Best programs to become an industrial engineer in Iowa
4 Iowa schools offer programs that train industrial engineers, graduating 208 people a year. Industrial engineers in Iowa earn a median of $97,690 across about 3,600 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
BLS lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education for industrial engineers. The fields of study that lead most directly to this job in Iowa are Industrial Engineering and Engineering/Industrial Management (IPEDS completions).
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.
4 programs in Iowa that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Iowa (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 Iowa page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Industrial Engineeringmain feeder CIP 14.3501In Iowa → | 126 | 60.6% | 3 | $74,748 | $24,989 |
| 2 | Engineering/Industrial Managementmain feeder CIP 15.1501In Iowa → | 80 | 38.5% | 2 | $68,912 | $25,236 |
| 3 | Systems Engineeringmain feeder CIP 14.2701In Iowa → | 1 | 0.5% | 1 | $79,942 | $20,500 |
| 4 | Manufacturing Engineeringmain feeder CIP 14.3601In Iowa → | 1 | 0.5% | 1 | $72,154 | $21,457 |
Top 4 schools in Iowa
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 2 of the 4 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iowa State University Ames, IA Public · 4 feeder programs | 162 | Industrial Engineering | $74,310 | 75% | — | 89% |
| 2 | University of Iowa Iowa City, IA Public · 1 feeder program | 34 | Industrial Engineering | $75,699 | 75% | — | 84% |
| 3 | Saint Ambrose University Davenport, IA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder program | 9 | Industrial Engineering | — | 61% | $21,680 | 77% |
| 4 | William Penn University Oskaloosa, IA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder program | 3 | Engineering/Industrial Management | — | 33% | $21,533 | 52% |
All 4 schools in Iowa
Every school in Iowa 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iowa State University | Ames | Public | 162 | 4 |
| University of Iowa | Iowa City | Public | 34 | 1 |
| Saint Ambrose University | Davenport | Private not-for-profit | 9 | 1 |
| William Penn University | Oskaloosa | Private not-for-profit | 3 | 1 |
Fields of study in Iowa that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
What industrial engineers earn in Iowa
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $102,440. Iowa pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Iowa
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 and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Industrial Engineers page.
How to become an industrial engineer
- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Iowa
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 Iowa.
What degree do you need to become an industrial engineer?+
BLS lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education for industrial engineers. The fields of study that lead most directly to this job in Iowa are Industrial Engineering and Engineering/Industrial Management (IPEDS completions).
Which college majors lead to becoming an industrial engineer?+
The fields of study that lead most directly to this job in Iowa are Industrial Engineering and Engineering/Industrial Management (IPEDS completions). In all, 4 feeder programs graduate about 208 people a year in Iowa (IPEDS completions).
How much do industrial engineers earn in Iowa?+
The median is $97,690 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 4.6% below 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 Iowa?+
4 institutions in Iowa reported graduates from at least one of the 4 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 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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