Best Architectural programs in Illinois, ranked by enrollment
Plan, direct, or coordinate activities in such fields as architecture and engineering or research and development in these.
59 schools in Illinois run programs that feed this job, graduating 7,981 people a year. The job pays a median of $163,610 in Illinois across about 8,900 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Illinois that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
37 programs in Illinois that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Illinois (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 Illinois page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 14.1901In Illinois → | 1,233 | 15.4% | 12 | $70,724 | $24,833 |
| 2 | CIP 14.1001In Illinois → | 988 | 12.4% | 12 | $77,636 | $25,000 |
| 3 | CIP 14.0801In Illinois → | 729 | 9.1% | 8 | $69,574 | $24,625 |
| 4 | CIP 14.0901In Illinois → | 682 | 8.5% | 10 | $78,333 | $24,098 |
| 5 | CIP 14.0101In Illinois → | 626 | 7.8% | 40 | $67,734 | $24,375 |
| 6 | CIP 14.0501In Illinois → | 446 | 5.6% | 8 | $64,660 | $23,246 |
| 7 | CIP 14.3501In Illinois → | 366 | 4.6% | 6 | $74,748 | $24,989 |
| 8 | CIP 04.0902In Illinois → | 339 | 4.2% | 3 | $48,514 | $27,000 |
| 9 | CIP 15.1501In Illinois → | 302 | 3.8% | 6 | $68,912 | $25,236 |
| 10 | CIP 14.0701In Illinois → | 288 | 3.6% | 4 | $73,072 | $23,399 |
| 11 | CIP 14.0201In Illinois → | 260 | 3.3% | 2 | $72,210 | $25,000 |
| 12 | CIP 14.0903In Illinois → | 245 | 3.1% | 5 | $78,333 | $24,098 |
| 13 | CIP 04.0201In Illinois → | 210 | 2.6% | 3 | $47,542 | $27,000 |
| 14 | CIP 14.1801In Illinois → | 194 | 2.4% | 4 | $74,110 | $23,250 |
| 15 | CIP 14.0702In Illinois → | 136 | 1.7% | 1 | $73,072 | $23,399 |
| 16 | CIP 14.1201In Illinois → | 125 | 1.6% | 6 | $57,457 | $24,706 |
| 17 | CIP 14.9999In Illinois → | 125 | 1.6% | 4 | $73,678 | $22,938 |
| 18 | CIP 14.3301In Illinois → | 102 | 1.3% | 3 | $75,998 | $25,314 |
| 19 | CIP 14.0301In Illinois → | 96 | 1.2% | 1 | $65,020 | $23,000 |
| 20 | CIP 14.2701In Illinois → | 80 | 1.0% | 2 | $79,942 | $20,500 |
| 21 | CIP 14.4201In Illinois → | 78 | 1.0% | 5 | $72,645 | $24,250 |
| 22 | CIP 14.1401In Illinois → | 49 | 0.6% | 5 | $64,608 | $23,250 |
| 23 | CIP 14.3601In Illinois → | 49 | 0.6% | 3 | $72,154 | $21,457 |
| 24 | CIP 14.2301In Illinois → | 42 | 0.5% | 1 | $73,724 | $23,250 |
| 25 | CIP 14.0999In Illinois → | 35 | 0.4% | 1 | $78,333 | $24,098 |
| 26 | CIP 14.1101In Illinois → | 30 | 0.4% | 2 | $77,174 | $26,966 |
| 27 | Architectural Engineeringmain feeder CIP 14.0401In Illinois → | 29 | 0.4% | 1 | $73,510 | $25,790 |
| 28 | CIP 04.0601In Illinois → | 29 | 0.4% | 1 | $53,098 | $27,000 |
| 29 | CIP 14.4701In Illinois → | 28 | 0.4% | 2 | — | — |
| 30 | CIP 14.0804In Illinois → | 10 | 0.1% | 1 | $69,574 | $24,625 |
| 31 | CIP 14.0902In Illinois → | 10 | 0.1% | 1 | $78,333 | $24,098 |
| 32 | CIP 14.0803In Illinois → | 9 | 0.1% | 1 | $69,574 | $24,625 |
| 33 | CIP 14.1301In Illinois → | 5 | 0.1% | 2 | $73,378 | $17,083 |
| 34 | CIP 14.4501In Illinois → | 2 | 0.0% | 1 | $59,620 | $23,012 |
| 35 | CIP 15.1502In Illinois → | 2 | 0.0% | 1 | $68,912 | $25,236 |
| 36 | CIP 04.0401In Illinois → | 1 | 0.0% | 1 | $40,176 | $22,844 |
| 37 | CIP 14.0899In Illinois → | 1 | 0.0% | 1 | $69,574 | $24,625 |
Top 25 schools in Illinois
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 11 of the 59 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign Champaign, IL Public · 19 feeder programs | 3,209 | Electrical and Electronics Engineering | $86,483 | 85% | — | 42% |
| 2 | Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 23 feeder programs | 929 | Architectural and Building Sciences/Technology | $37,948 | 75% | $19,899 | 55% |
| 3 | Northwestern University Evanston, IL Private not-for-profit · 17 feeder programs | 925 | Mechanical Engineering | $75,253 | 95% | $14,799 | 8% |
| 4 | University of Illinois Chicago Chicago, IL Public · 15 feeder programs | 875 | Mechanical Engineering | $69,871 | 62% | — | 77% |
