The Best Online Master’s in Civil Engineering Degree Programs

Updated: May 15, 2023

From the roads that move us to the systems that move our water and waste, we rely on civil engineers for all of our infrastructure. Learn advanced skills for planning, design, research, and construction with an online master’s in civil engineering.

Why This Matters

CHOOSE FROM OVER 12 POTENTIAL CAREER PATHS

A master’s in civil engineering can prepare you for a variety of job opportunities, including structural engineer, transportation analyst, surveyor, water resources engineer, and more.
20,500 NEW CIVIL ENGINEERS NEEDED BY 2028

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 6 percent job growth in civil engineering, as fast as the average for all occupations, thanks to a focus on renewable energy and repairing infrastructure.
INCREASE YOUR EARNING POTENTIAL BY $34,060

The average annual salary for a civil engineer is $86,640. By comparison, civil engineer technicians, which is an associate’s-level entry job, earn an average of $52,580 per year.

Our Research

For this list, we focused on master’s degrees in civil engineering. The most common types of graduate degrees offered in civil engineering are a Master of Science (MS) and a Master of Engineering (MEng).

Another criteria for this list was that coursework is offered completely or primarily online, so that students have access to these programs regardless of their schedules or geographic locations.

As an additional measure of quality, we only included schools that are regionally accredited. This confirms that they meet high standards for postsecondary education. Many of these programs also have programmatic accreditation through ABET, an engineering and technology program accrediting body.

Once we narrowed our list of programs, we reviewed each of them on the basis of outcomes, reputation, faculty, flexibility, and cost. We then calculated the Intelligent Score for each program on a scale of 0 to 100. For a more extensive explanation, check out Our Ranking Methodology.