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2023 Best Chemical Engineering Schools

134 Colleges
$65,870 Avg Salary
$23,285 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Chemical Engineering School for You

Chemical Engineering is the #76 most popular major in the country with 2,662 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

There are so many programs in today's world that it can tough to figure out which one is the right one for you. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.

The Best Chemical Engineering Schools ranking is one of many tools that Grad Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 134 schools in the United States to see which programs offered the best educational experiences for students.

View our full ranking methodology.

2023 Best Chemical Engineering Schools in the United States

The colleges and universities below are the best for chem eng majors pursuing a .

Top 15% Best Chemical Engineering Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Massachusetts Institute of Technology the best school in the United States for chemical engineering students. Located in the medium-sized city of Cambridge, MIT is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

Full Chemical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Report

#2

Rice University

Houston, TX

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Rice University. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Chemical Engineering Schools list. Rice is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Houston.

Full Chemical Engineering at Rice University Report

#3

Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA

The excellent programs at Carnegie Mellon University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best chemical engineering schools in the United States. Located in the large city of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.

Full Chemical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University Report

#4

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Northwestern University. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Chemical Engineering Schools list. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Evanston.

Read full report on Chemical Engineering at Northwestern University

#5

Princeton University

Princeton, NJ

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Princeton University. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Chemical Engineering Schools list. Located in the city of Princeton, Princeton is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.

Full Chemical Engineering at Princeton University Report

The University of Texas at Austin did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for chemical engineering students. It came in at #6 on the list. UT Austin is a fairly large public school located in the city of Austin.

Full Chemical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin Report

#7

Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN

Vanderbilt University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Chemical Engineering Schools list. Vanderbilt is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Nashville.

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Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for chemical engineering students. It came in at #8 on the list. Located in the city of Atlanta, Georgia Tech is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Chemical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus

#9

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY

Cornell University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Chemical Engineering Schools ranking. Cornell is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Ithaca.

Full Chemical Engineering at Cornell University Report

#10

Bucknell University

Lewisburg, PA

Bucknell University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for chemical engineering students. It came in at #10 on the list. Located in the town of Lewisburg, Bucknell is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Full Chemical Engineering at Bucknell University Report

With a ranking of #11, Washington University in St Louis did quite well on this year’s best schools for chemical engineering students. Located in the large suburb of Saint Louis, WUSTL is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

Full Chemical Engineering at Washington University in St Louis Report

#12

Villanova University

Villanova, PA

Villanova University landed the #12 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best chemical engineering programs. Villanova is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Villanova.

Read full report on Chemical Engineering at Villanova University

University of Wisconsin - Madison ranked #13 on this year’s Best Chemical Engineering Schools list. UW - Madison is a very large public school located in the city of Madison.

Full Chemical Engineering at University of Wisconsin - Madison Report

#14

University of Virginia - Main Campus

Charlottesville, VA

University of Virginia - Main Campus ranked #14 on this year’s Best Chemical Engineering Schools list. Located in the small suburb of Charlottesville, University of Virginia is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Full Chemical Engineering at University of Virginia - Main Campus Report

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor came in at #15 in this year’s edition of the Best Chemical Engineering Schools ranking. U-M is a very large public school located in the city of Ann Arbor.

Full Chemical Engineering at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Report

#16

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, IN

University of Notre Dame did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for chemical engineering students. It came in at #16 on the list. Notre Dame is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Notre Dame.

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North Carolina State University landed the #17 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best chemical engineering programs. NC State is a very large public school located in the large city of Raleigh.

Read full report on Chemical Engineering at North Carolina State University

With a ranking of #18, Texas A&M University - College Station did quite well on this year’s best schools for chemical engineering students. Located in the medium-sized city of College Station, Texas A&M College Station is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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#19

Purdue University - Main Campus

West Lafayette, IN

Purdue University - Main Campus did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for chemical engineering students. It came in at #19 on the list. Purdue is a very large public school located in the small city of West Lafayette.

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#20

Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, VA

Virginia Tech did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for chemical engineering students. It came in at #20 on the list. Located in the small city of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Full Chemical Engineering at Virginia Tech Report

Honorable Mentions

Here are some additional great schools for Chemical Engineering students that almost earned our Best Chemical Engineering Schools award.

Rank College Location
21 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL
22 Auburn University Auburn, AL
23 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA
24 Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA
25 Stanford University Stanford, CA
26 Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Baton Rouge, LA

Chemical Engineering by Region

View the Best Chemical Engineering Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Great Lakes

Chemical Engineering is one of 39 different types of programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Electrical Engineering 11,021
Mechanical Engineering 9,007
Civil Engineering 6,042
Computer Engineering 5,557
Biomedical Engineering 4,252

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Mikulova.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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