Which industrial technology associate's program pays the most?

Baton Rouge Community College in Louisiana reports the highest first-year pay of the 34 programs ranked here, $103,572. Its median federal debt is $16,000.

How much debt do industrial technology associate's graduates have?

The median program leaves its graduates with $13,500 in federal debt. Across programs, the median debt is 25% of first-year pay.

Highest-Paying Industrial Technology (Associate's) Programs in the US

34 programs report first-year pay
1 state ranking
Associate's in Industrial Production Technologies/Technicians

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median industrial technology associate's program in the US pays its graduates $56,704 in their first year and $67,057 five years after. Louisiana is the only state with enough programs to rank, with a median of $56,802. The median program leaves its graduates with $13,500 in federal debt.

Median first-year pay$56,704Across 34 programs

Median pay after 5 years$67,057Across 47 programs

Median federal debt$13,500Across 23 programs

Debt-to-earnings25%Across 21 programs

All 34 programs, ranked by graduate pay

Each program is ranked by the median pay of its graduates one year after they finished, from College Scorecard. This measures what graduates earn, not how good the teaching is. Pay also depends on where graduates live and work. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	After cost of living	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	Baton Rouge Community CollegeBaton Rouge, LA · public	$103,572	$117,419	$145,200	$16,000	15%
2	Arkansas Northeastern CollegeBlytheville, AR · public	$97,406	Not adjusted	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
3	Olympic CollegeBremerton, WA · public	$86,309	$80,653	$85,925	$6,875	8%
4	Bismarck State CollegeBismarck, ND · public	$82,310	$92,526	$113,847	$12,000	15%
5	Portland Community CollegePortland, OR · public	$78,450	$75,899	$83,086	Not reported	Not reported
6	Community College of Beaver CountyMonaca, PA · public	$75,949	$77,839	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
7	SOWELA Technical Community CollegeLake Charles, LA · public	$75,239	$85,298	$130,442	$7,457	10%
8	Metropolitan Community College-Kansas CityKansas City, MO · public	$74,822	Not adjusted	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
9	Texas State Technical CollegeWaco, TX · public	$64,485	$66,440	$71,955	$15,834	25%
10	University of Alaska AnchorageAnchorage, AK · public	$64,364	$62,881	$93,667	$20,750	32%
11	Antelope Valley Community College DistrictLancaster, CA · public	$60,323	$54,482	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
12	John C Calhoun State Community CollegeTanner, AL · public	$59,567	$67,063	$67,057	$12,000	20%
13	North Dakota State College of ScienceWahpeton, ND · public	$59,489	Not adjusted	Not reported	$18,609	31%
14	Pennsylvania College of TechnologyWilliamsport, PA · public	$59,063	$60,533	Not reported	$24,000	41%
15	River Parishes Community CollegeGonzales, LA · public	$57,379	$65,050	$108,288	$11,187	19%
16	Hudson Valley Community CollegeTroy, NY · public	$56,997	Not adjusted	$82,381	Not reported	Not reported
17	Vincennes UniversityVincennes, IN · public	$56,775	$60,833	$82,279	$12,000	21%
18	Ivy Tech Community CollegeIndianapolis, IN · public	$56,633	$60,681	$63,856	$11,000	19%
19	ITI Technical CollegeBaton Rouge, LA · private for-profit	$56,225	$63,742	$85,518	$18,383	33%
20	Danville Community CollegeDanville, VA · public	$55,860	$55,250	$78,250	Not reported	Not reported
21	Coastal Alabama Community CollegeBay Minette, AL · public	$55,570	$62,563	$77,374	Not reported	Not reported
22	Mitchell Technical CollegeMitchell, SD · public	$50,348	$56,835	Not reported	$12,000	24%
23	Virginia Western Community CollegeRoanoke, VA · public	$49,287	Not adjusted	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
24	Sullivan UniversityLouisville, KY · private for-profit	$47,164	Not adjusted	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
25	Nunez Community CollegeChalmette, LA · public	$45,491	$51,573	$69,943	$17,800	39%
26	Pearl River Community CollegePoplarville, MS · public	$44,162	$50,788	$71,015	$11,000	25%
27	South Louisiana Community CollegeLafayette, LA · public	$44,022	$49,908	$50,375	$13,500	31%
28	Mississippi Gulf Coast Community CollegePerkinston, MS · public	$43,631	$50,178	$66,502	$12,000	28%
29	Washtenaw Community CollegeAnn Arbor, MI · public	$42,813	$44,496	$37,041	$15,000	35%
30	Pellissippi State Community CollegeKnoxville, TN · public	$42,672	$46,448	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
31	New England Institute of TechnologyEast Greenwich, RI · private nonprofit	$41,970	Not adjusted	Not reported	$17,500	42%
32	Lone Star College SystemThe Woodlands, TX · public	$36,567	Not adjusted	$57,377	Not reported	Not reported
33	Northeast State Community CollegeBlountville, TN · public	$34,861	$37,946	$45,313	Not reported	Not reported
34	Southern Arkansas University TechCamden, AR · public	$33,148	$38,129	Not reported	$7,350	22%

Pay after cost of living divides first-year pay by the Bureau of Economic Analysis price level of the school's state, where the US average is 100. It is shown for 26 programs where at least half of the graduates who work are working in the school's state. The other 8, whose graduates mostly work in other states or whose state has no price level, are listed last when you sort by it.

13 programs report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

College Scorecard withholds pay for programs with too few graduates, to protect their privacy, so those programs can't be ranked.

Industrial Technology (Associate's) programs by state

Each row is the median across the state's industrial technology associate's programs. State names link to the full ranking of that state's programs.

State	Programs	Year 1 pay	Debt
Louisiana	6	$56,802	$14,750

Programs in 19 more states and territories report pay, but too few to rank. A state ranking needs at least five programs that report both pay and debt.

Quick picks nationwide

Lowest median debt

SOWELA Technical Community College, LA$7,457
River Parishes Community College, LA$11,187
South Louisiana Community College, LA$13,500
Baton Rouge Community College, LA$16,000
Nunez Community College, LA$17,800
ITI Technical College, LA$18,383

Lowest debt for the pay

SOWELA Technical Community College, LA10%
Baton Rouge Community College, LA15%
River Parishes Community College, LA19%
South Louisiana Community College, LA31%
ITI Technical College, LA33%
Nunez Community College, LA39%

Only the 6 programs with their own page here are included. "Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to industrial technology, largest first. Pay is the median across the US and all experience levels.

Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers

$53,750

Median pay in the US. 416,210 people work in this job in the US. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 40,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.

Bottom 10%: $39,240Top 10%: $77,530

Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians

$78,190

Median pay in the US. 95,130 people work in this job in the US. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, with about 8,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: associate's degree.

Bottom 10%: $49,510Top 10%: $115,700

Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians

$66,120

Median pay in the US. 75,570 people work in this job in the US. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 6,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: associate's degree.

Bottom 10%: $47,300Top 10%: $99,150

Semiconductor Processing Technicians

$51,430

Median pay in the US. 31,460 people work in this job in the US. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 3,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.

Bottom 10%: $37,690Top 10%: $82,540

Common questions

The median industrial technology associate's program in the US pays its graduates $56,704 in their first year and $67,057 five years after.

Industrial Technology (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked48 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Medians are across programs, not students: each program counts once, however many graduates it has.
National medians include every program in the 50 states, DC, and US territories, including schools that have since closed. Schools with several campuses that report one combined figure are counted once.
Programs are ranked by College Scorecard median pay one year after graduation. Pay after cost of living uses the price level of the school's state.
Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025. Price levels are the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities for 2024.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk
Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024