Engineering Bachelor's Degrees Awarded in States - Total Number and "Per Population" (with AY1990-91 and AY2000-01 Comparisons)

Undergraduate engineering degrees are awarded by universities in all fifty states (plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico). This report compares the numbers of bachelor's degrees in each state in AY1990-91 and AY200-01. The comparisons are also made in the number of degrees and the degrees per state population.

The report also includes data for seven major engineering disciplines (civil engineering, chemical engineering, "computer" (engineering plus science in engineering colleges), electrical engineering, industrial engineering, mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering) in AY2000-01. Comparisons are made between state rankings in these disciplines and the state rankings of engineering as a whole.

Engineering Bachelor's Degree Graduates in States

As shown in the table below, CA, NY, MI, TX, PA, FL, IL, MA, OH and VA (rank ordered) were the "top ten" states in awarding undergraduate degrees in engineering in AY200-01. Nine of these states were in the "top ten" in AY1990-91.

The "top ten" states awarded 55% of the engineering bachelor's degrees in the US and included 40% of the undergraduate engineering programs in AY2000-01. The "top ten" states are in the group of thirteen states having the highest population in 2000.

In terms of undergraduate engineering degrees per population, the ranking of states varies significantly from that for the number of degrees, as shown in the second table (the 'top ten" in total numbers of degrees are shown in red.). Engineering overall in the US in AY2000-01 had 228.1 undergraduates per million population. Of the "top ten", the range was from 407.8 for MI down to 171.6 for FL. (It is noteworthy that TX and FL, the lowest of the "top ten" on a population basis had the largest population increases (fractional) from 1990 to 2000 of the "top ten" states.)

It is also significant that CO, WY, UT, LA and VA showed significant ranking improvements from AY1990-91 to AY2000-01 in undergraduate degrees per population. On the other hand, VT, CT and DE had significant declines in rankings from 1990 to 2000. Much of the change for DE was due to the increase in population; VT and CT, however, had population increases of only 8.2% and 3.6%, respectively.

ND, DC, MT and SD, all having populations less than one million, ranked highest on degrees per population in AY2000-01. This ranking is not a "statistical fluctuation". All four ranked in the highest nine in AY1990-91 and all but one were ranked in the highest five.

Undergraduate engineering degrees in civil engineering, chemical engineering, “computer” (engineering plus science in engineering colleges), electrical engineering, industrial engineering, mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering were also compiled for all fifty states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico for AY2000-01.

As would be expected, the “top ten” states in total number of engineering bachelor’s degrees rank at or near the top of the rankings in these seven disciplines (see third table below – the “top ten” states are marked in red).

The fractions of civil, chemical, industrial and mechanical engineering bachelor’s degrees awarded by the “top ten” states were 48%, 47%, 48% and 54%, respectively – less than the overall engineering fraction of 55%. “Computer” (engineering plus science in engineering colleges), electrical engineering and materials science and engineering degree fractions were 65%, 57% and 63%, respectively.

It is a bit surprising that the “dominance” of the “top ten” states in six of the disciplines studied is not found for industrial engineering. Georgia (tenth in population in 2000 and thirteenth in total engineering bachelor’s degrees in AY200-01) has the highest ranking in industrial engineering by a substantial amount. Even more surprising is that one university awarded 98% of these industrial engineering degrees.

Consideration of undergraduate degrees per million population altered the state rankings substantially, as was the situation for total engineering degrees. These rankings for AY2000-01 are presented below in the fourth table in this report. The “top ten” states in awarding engineering degrees are shown in red as in previous tables.

Eight of the “top ten” states are ranked in degrees per million population above engineering as a whole in “computer“ (engineering plus science in engineering colleges). Further, all eight rank in the highest fourteen states. Three disciplines (chemical, electrical and industrial engineering) have six “top ten” states ranked above engineering. Materials has five “top ten” states ranked above engineering; civil and mechanical engineering have only four.

None of the “top ten” states in awarding engineering bachelor’s degrees lead in the degrees per population rankings for any of the seven disciplines. North Dakota leads in civil, electrical and mechanical engineering. Delaware, Puerto Rico and South Dakota lead in chemical engineering, industrial engineering and materials science and engineering, respectively.

For civil engineering, the highest ranked “top ten” state, PA, is ranked fourteenth. Of the thirteen states ranked above PA, seven had populations less than one million and none were higher than five million.

Disciplines Ranked by BS Degrees per Million Population - AY2000-01