| 5 | Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Edwardsville, IL Public · 7 feeder programs | 300 | Civil Engineering, General | $67,260 | 57% | — | 97% |
| 6 | Northern Illinois University Dekalb, IL Public · 5 feeder programs | 231 | Mechanical Engineering | $68,069 | 49% | — | 70% |
| 7 | Southern Illinois University - Carbondale Carbondale, IL Public · 7 feeder programs | 197 | Architecture | $43,248 | 62% | — | 87% |
| 8 | Bradley University Peoria, IL Private not-for-profit · 8 feeder programs | 195 | Mechanical Engineering | $71,746 | 76% | $21,768 | 77% |
| 9 | DeVry University - Illinois Lisle, IL Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 171 | Computer Software Engineering | — | 37% | $32,381 | 98% |
| 10 | University of Chicago Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 155 | Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering | — | 96% | $13,333 | 4% |
| 11 | City Colleges of Chicago - Wilbur Wright College Chicago, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 100 | Engineering, General | — | 31% | — | — |
| 12 | William Rainey Harper College Palatine, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 90 | Engineering, General | — | 48% | — | — |
| 13 | Loyola University Chicago Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 49 | Computer Software Engineering | $68,020 | 73% | $33,454 | 82% |
| 14 | Rock Valley College Rockford, IL Public · 2 feeder programs | 44 | Mechatronics, Robotics, and Automation Engineering | — | 37% | — | — |
| 15 | Judson University Elgin, IL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 40 | Architecture | $41,033 | 60% | $25,200 | 48% |
| 16 | Moraine Valley Community College Palos Hills, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 39 | Engineering, General | — | 40% | — | — |
| 17 | Elgin Community College Elgin, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 37 | Engineering, General | — | 41% | — | — |
| 18 | Olivet Nazarene University Bourbonnais, IL Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 33 | Engineering, General | $66,394 | 61% | $20,903 | 56% |
| 19 | Illinois Central College East Peoria, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 26 | Engineering, General | — | 49% | — | — |
| 20 | College of DuPage Glen Ellyn, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 25 | Engineering, General | — | 25% | — | — |
| 21 | College of Lake County Grayslake, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 25 | Engineering, General | — | 37% | — | — |
| 22 | North Central College Naperville, IL Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 24 | Mechanical Engineering | — | 64% | $20,052 | 77% |
| 23 | DePaul University Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 22 | Computer Software Engineering | — | 68% | $28,141 | 76% |
| 24 | City Colleges of Chicago - Richard J Daley College Chicago, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 21 | Engineering, General | — | 27% | — | — |
| 25 | McHenry County College Crystal Lake, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 18 | Engineering, General | — | 37% | — | — |
All 59 schools in Illinois
Every school in Illinois 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign | Champaign | Public | 3,209 | 19 |
| Illinois Institute of Technology | Chicago | Private not-for-profit | 929 | 23 |
| Northwestern University | Evanston | Private not-for-profit | 925 | 17 |
| University of Illinois Chicago | Chicago | Public | 875 | 15 |
| Southern Illinois University Edwardsville | Edwardsville | Public | 300 | 7 |
| Northern Illinois University | Dekalb | Public | 231 | 5 |
| Southern Illinois University - Carbondale | Carbondale | Public | 197 | 7 |
| Bradley University | Peoria | Private not-for-profit | 195 | 8 |
| DeVry University - Illinois | Lisle | Private for-profit | 171 | 1 |
| University of Chicago | Chicago | Private not-for-profit | 155 | 2 |
