Connecticut·Architecture and Engineering Occupations·SOC 17-2112

Best Industrial Engineer programs in Connecticut, ranked by enrollment

Design, develop, test, and evaluate integrated systems for managing industrial production processes, including human work factors, quality control, inventory control, logistics and material flow, cost analysis, and production.

7 schools in Connecticut run programs that feed this job, graduating 202 people a year. The job pays a median of $104,160 in Connecticut across about 6,020 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledEngineerErgonomistPlant EngineerProcess EngineerProject EngineerQuality EngineerIndustrial EngineerHuman Factors Engineer
Graduates / yr
202
in Connecticut
Median pay · Connecticut
$104,160
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
6,020
people employed
Schools
7
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
70%
across those schools
Median net price
$32,614
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Connecticut that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

3 programs in Connecticut that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Connecticut (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 Connecticut page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1110
54.5%
5$68,912$25,236
290
44.6%
4$74,748$24,989
32
1.0%
1$72,154$21,457

Top 7 schools in Connecticut

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 1 of the 7 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1University of New Haven
West Haven, CT Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
81Engineering/Industrial Management63%$32,61460%
2Quinnipiac University
Hamden, CT Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
41Industrial Engineering76%$36,13772%
3University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT Public · 2 feeder programs
31Industrial Engineering$77,69283%52%
4University of Bridgeport
Bridgeport, CT Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
27Engineering/Industrial Management41%$25,14983%
5Central Connecticut State University
New Britain, CT Public · 1 feeder programs
14Engineering/Industrial Management48%73%
6Fairfield University
Fairfield, CT Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
5Industrial Engineering84%$36,84533%
7Yale University
New Haven, CT Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
3Engineering/Industrial Management96%$27,0254%

All 7 schools in Connecticut

Every school in Connecticut 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.

All schools in Connecticut that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
University of New HavenWest HavenPrivate not-for-profit812
Quinnipiac UniversityHamdenPrivate not-for-profit412
University of ConnecticutStorrsPublic312
University of BridgeportBridgeportPrivate not-for-profit271
Central Connecticut State UniversityNew BritainPublic141
Fairfield UniversityFairfieldPrivate not-for-profit51
Yale UniversityNew HavenPrivate not-for-profit31

What industrial engineers earn in Connecticut

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Connecticut
$104,160
Mean annual
$109,190
Jobs in state
6,020
What the range looks like
10th pct$77,810Median$104,16090th pct$141,540
Versus the national median
+1.7%

U.S. median $102,440. Connecticut pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
1.51×

Concentrated here: Connecticut employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in Connecticut

Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT
$123,540median
1,210 jobs
Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT
$115,870median
360 jobs
New Haven, CT
$103,070median
740 jobs
Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT
$103,790median
2,830 jobs
Waterbury-Shelton, CT
$99,500median
470 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+11.0%
Much faster than average
Openings per year
25,200
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
38,500
351,100 → 389,600
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

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 Industrial Engineers page.

How to become a Industrial Engineer

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

Reading ComprehensionActive ListeningSpeakingCritical ThinkingWritingMonitoring

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Connecticut

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 5 majors mapped to Industrial Engineers5 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 14.2701Systems Engineering
  • 14.3501Industrial Engineering
  • 14.3601Manufacturing Engineering
  • 15.1501Engineering/Industrial Management
  • 15.1503Packaging Science

Common questions

Answers for people weighing industrial engineers programs in Connecticut.

What degree do you need to become an Industrial Engineer?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Engineering/Industrial Management, which awarded 110 degrees in Connecticut in 2024-25, 54.5% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming an Industrial Engineer?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Engineering-Related Fields, Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering. Together they graduate about 202 people a year in Connecticut.

How much do industrial engineers earn in Connecticut?+

The median is $104,160 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 1.7% above the U.S. median of $102,440. 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 industrial engineers growing?+

BLS projects a +11.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 25,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Connecticut?+

7 institutions in Connecticut reported graduates from at least one of the 3 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 industrial engineers work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Engineer, Ergonomist, Plant Engineer, Process Engineer, Project Engineer, Quality Engineer among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 17-2112.

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 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected 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 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, 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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