Best Cost Estimator programs in New York, ranked by enrollment
Prepare cost estimates for product manufacturing, construction projects, or services to aid management in bidding on or determining price of product or service.
147 schools in New York run programs that feed this job, graduating 18,938 people a year. The job pays a median of $80,430 in New York across about 11,980 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in New York that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
7 programs in New York that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in New York (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 New York page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 52.0201In New York → | 14,340 | 75.7% | 138 | $43,506 | $25,000 |
| 2 | CIP 14.1901In New York → | 2,474 | 13.1% | 25 | $70,724 | $24,833 |
| 3 | CIP 52.0101In New York → | 1,654 | 8.7% | 30 | $44,700 | $24,000 |
| 4 | CIP 15.1001In New York → | 195 | 1.0% | 9 | $72,178 | $22,750 |
| 5 | CIP 14.1801In New York → | 163 | 0.9% | 7 | $74,110 | $23,250 |
| 6 | CIP 14.3301In New York → | 93 | 0.5% | 5 | $75,998 | $25,314 |
| 7 | CIP 14.3601In New York → | 19 | 0.1% | 2 | $72,154 | $21,457 |
Top 25 schools in New York
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 115 of the 147 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY Public · 3 feeder programs | 945 | Business Administration and Management, General | $43,805 | 75% | — | 74% |
| 2 | Cornell University Ithaca, NY Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 874 | Business Administration and Management, General | — | 95% | $17,613 | 9% |
| 3 | Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY Public · 3 feeder programs | 786 | Business Administration and Management, General | $43,329 | 76% | — | 49% |
| 4 | Empire State University Saratoga Springs, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 581 | Business/Commerce, General | $57,225 | 41% | — | — |
| 5 | CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College New York, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 505 | Business Administration and Management, General | $28,526 | 25% | — | — |
| 6 | CUNY Brooklyn College Brooklyn, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 437 | Business Administration and Management, General | $37,057 | 54% | — | 58% |
| 7 | Monroe University Bronx, NY Private for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 434 | Business Administration and Management, General | $24,025 | 57% | $12,028 | 68% |
| 8 | Excelsior University Albany, NY Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 396 | Business Administration and Management, General | $70,191 | — | — | — |
| 9 | CUNY Bernard M Baruch College New York, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 378 | Business Administration and Management, General | $45,758 | 72% | — | 48% |
| 10 | Fordham University Bronx, NY Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 376 | Business Administration and Management, General | $58,341 | 82% | $38,931 | 59% |
| 11 | University at Albany Albany, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 371 | Business Administration and Management, General | $48,605 | 61% | — | 69% |
| 12 | New York University New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 364 | Mechanical Engineering | $64,687 | 88% | $29,023 | 9% |
| 13 | St. John's University - New York Queens, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 355 | Business Administration and Management, General | $38,550 | 66% | $27,359 | 83% |
| 14 | Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY Private not-for-profit · 5 feeder programs | 342 | Mechanical Engineering | $76,263 | 70% | $28,133 | 67% |
| 15 | Suffolk County Community College Selden, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 338 | Business Administration and Management, General | $34,816 | 29% | — | — |
| 16 | Farmingdale State College Farmingdale, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 335 | Business Administration and Management, General | $39,290 | 53% | — | 63% |
| 17 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 299 | Mechanical Engineering | $73,833 | 84% | $28,900 | 63% |
| 18 | Berkeley College - New York New York, NY Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 295 | Business Administration and Management, General | $39,925 | 44% | $29,326 | — |
| 19 | CUNY LaGuardia Community College Long Island City, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 288 | Business Administration and Management, General | $29,953 | 24% | — | — |
| 20 | State University of New York at Oswego Oswego, NY Public · 1 feeder programs | 287 | Business Administration and Management, General | $45,569 | 60% | — | 81% |
| 21 | Marist University Poughkeepsie, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 279 | Business Administration and Management, General | $53,766 | 80% | $33,867 | 57% |
| 22 | Mercy University Dobbs Ferry, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 271 | Business Administration and Management, General | $42,211 | 46% | $17,604 | 86% |
| 23 | College of Staten Island CUNY Staten Island, NY Public · 2 feeder programs | 270 | Business/Commerce, General | $29,736 | 34% | — | 92% |
| 24 | Clarkson University Potsdam, NY Private not-for-profit · 5 feeder programs | 261 | Mechanical Engineering | $73,168 | 75% | $27,281 | 77% |
| 25 | Binghamton University Vestal, NY Public · 3 feeder programs | 259 | Mechanical Engineering | $66,371 | 82% | — | 39% |
All 147 schools in New York
Every school in New York 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 at Buffalo | Buffalo | Public | 945 | 3 |
| Cornell University | Ithaca | Private not-for-profit | 874 | 3 |
| Stony Brook University | Stony Brook | Public | 786 | 3 |
| Empire State University | Saratoga Springs | Public | 581 | 2 |
| CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College | New York | Public | 505 | 1 |
| CUNY Brooklyn College | Brooklyn | Public | 437 | 1 |
| Monroe University | Bronx | Private for-profit | 434 | 2 |
| Excelsior University | Albany | Private not-for-profit | 396 | 2 |
| CUNY Bernard M Baruch College | New York | Public | 378 | 2 |
| Fordham University | Bronx | Private not-for-profit | 376 | 2 |
| University at Albany | Albany | Public | 371 | 1 |
| New York University | New York | Private not-for-profit | 364 | 4 |
| St. John's University - New York | Queens | Private not-for-profit | 355 | 1 |
| Rochester Institute of Technology | Rochester | Private not-for-profit | 342 | 5 |
| Suffolk County Community College | Selden | Public | 338 | 1 |
What cost estimators earn in New York
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $78,740. New York pays above the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in New York
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 Cost Estimators page.
How to become a Cost Estimator
Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
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
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in New York
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 7 majors mapped to Cost Estimators7 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 14.1801Materials Engineering
- 14.1901Mechanical Engineering
- 14.3301Construction Engineering
- 14.3601Manufacturing Engineering
- 15.1001Construction Engineering Technology/Technician
- 52.0101Business/Commerce, General
- 52.0201Business Administration and Management, General
Common questions
Answers for people weighing cost estimators programs in New York.
What degree do you need to become a Cost Estimator?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Business Administration and Management, General, which awarded 14,340 degrees in New York in 2024-25, 75.7% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Cost Estimator?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 7 programs to this occupation. The largest are Business Administration, Mechanical Engineering, Business/Commerce, Construction Engineering Technology/Technician, plus 3 more. Together they graduate about 18,938 people a year in New York.
How much do cost estimators earn in New York?+
The median is $80,430 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 2.1% above the U.S. median of $78,740. 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 cost estimators growing?+
BLS projects a -4.2% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 16,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in New York?+
147 institutions in New York reported graduates from at least one of the 7 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 cost estimators work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Estimator, Cost Analyst, Cost Estimator, Construction Estimator among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 13-1051.
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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