| City Colleges of Chicago - Wilbur Wright College | Chicago | Public | 100 | 1 |
| William Rainey Harper College | Palatine | Public | 90 | 1 |
| Loyola University Chicago | Chicago | Private not-for-profit | 49 | 4 |
| Rock Valley College | Rockford | Public | 44 | 2 |
| Judson University | Elgin | Private not-for-profit | 40 | 1 |
What architectural and engineering managers earn in Illinois
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $171,270. Illinois pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Illinois
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 Architectural and Engineering Managers page.
How to become a Architectural
Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
- Work experience needed
- 5 years or more
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or 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 Illinois
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 25 majors mapped to Architectural and Engineering Managers25 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 04.0201Architecture
- 04.0202Architectural Design
- 04.0301City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning
- 04.0401Environmental Design/Architecture
- 04.0402Healthcare Environment Design/Architecture
- 04.0501Interior Architecture
- 04.0601Landscape Architecture
- 04.0902Architectural and Building Sciences/Technology
- 14.0101Engineering, General
- 14.0201Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering, General
- 14.0202Astronautical Engineering
- 14.0299Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering, Other
- 14.0301Agricultural Engineering
- 14.0401Architectural Engineering
- 14.0501Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering
- 14.0601Ceramic Sciences and Engineering
- 14.0701Chemical Engineering
- 14.0702Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- 14.0799Chemical Engineering, Other
- 14.0801Civil Engineering, General
- 14.0802Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
- 14.0803Structural Engineering
- 14.0804Transportation and Highway Engineering
- 14.0805Water Resources Engineering
- 14.0899Civil Engineering, Other
Common questions
Answers for people weighing architectural and engineering managers programs in Illinois.
What degree do you need to become an Architectural?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Mechanical Engineering, which awarded 1,233 degrees in Illinois in 2024-25, 15.4% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Architectural?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 37 programs to this occupation. The largest are Mechanical Engineering, Electrical, Computer Engineering, Civil Engineering, plus 25 more. Together they graduate about 7,981 people a year in Illinois.
How much do architectural and engineering managers earn in Illinois?+
The median is $163,610 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 4.5% below the U.S. median of $171,270. 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 architectural and engineering managers growing?+
BLS projects a +3.8% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 14,500 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Illinois?+
59 institutions in Illinois reported graduates from at least one of the 37 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 architectural and engineering managers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Project Manager, Engineering Director, Biodiesel Division Manager, Engineering Program Manager, Project Engineering Manager, Project Development Director among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 11-9041.
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
Explore every U.S. college in one conversation
Clema turns plain-language questions into sourced answers across every U.S. institution — earnings, aid, acceptance, graduation, safety, and athletics from IPEDS, College Scorecard, and 10+ federal datasets, built in.
Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card