Software Engineering Degrees Near Cleveland for 2027
The Cleveland area has 2 programs titled software engineering at 2 schools, and 4 computer science programs. This guide covers each one, what it costs, and what software developers earn in the metro area. Fewer than 5 programs titled software engineering sit inside Cleveland’s city limits, so this guide covers the whole Cleveland, OH metro area.
Kevin ToFounder & Editor·B.S. in Computer Science, Temple University·Updated
Software engineering programs
2
titled software engineering
ABET-accredited
0
ABET’s list, 2026-09-30
Computer science programs
4
IPEDS 2024
Median pay, software developers
$111,310
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Key takeaways
01The Cleveland area has 2 degrees titled software engineering, 1 bachelor’s and 1 master’s, at 2 schools, plus 4 computer science programs. Baldwin Wallace University ranks first among the area’s bachelor’s programs, with a score of 33.6 out of 100, #61 nationally. Each program below is checked against the school’s own page. Across Ohio as a whole, 7 programs carry the title.
02Software developers in the Cleveland, OH metro area earned a median of $111,310 in May 2025, against $114,090 across Ohio and $135,980 nationally. The metro area employed 8,460 of them. Nationally, BLS projects the occupation to grow 10.2% from 2025 to 2035, against 3.5% for all occupations.
03Prices near Cleveland were 6.1% below the national average in 2024, by the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s measure, and housing stood at 79.4 against a national 100. At national prices, the metro area’s developer median goes as far as about $118,540. BEA’s 2024 figures are its latest, a year behind the pay data.
04This page covers the Cleveland, OH metro area only. The Ohio guide covers all 7 programs titled software engineering across the state, 4 bachelor’s and 3 master’s, with the same comparisons of cost and pay, so a program elsewhere in the state can be weighed against one here.
05If nothing near Cleveland fits, the degree can be taken online. The highest-scoring online programs in our rankings are Kennesaw State’s bachelor’s, at 72.5 out of 100, and Kennesaw State’s master’s, at 67.6. Check with each school that it enrolls students living where you do before you apply.
This guide
Studying software engineering here
A degree titled software engineering puts design, testing and the management of large software projects at the center, where computer science centers on computation itself. Cleveland offers both, and many software engineers hold either one.
What this page covers
Software engineering programs: the 2 bachelor’s and master’s degrees near Cleveland titled software engineering, each checked against the school’s own page.
Computer science programs: the area’s 4 bachelor’s and master’s programs in computer science, from federal data.
Online programs: software engineering degrees from our rankings that can be completed online.
Not included: associate degrees, certificates, bootcamps, doctoral programs and degrees in related fields such as information technology.
Methodology
How we ranked these programs
Programs near Cleveland are ranked against each other at the same degree level, highest score first. The score is out of 100 and comes from our national rankings, so a program carries the same score on every page of this site. It isn’t curved for Cleveland: each factor is measured against fixed national standards, which is why even the strongest program here can sit well below 100.
The bachelor’s score
Baldwin Wallace University: #61 of 75 nationally
No software engineering bachelor’s is inside Cleveland’s city limits
The highest score in the Cleveland, OH metro area is Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, OH, 33.6 out of 100. Across the country the median bachelor’s score is 56.7 and the highest is 87.0. Baldwin Wallace University’s biggest gap is ABET accreditation, where it earns 0 of 25 points. Every scored program is in Best Bachelor’s in Software Engineering.
Scored factors
100 pts total
Cost25 pts
The school’s average net price after grants (IPEDS), in fixed dollar tiers.
Under $12,00025 pts
$12,000 to $15,99920 pts
$16,000 to $19,99915 pts
$20,000 to $24,99910 pts
$25,000 to $31,9995 pts
$32,000 or more0 pts
Completion35 pts
The school’s eight-year completion rate for all entering students (IPEDS Outcome Measures), as a share of the points.
ABET accreditation25 pts
Full points if the program is on ABET’s own accredited list, none if not.
Program size15 pts
Graduates a year, on a log scale that reaches full points at 100.
The master’s score
Cleveland State: #10 of 44 nationally
Cleveland State leads near Cleveland with 68.8 out of 100
Across the country the median master’s score is 52.0 and the highest is 86.9. Its biggest gap is program size, where it earns 12.8 of 30 points. Every scored program is in Software Engineering Master’s Programs.
Scored factors
100 pts total
Cost40 pts
The school’s graduate tuition (IPEDS), in fixed dollar tiers.
Under $10,00040 pts
$10,000 to $14,99932 pts
$15,000 to $19,99924 pts
$20,000 to $29,99916 pts
$30,000 to $39,9998 pts
$40,000 or more0 pts
Program size30 pts
Graduates a year, on a log scale that reaches full points at 500.
Research activity15 pts
The school’s Carnegie research class, from IPEDS.
R115
R29
Doctoral/professional3
Other0
ABET-accredited department15 pts
Full points if the school’s software engineering or computer science bachelor’s is on ABET’s list.
Each program is ranked against the others near Cleveland at the same degree level, by the score our national rankings use. Tuition is IPEDS 2023–24; grad rate is the school’s. Full details for a ranked program are on its ranking page.
