Best Engineering Technologist programs in Illinois, ranked by enrollment
All engineering technologists and technicians, except drafters, not listed.
24 schools in Illinois run programs that feed this job, graduating 653 people a year. The job pays a median of $79,800 in Illinois across about 940 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.
14 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 15.0501In Illinois → | 259 | 39.7% | 1 | $36,407 | $10,250 |
| 2 | CIP 15.1202In Illinois → | 150 | 23.0% | 9 | $48,829 | $21,696 |
| 3 | CIP 15.1201In Illinois → | 92 | 14.1% | 3 | $48,829 | $21,696 |
| 4 | CIP 15.0901In Illinois → | 57 | 8.7% | 1 | $59,357 | $18,848 |
| 5 | CIP 15.1701In Illinois → | 25 | 3.8% | 5 | $63,554 | $17,750 |
| 6 | CIP 15.0614In Illinois → | 18 | 2.8% | 2 | $57,188 | $22,000 |
| 7 | CIP 15.0101In Illinois → | 15 | 2.3% | 1 | $50,625 | $21,717 |
| 8 | CIP 15.1703In Illinois → | 12 | 1.8% | 3 | $63,554 | $17,750 |
| 9 | CIP 15.0401In Illinois → | 10 | 1.5% | 2 | $60,286 | $15,383 |
| 10 | CIP 15.1203In Illinois → | 9 | 1.4% | 1 | $48,829 | $21,696 |
| 11 | CIP 15.1299In Illinois → | 2 | 0.3% | 1 | $48,829 | $21,696 |
| 12 | CIP 15.1704In Illinois → | 2 | 0.3% | 1 | $63,554 | $17,750 |
| 13 | CIP 15.0307In Illinois → | 1 | 0.2% | 1 | $59,859 | $15,372 |
| 14 | CIP 15.1204In Illinois → | 1 | 0.2% | 1 | $48,829 | $21,696 |
Top 24 schools in Illinois
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 3 of the 24 schools in this state.
All 24 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midwest Technical Institute - Illinois | Springfield | Private for-profit | 259 | 1 |
| Moraine Valley Community College | Palos Hills | Public | 74 | 1 |
| Illinois Eastern Community Colleges | Olney | Public | 57 | 1 |
| William Rainey Harper College | Palatine | Public | 46 | 1 |
| Triton College | River Grove | Public | 41 | 3 |
| Lincoln Land Community College | Springfield | Public | 35 | 1 |
| Rend Lake College | Ina | Public | 22 | 3 |
| College of DuPage | Glen Ellyn | Public | 19 | 2 |
| City Colleges of Chicago - Richard J Daley College | Chicago | Public | 16 | 1 |
| DeVry University - Illinois | Lisle | Private for-profit | 12 | 1 |
| Heartland Community College | Normal | Public | 11 | 1 |
| McHenry County College | Crystal Lake | Public | 11 | 1 |
| Illinois State University | Normal | Public | 9 | 1 |
| Sauk Valley Community College | Dixon | Public | 9 | 1 |
| Oakton College | Des Plaines | Public | 7 | 3 |
What engineering technologists and technicians earn in Illinois
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $78,350. Illinois pays above 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 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 Illinois
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 Illinois.
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 259 degrees in Illinois in 2024-25, 39.7% 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 14 programs to this occupation. The largest are Environmental Control Technologies/Technicians, Computer Engineering Technologies/Technicians, Mining and Petroleum Technologies/Technicians, Energy Systems Technologies/Technicians, plus 4 more. Together they graduate about 653 people a year in Illinois.
How much do engineering technologists and technicians earn in Illinois?+
The median is $79,800 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 1.9% 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 Illinois?+
24 institutions in Illinois reported graduates from at least one of the 14 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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