ADBLOCK #102
College Factual  by our College Data Analytics Team
       Unbiased Factual Guarantee

2026 Best Nuclear Engineering Schools in Illinois

1 Colleges in the United States
56 Nuclear Engineering Degrees Awarded
$81,134 Avg Early-Career Salary

Nuclear Engineering is a field worth a close look when choosing where to study. While the number of schools offering the program varies, there are still top-quality ones to be found.

For its 2026 ranking, College Factual looked at 1 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for nuclear engineering students pursuing a degree.

What’s on this page:

ADBLOCK #159
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = ""
DEBUG: Initial offers_url = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/engineering/nuclear-engineering/offers.json", major_slug = ""
DEBUG: After cleaning major_slug = ""
DEBUG: Before URL cleaning = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/engineering/nuclear-engineering/offers.json"
DEBUG: After TrimSuffix = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/engineering/nuclear-engineering/offers.json"
DEBUG: After HTTPS placeholder = "HTTPS_TEMP_PLACEHOLDERwww.collegefactual.com/majors/engineering/nuclear-engineering/offers.json"
DEBUG: After slash cleaning = "HTTPS_TEMP_PLACEHOLDERwww.collegefactual.com/majors/engineering/nuclear-engineering/offers.json"
DEBUG: After URL cleaning = "https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/engineering/nuclear-engineering/offers.json"
DEBUG: offers_url = https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/engineering/nuclear-engineering/offers.json
DEBUG: major_slug = ""
DEBUG: offers_url is valid, proceeding to fetch data
DEBUG: offers_data.offers found, count = 2
DEBUG: Specific major detected (cip4 = 14.23), keeping min_relevance at 0.8
DEBUG: Starting relevance filtering - min_relevance = 0.8, max_relevance = 1
DEBUG: Checking offer "Science & Engineering Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Science & Engineering Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Science & Engineering Diploma Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Science & Engineering Diploma Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: relevant_offers count = 0
DEBUG: No relevant offers, showing generic ESYOH widget

Best Schools for Nuclear Engineering in Illinois

If you are not interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the nuclear engineering degrees they offer, see the list below.

Top Schools in Nuclear Engineering

1

No school ranked higher than University Of Illinois At Urbana Champaign this year for nuclear engineering. Set in the city of Champaign, University Of Illinois At Urbana Champaign is a very large public institution. Roughly 85% of students complete a degree within six years here. There were roughly 56 nuclear engineering students who graduated with this degree at University Of Illinois At Urbana Champaign in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, nuclear engineering degree recipients from University Of Illinois At Urbana Champaign generally make around $81,134. University Of Illinois At Urbana Champaign graduates carry a median of $21,350 in student loans. See the full nuclear engineering program report for University Of Illinois At Urbana Champaign

ADBLOCK #173
View All Nuclear Engineering Rankings >

ADBLOCK #115

Notes and References

This ranking is produced by College Factual (MF_RANKING_2025), 2026 edition. The methodology weighs graduation rate, post-graduation earnings, cost, and program quality, drawn primarily from the U.S. Department of Education (IPEDS and College Scorecard).

Ranking method: College Major Top Ranked · 1 school evaluated.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

ADBLOCK #116

Popular Reports

College Rankings
Best by Location
Degree Guides by Major
Graduate Programs
ADBLOCK #613

Compare Your School Options