Tennessee·Architecture and Engineering Occupations·SOC 17-3022

Best Civil Engineering Technologist programs in Tennessee, ranked by enrollment

Apply theory and principles of civil engineering in planning, designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance of structures and facilities under the direction of engineering staff or physical.

30 schools in Tennessee run programs that feed this job, graduating 880 people a year. The job pays a median of $57,270 in Tennessee across about 1,650 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledEngineer TechnicianEngineering AssistantEngineering TechnicianCivil Engineering TechnicianCivil DesignerParking AnalystField TechnicianDesign Technician
Graduates / yr
880
in Tennessee
Median pay · Tennessee
$57,270
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
1,650
people employed
Schools
30
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
56%
across those schools
Median net price
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Tennessee that lead to this job

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

5 programs in Tennessee that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Tennessee (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 Tennessee page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 15.0000In Tennessee
524
59.5%
12$59,718$25,375
2
CIP 46.0415In Tennessee
262
29.8%
16$31,641$9,500
3
CIP 15.0101In Tennessee
49
5.6%
3$50,625$21,717
4
CIP 15.0201In Tennessee
28
3.2%
2$58,970$27,000
5
CIP 15.1001In Tennessee
17
1.9%
2$72,178$22,750

Top 25 schools in Tennessee

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 8 of the 30 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Pellissippi State Community College
Knoxville, TN Public · 4 feeder programs
235Engineering Technologies/Technicians, General$77,07231%
2Chattanooga State Community College
Chattanooga, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
58Engineering Technologies/Technicians, General$52,53126%
3Tennessee Technological University
Cookeville, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
52Engineering Technologies/Technicians, General$59,62258%76%
4Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
42Engineering Technologies/Technicians, General$60,80854%69%
5Austin Peay State University
Clarksville, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
38Engineering Technologies/Technicians, General$62,08940%96%
6East Tennessee State University
Johnson City, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
36Engineering Technologies/Technicians, General$56,55153%86%
7Nashville State Community College
Nashville, TN Public · 2 feeder programs
35Architectural Engineering Technologies/Technicians18%
8University of Memphis
Memphis, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
34Engineering Technologies/Technicians, General$61,46551%72%
9Jackson State Community College
Jackson, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
31Engineering Technologies/Technicians, General$61,12326%
10Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Pulaski
Pulaski, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
30Building Construction Technology/Technician75%
11Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Murfreesboro
Murfreesboro, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
29Building Construction Technology/Technician76%
12Columbia State Community College
Columbia, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
26Engineering Technologies/Technicians, General30%
13Tennessee College of Applied Technology Nashville
Nashville, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
26Building Construction Technology/Technician70%
14Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Dickson
Dickson, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
26Building Construction Technology/Technician74%
15Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Memphis
Memphis, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
24Building Construction Technology/Technician55%
16Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Livingston
Livingston, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
23Building Construction Technology/Technician78%
17Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Elizabethton
Elizabethton, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
22Building Construction Technology/Technician81%
18Tennessee College of Applied Technology Crump
Crump, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
19Building Construction Technology/Technician63%
19Cleveland State Community College
Cleveland, TN Public · 2 feeder programs
16Engineering Technologies/Technicians, General37%
20Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Morristown
Morristown, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
14Building Construction Technology/Technician80%
21Tennessee College of Applied Technology - McMinnville
McMinnville, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
12Building Construction Technology/Technician67%
22Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Upper Cumberland
Crossville, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
9Building Construction Technology/Technician84%
23Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Hohenwald
Hohenwald, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
8Building Construction Technology/Technician65%
24Southwest Tennessee Community College
Memphis, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
7Architectural Engineering Technologies/Technicians19%
25Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Harriman
Harriman, TN Public · 1 feeder programs
7Building Construction Technology/Technician69%

All 30 schools in Tennessee

Every school in Tennessee 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.

What civil engineering technologists and technicians earn in Tennessee

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

Median annual in Tennessee
$57,270
Mean annual
$61,000
Jobs in state
1,650
What the range looks like
10th pct$43,630Median$57,27090th pct$78,010
Versus the national median
-11.8%

U.S. median $64,950. Tennessee pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
1.14×

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

Metro areas in Tennessee

Jackson, TN
$57,270median
40 jobs
Memphis, TN-MS-AR
$59,990median
190 jobs
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN
$58,020median
410 jobs
Johnson City, TN
$56,220median
40 jobs
Clarksville, TN-KY
$56,330median
50 jobs
Knoxville, TN
$60,580median
350 jobs
Chattanooga, TN-GA
$56,840median
230 jobs
Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA
$45,650median
80 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+2.1%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
5,500
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
1,400
64,900 → 66,200
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 Civil Engineering Technologists and Technicians page.

How to become a Civil Engineering Technologist

Job zone 3 of 5 · SVP 6.0 to < 7.0
Typical entry education
Associate's degree

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Top skills

Critical ThinkingActive ListeningReading ComprehensionMathematicsSpeakingWriting

The same job in other states

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

Related careers in Tennessee

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 5 majors mapped to Civil Engineering Technologists and Technicians5 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 15.0000Engineering Technologies/Technicians, General
  • 15.0101Architectural Engineering Technologies/Technicians
  • 15.0201Civil Engineering Technologies/Technicians
  • 15.1001Construction Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 46.0415Building Construction Technology/Technician

Common questions

Answers for people weighing civil engineering technologists and technicians programs in Tennessee.

What degree do you need to become a Civil 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 Engineering Technologies/Technicians, General, which awarded 524 degrees in Tennessee in 2024-25, 59.5% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Civil Engineering Technologist?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 5 programs to this occupation. The largest are Engineering Technologies/Technicians, Building/Construction Finishing, Architectural Engineering Technologies/Technicians, Civil Engineering Technologies/Technicians, plus 1 more. Together they graduate about 880 people a year in Tennessee.

How much do civil engineering technologists and technicians earn in Tennessee?+

The median is $57,270 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 11.8% below the U.S. median of $64,950. 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 civil engineering technologists and technicians growing?+

BLS projects a +2.1% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 5,500 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

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

30 institutions in Tennessee reported graduates from at least one of the 5 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 civil engineering technologists and technicians work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Engineer Technician, Engineering Assistant, Engineering Technician, Civil Engineering Technician among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 17-3022.

Civil Engineering Technologists and Technicians in other statesTexasCaliforniaFloridaNorth CarolinaWashingtonNew YorkAlabamaOhio

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

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