Minnesota·Architecture and Engineering Occupations·SOC 17-3019

Best Drafter, All Other programs in Minnesota, ranked by enrollment

All drafters not listed.

9 schools in Minnesota run programs that feed this job, graduating 187 people a year. The job pays a median of $63,220 in Minnesota across about 170 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledTracerDetailerDraughtsmanJob CaptainHull DrafterChief DrafterForm DesignerDetail Drafter
Graduates / yr
187
in Minnesota
Median pay · Minnesota
$63,220
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
170
people employed
Schools
9
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
43%
across those schools
Median net price
$25,132
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Minnesota that lead to this job

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

3 programs in Minnesota that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Minnesota (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 Minnesota page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 15.1302In Minnesota
153
81.8%
7$44,946$12,992
2
CIP 15.1102In Minnesota
25
13.4%
3$59,013
3
CIP 15.1301In Minnesota
9
4.8%
1$44,946$12,992

Top 9 schools in Minnesota

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 2 of the 9 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Minnesota State College Southeast
Winona, MN Public · 2 feeder programs
59CAD/CADD Drafting and/or Design Technology/Technician47%
2Hennepin Technical College
Brooklyn Park, MN Public · 1 feeder programs
51CAD/CADD Drafting and/or Design Technology/Technician$49,53942%
3Ridgewater College
Willmar, MN Public · 1 feeder programs
28CAD/CADD Drafting and/or Design Technology/Technician50%
4Saint Cloud State University
Saint Cloud, MN Public · 1 feeder programs
17Surveying Technology/Surveying40%95%
5Dunwoody College of Technology
Minneapolis, MN Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
16CAD/CADD Drafting and/or Design Technology/Technician$55,51266%$25,13299%
6Century College
White Bear Lake, MN Public · 1 feeder programs
7CAD/CADD Drafting and/or Design Technology/Technician31%
7Lake Superior College
Duluth, MN Public · 1 feeder programs
5CAD/CADD Drafting and/or Design Technology/Technician42%
8Minnesota North College
Hibbing, MN Public · 1 feeder programs
2Surveying Technology/Surveying42%
9Rochester Community and Technical College
Rochester, MN Public · 1 feeder programs
2CAD/CADD Drafting and/or Design Technology/Technician29%

All 9 schools in Minnesota

Every school in Minnesota 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 Minnesota that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Minnesota State College SoutheastWinonaPublic592
Hennepin Technical CollegeBrooklyn ParkPublic511
Ridgewater CollegeWillmarPublic281
Saint Cloud State UniversitySaint CloudPublic171
Dunwoody College of TechnologyMinneapolisPrivate not-for-profit162
Century CollegeWhite Bear LakePublic71
Lake Superior CollegeDuluthPublic51
Minnesota North CollegeHibbingPublic21
Rochester Community and Technical CollegeRochesterPublic21

What drafters, all other earn in Minnesota

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

Median annual in Minnesota
$63,220
Mean annual
$67,550
Jobs in state
170
What the range looks like
10th pct$49,660Median$63,22090th pct$88,450
Versus the national median
-0.5%

U.S. median $63,520. Minnesota pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.62×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Minnesota

Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
$63,540median
110 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
-6.9%
Decline
Openings per year
1,300
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
-1,200
17,100 → 15,900
Typical entry education
Associate'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 Drafters, All Other page.

How to become a Drafter, All Other

Typical entry education
Associate's degree

The same job in other states

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

Related careers in Minnesota

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 5 majors mapped to Drafters, All Other5 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 15.1102Surveying Technology/Surveying
  • 15.1301Drafting and Design Technology/Technician, General
  • 15.1302CAD/CADD Drafting and/or Design Technology/Technician
  • 15.13073-D Modeling and Design Technology/Technician
  • 15.1399Drafting/Design Engineering Technologies/Technicians, Other

Common questions

Answers for people weighing drafters, all other programs in Minnesota.

What degree do you need to become a Drafter, All Other?+

Associate's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is CAD/CADD Drafting and/or Design Technology/Technician, which awarded 153 degrees in Minnesota in 2024-25, 81.8% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Drafter, All Other?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Drafting/Design Engineering Technologies/Technicians, Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians. Together they graduate about 187 people a year in Minnesota.

How much do drafters, all other earn in Minnesota?+

The median is $63,220 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 0.5% below the U.S. median of $63,520. 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 drafters, all other growing?+

BLS projects a -6.9% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 1,300 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

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

9 institutions in Minnesota 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.

Do you need training or experience beyond a degree?+

BLS lists 'None' for related work experience and 'None' for on-the-job training typically needed to reach competency.

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

All Clema data sources and release dates →

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