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Fort Smith, Arkansas has 5 accredited schools offering engineering programs, with tuition ranging from $9,748 to $28,772 per year for indexed programs. Fort Smith has a population of about 89,496. Median household income is $52,692 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 25.3% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In the Fort Smith, AR-OK metro area, the top-earning engineering-related role is Architectural and Engineering Manager at a median $131,100 annually (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer engineering programs near Fort Smith, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Fort Smith city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS data on every site update.
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS). To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked against schools at the same credential level:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. On this page, schools are ordered by distance from Fort Smith. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all Arkansas schools on the Arkansas engineering page.
Fort Smith is part of the Fort Smith, AR-OK metro area (BLS area code 22900). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to Arkansas statewide.
| Occupation | Median Wage | Source | COL-Adjusted (US=100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Civil Engineer | $100,330 | Fort Smith, AR-OK | $116,799 |
| Electrical Engineer | $96,860 | AR statewide | $112,759 |
| Mechanical Engineer | $78,950 | Fort Smith, AR-OK | $91,909 |
| Chemical Engineer | $105,270 | AR statewide | $122,549 |
| Aerospace Engineer | $102,040 | AR statewide | $118,789 |
| Biomedical Engineer | $67,850 | AR statewide | $78,987 |
| Environmental Engineer | $85,280 | AR statewide | $99,278 |
| Architectural and Engineering Manager | $131,100 | Fort Smith, AR-OK | $152,619 |
Source: BLS, May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wage data at the metro (MSA) and state level – not by individual city.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 89,496 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $52,692 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 25.3% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 85.9 (below U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
| Engineering-related employment in Sebastian County | 224 workers, 48 establishments | BLS QCEW 2024 annual |
Accredited schools offering engineering programs near Fort Smith are listed on this page, ranked by BOC Score and distance from the city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS and College Scorecard data on every site update, so it stays current as programs open and close.
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying engineering-related roles near Fort Smith are: Architectural and Engineering Manager ($131,100), Chemical Engineer ($105,270), Aerospace Engineer ($102,040). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with Arkansas statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Van Buren, AR is 6.9 miles from Fort Smith and has its own set of local engineering programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.
Fort Smith’s median household income of $52,692 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Fort Smith while attending lower-cost out-of-state schools, and Arkansas public universities often offer reduced in-state online tuition.
Confirm institutional accreditation via the U.S. Department of Education database (U.S. Dept. of Education database), and check for any program-specific accreditation listed by the school.
Compare every accredited online degree program with city-level data for Fort Smith:
Data verified: July 23, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
