering Technologists and Technicians25 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 15.0001Applied Engineering Technologies/Technicians
- 15.0101Architectural Engineering Technologies/Technicians
- 15.0304Laser and Optical Technology/Technician
- 15.0307Audio Engineering Technology/Technician
- 15.0401Biomedical Technology/Technician
- 15.0501Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician
- 15.0599Environmental Control Technologies/Technicians, Other
- 15.0607Plastics and Polymer Engineering Technology/Technician
- 15.0611Metallurgical Technology/Technician
- 15.0614Welding Engineering Technology/Technician
- 15.0615Chemical Engineering Technology/Technician
- 15.0617Composite Materials Technology/Technician
- 15.0806Marine Engineering Technology/Technician
- 15.0807Motorsports Engineering Technology/Technician
- 15.0901Mining Technology/Technician
- 15.1103Hydraulics and Fluid Power Technology/Technician
- 15.1201Computer Engineering Technology/Technician
- 15.1202Computer/Computer Systems Technology/Technician
- 15.1203Computer Hardware Technology/Technician
- 15.1204Computer Software Technology/Technician
- 15.1299Computer Engineering Technologies/Technicians, Other
- 15.1401Nuclear Engineering Technology/Technician
- 15.1503Packaging Science
- 15.1701Energy Systems Technology/Technician
- 15.1702Power Plant Technology/Technician
Common questions
Answers for people weighing engineering technologists and technicians programs in California.
What degree do you need to become an Engineering Technologist?+
Associate's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician, which awarded 1,310 degrees in California in 2024-25, 54.5% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Engineering Technologist?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 16 programs to this occupation. The largest are Environmental Control Technologies/Technicians, Electromechanical Technologies/Technicians, Computer Engineering Technologies/Technicians, Energy Systems Technologies/Technicians, plus 6 more. Together they graduate about 2,403 people a year in California.
How much do engineering technologists and technicians earn in California?+
The median is $80,480 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 2.7% above the U.S. median of $78,350. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for engineering technologists and technicians growing?+
BLS projects a +1.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 5,700 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in California?+
74 institutions in California reported graduates from at least one of the 16 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do engineering technologists and technicians work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Fiber Optics Instructor, Laser Technician (Laser Tech), Optics Technician (Optics Tech), Photonics Technician (Photonics Tech), NDT Specialist (Non-Destructive Testing Specialist), NDT Technician (Non-Destructive Testing Technician) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 17-3029.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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