Find Grad Schools

Study Area & Zipcode

Most Popular Civil Engineering Schools

Find Schools Near

2023 Most Popular Civil Engineering Schools

200 Colleges
$63,364 Avg Salary
$24,364 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Civil Engineering School for You

Civil Engineering is the #43 most popular major in the country with 6,042 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

With all the programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Most Popular Civil Engineering Schools ranking. This report analyzed 200 schools in the United States to see which ones were the most popular programs for students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the Civil Engineering program at each school on the list.

Check out the civil eng programs at these schools if you want to attend one of the most popular in the United States.

Our 2023 rankings named University of California - Berkeley the most popular school in the United States for civil engineering students. Located in the city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Read More…

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a great place for civil engineering students. Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public school with a very large student population.

Read More…

Out of the 200 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Washington - Seattle Campus landed the # 3 spot on the list. UW Seattle is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Seattle.

Read full report on Civil Engineering at University of Washington - Seattle Campus

#4

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

Out of the 200 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Stanford University landed the # 4 spot on the list. Stanford is a large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Stanford.

Read full report on Civil Engineering at Stanford University

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Texas A&M University - College Station. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Most Popular Civil Engineering Schools list. Texas A&M College Station is a fairly large public school located in the medium-sized city of College Station.

Full Civil Engineering at Texas A&M University - College Station Report

Columbia University in the City of New York did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular schools for civil engineering students. It came in at #6 on the list. Columbia is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of New York.

Full Civil Engineering at Columbia University in the City of New York Report

The University of Texas at Arlington landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular civil engineering programs. Located in the large city of Arlington, UT Arlington is a public college with a very large student population.

Full Civil Engineering at The University of Texas at Arlington Report

#8

Purdue University - Main Campus

West Lafayette, IN

Purdue University - Main Campus landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular civil engineering programs. Located in the small city of West Lafayette, Purdue is a public college with a very large student population.

Full Civil Engineering at Purdue University - Main Campus Report

New Jersey Institute of Technology ranked #9 on this year’s Most Popular Civil Engineering Schools list. NJIT is a large public school located in the large city of Newark.

Read More…

#10

Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, VA

With a ranking of #10, Virginia Tech did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for civil engineering students. Virginia Tech is a fairly large public school located in the city of Blacksburg.

Full Civil Engineering at Virginia Tech Report

#11

Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA

Carnegie Mellon University ranked #11 on this year’s Most Popular Civil Engineering Schools list. Carnegie Mellon is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Pittsburgh.

Read full report on Civil Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University

Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus came in at #11 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Civil Engineering Schools ranking. Georgia Tech is a very large public school located in the large city of Atlanta.

Read More…

The University of Texas at Austin came in at #13 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Civil Engineering Schools ranking. Located in the large city of Austin, UT Austin is a public school with a very large student population.

Full Civil Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin Report

University of California - Davis came in at #13 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Civil Engineering Schools ranking. Located in the small suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Full Civil Engineering at University of California - Davis Report

University of California - Los Angeles ranked #15 on this year’s Most Popular Civil Engineering Schools list. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public college with a very large student population.

Read More…

North Carolina State University landed the #16 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular civil engineering programs. Located in the large city of Raleigh, NC State is a public school with a very large student population.

Read More…

#17

Northeastern University

Boston, MA

Northeastern University came in at #17 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Civil Engineering Schools ranking. Northeastern is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Boston.

Read full report on Civil Engineering at Northeastern University

University of California - San Diego ranked #18 on this year’s Most Popular Civil Engineering Schools list. UCSD is a fairly large public school located in the city of La Jolla.

Read More…

Arizona State University - Tempe did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular schools for civil engineering students. It came in at #19 on the list. Located in the medium-sized city of Tempe, ASU - Tempe is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Read full report on Civil Engineering at Arizona State University - Tempe

#20

University of Florida

Gainesville, FL

With a ranking of #20, University of Florida did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for civil engineering students. Located in the medium-sized city of Gainesville, UF is a public college with a very large student population.

Read full report on Civil Engineering at University of Florida

#21

University at Buffalo

Buffalo, NY

University at Buffalo did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular schools for civil engineering students. It came in at #21 on the list. University at Buffalo is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Buffalo.

Read More…

#22

Oregon State University

Corvallis, OR

Oregon State University ranked #22 on this year’s Most Popular Civil Engineering Schools list. Located in the city of Corvallis, Oregon State is a public college with a very large student population.

Read More…

University of Colorado Boulder came in at #23 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Civil Engineering Schools ranking. CU - Boulder is a very large public school located in the city of Boulder.

Read More…

#23

Clemson University

Clemson, SC

Clemson University came in at #23 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Civil Engineering Schools ranking. Located in the large suburb of Clemson, Clemson is a public college with a very large student population.

Read More…

University of Southern California landed the #25 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular civil engineering programs. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

Read More…

#26

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

Additional Noteworthy Schools

Here are some additional popular schools for Civil Engineering students that almost earned our Most Popular Civil Engineering Schools award.

Rank College Location
32 University of Central Florida Orlando, FL
33 Missouri University of Science and Technology Rolla, MO
33 Colorado State University - Fort Collins Fort Collins, CO
33 University of Wisconsin - Madison Madison, WI
36 San Jose State University San Jose, CA
36 California State University - Fullerton Fullerton, CA
36 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN
39 Villanova University Villanova, PA
40 Colorado School of Mines Golden, CO

Civil Engineering by Region

View the Most Popular Civil Engineering Schools for a specific region near you.

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

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

Related Major Annual Graduates
Electrical Engineering 11,021
Mechanical Engineering 9,007
Computer Engineering 5,557
Biomedical Engineering 4,252
General Engineering 3,548

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • 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 Master Sgt. Roger Parsons.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

Featured Schools

Find Graduate Schools Near You

Our free school finder matches students with accredited graduate schools across the U.S.