2023 Best Environmental Engineering Schools
Finding the Best Environmental Engineering School for You
In 2020-2021, 2,759 people earned a degree or certificate in environmental engineering, making the major the #175 most popular in the United States.
With all the programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.
The Best Environmental Engineering Schools ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 115 schools in the United States to see which programs offered the best educational experiences for students.
View our full ranking methodology.
2023 Best Environmental Engineering Schools in the United States
The following schools top our list of the Best Environmental Engineering Colleges.
Top 15% Best Environmental Engineering Schools
Our analysis found Massachusetts Institute of Technology to be the best school for environmental engineering students who want to pursue a degree in the United States. MIT is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Cambridge.
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A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Cornell University is a great place for environmental engineering students. Located in the small city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.
Environmental Engineering majors at Cornell take out an average of $16,500 in student loans while working on their egree.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northwestern University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Environmental Engineering Schools list. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Duke University. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Environmental Engineering Schools list. Located in the large city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of Notre Dame. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Environmental Engineering Schools list. Located in the suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.
On average, environmental engineering graduates from Notre Dame take out $17,992 in student loans while working on their degree.
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Rice University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Environmental Engineering Schools ranking. Located in the large city of Houston, Rice is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.
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Purdue University - Main Campus came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Environmental Engineering Schools ranking. Located in the city of West Lafayette, Purdue is a public college with a very large student population.
Environmental Engineering majors at Purdue take out an average of $18,292 in student loans while working on their egree.
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Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best environmental engineering programs. Georgia Tech is a fairly large public school located in the city of Atlanta.
Environmental Engineering majors at Georgia Tech take out an average of $29,750 in student loans while working on their egree.
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With a ranking of #9, Bucknell University did quite well on this year’s best schools for environmental engineering students. Bucknell is a small private not-for-profit school located in the town of Lewisburg.
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With a ranking of #10, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo did quite well on this year’s best schools for environmental engineering students. Located in the suburb of San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a public school with a very large student population.
Environmental Engineering majors at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo take out an average of $21,121 in student loans while working on their egree.
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Vanderbilt University landed the #11 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best environmental engineering programs. Located in the city of Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.
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With a ranking of #12, Johns Hopkins University did quite well on this year’s best schools for environmental engineering students. Johns Hopkins is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Baltimore.
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The University of Texas at Austin landed the #13 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best environmental engineering programs. Located in the large city of Austin, UT Austin is a public school with a fairly large student population.
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University of California - Berkeley did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for environmental engineering students. It came in at #14 on the list. Located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public college with a fairly large student population.
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University of Wisconsin - Madison came in at #15 in this year’s edition of the Best Environmental Engineering Schools ranking. Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public college with a very large student population.
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University of Michigan - Ann Arbor did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for environmental engineering students. It came in at #16 on the list. Located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public school with a fairly large student population.
Environmental Engineering majors at U-M take out an average of $20,263 in student loans while working on their egree.
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University of Georgia landed the #17 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best environmental engineering programs. UGA is a fairly large public school located in the medium-sized city of Athens.
On average, environmental engineering graduates from UGA take out $22,500 in student loans while working on their degree.
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Request InformationAdditional Noteworthy Schools
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Environmental Engineering Schools award.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 18 | Michigan Technological University | Houghton, MI |
| 19 | Colorado School of Mines | Golden, CO |
| 20 | Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh, PA |
| 21 | University of Wisconsin - Platteville | Platteville, WI |
| 22 | University of Southern California | Los Angeles, CA |
| 23 | Lehigh University | Bethlehem, PA |
Environmental Engineering by Region
View the Best Environmental Engineering Schools for a specific region near you.
| Region |
|---|
| Southeast |
| New England |
| Rocky Mountains |
| Plains States |
| Middle Atlantic |
| Far Western US |
| Southwest |
| Great Lakes |
More Environmental Engineering Rankings
Environmental Engineering Related Rankings by Major
Environmental Engineering is one of 40 different types of programs to choose from.
Majors Similar to Environmental Engineering
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Mechanical Engineering | 46,178 |
| Electrical Engineering | 28,844 |
| Civil Engineering | 21,388 |
| Computer Engineering | 17,987 |
| Chemical Engineering | 12,917 |
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 U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Alesia Goosic.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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