Bachelor’s
Master’s
Top 3 near Cleveland
Not ranked
Bachelor’s in software engineering
1 program
#1 near Cleveland
33.6of 100
Baldwin Wallace University
Berea, OH · about 11 mi from central Cleveland
BSCampus
In-state
$37,686
Out-of-state
$37,686
Completion
65%
Co-op required
Capstone option maintains live software for a Guatemala clinic
Baldwin Wallace builds an internship into its software engineering major, and the curriculum page says students complete at least one summer internship. Most end up with several before they graduate. The capstone runs two semesters. In a small team you analyze, design, develop, test and maintain a large software system, and most of the projects come from industry partners. One version is the Mission Guatemala Medical Clinic Senior Project, a practicum run like a consulting practice. Teams keep live software running for a clinic and add features at the client's request, and in odd-numbered years members can travel to Guatemala.
On top of the computing core, courses in requirements, testing and project management cover the whole development life cycle. BW also runs a User Experience Research Lab where computing students test software for internal and external clients through observation, interviews, click-stream analysis and eye-tracking. Software engineering is offered as a major and as a minor. Ohio residents entering as first-year or transfer students can apply to the Choose Ohio First STEM Scholars Program, which awards renewable scholarships.
Master’s in software engineering
1 program
#1 near Cleveland
68.8of 100
Cleveland State
Cleveland, OH · about 2 mi from central Cleveland
MSCampus
Tuition
$10,840
Out-of-state
$18,543
Grads/yr
13.3
Open to applicants with a bachelor's in any discipline
Cleveland State's MSSE is described in the graduate catalog as the first of its kind in Ohio, and it emphasizes the architecture, design, quality, management and economics of software engineering. Core courses are Software Engineering, Software Project Management, Software Quality Assurance and Software Design and Architecture, and electives are CIS courses at the 500 level or higher. There are two routes: with a thesis, or without one. The thesis option is 24 credit hours of coursework plus 6 of thesis, for 30 in all, and it ends with committee acceptance and an oral defense. The non-thesis option is 30 hours of coursework plus 2 hours of the Software Engineering Project, CIS 638, for 32 in all, and it needs at least two 600-level electives.
The department encourages anyone heading toward a doctoral degree to take the thesis route. Admission asks for a cumulative undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or better and a four-year degree in any discipline. If you do not have a bachelor's in computer science or software engineering, you may be assigned preparatory courses such as Introduction to Programming, Data Structures & Algorithms, Systems Programming and Discrete Mathematics, and none of them count toward the degree. The department offers research and teaching assistantships and graduate tuition grants, and internships in local industry are available.
Compare
Programs side by side
Cleveland software engineering programs compared, by level
Tuition: IPEDS 2023–24, at the program’s level (a master’s figure is the school’s graduate average). Grad rate: the school’s six-year rate for bachelor’s students; N/A on master’s rows, because federal data has no graduation rate for master’s programs. Grads/yr: IPEDS, three-year average. ABET: ABET’s list, retrieved 2026-09-30. #: the program’s rank among Cleveland’s ranked programs at its level; NR, not ranked. Score: out of 100, the same score as on the ranking pages.
Nearby
Within driving distance
Programs in the Cleveland, OH metro area whose campus is outside Cleveland’s city limits.
City limits: Census TIGER incorporated place boundaries; campus locations: IPEDS 2024. Distances are straight-line miles from the city’s Census internal point, rounded.
Computer science
Computer science programs
2 schools, 4 programs in the table below.
Computer science is the neighboring degree, and many software engineers hold it. These rows come from federal data, not from each school’s page.
Tuition: IPEDS 2023–24, in-state, before fees and aid; undergraduate for a bachelor’s, and for a master’s the school-wide average across graduate students, which excludes program fees. School grad rate: the school’s six-year rate for bachelor’s students (IPEDS); N/A on master’s rows, because federal data has no graduation rate for master’s programs. ABET: on ABET’s computing (CAC) or engineering (EAC) list, retrieved 2026-10-05; a blank cell means not accredited. A school is in the table when it has at least two of a tuition figure, a grad rate or ABET accreditation, and a program page we could link; the rest are listed under it. SE track: named on the school’s own page.
Cost
What it costs
Too few schools here publish a federal tuition figure for a Cleveland median, so this is each program’s own figure: graduate tuition for a master’s, undergraduate for a bachelor’s, as on its card.
Prices near Cleveland were 93.9 against a national 100 in 2024, and housing 79.4, by the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s Regional Price Parities. 2024 is BEA’s latest year, a year behind the May 2025 pay figures on this page.
Tuition: IPEDS 2023–24, each program’s school-wide figure at its level (graduate or undergraduate). A median needs at least 3 schools. Excludes fees, housing and aid. Prices: BEA Regional Price Parities by metro area, 2024, all items and housing services.
Job market
The software job market
The Cleveland, OH metro area employed 8,460 software developers in May 2025. Nationally, BLS projects software developer jobs to grow 10.2% from 2025 to 2035, against 3.5% for all occupations.
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, metropolitan areas, May 2025, Cleveland, OH. Metro estimates are published for fewer occupations than state estimates; the occupations BLS doesn’t publish here are left out. Growth: BLS Employment Projections, 2025-35, national.
Who hires
Who hires software developers
We don’t list company names: no source counts software hiring by employer the same way in every metro. What the Census Bureau does count is the businesses themselves, by industry, in the Cleveland, OH metro area.
Industry
Businesses
Employees
Payroll per employee
Computer systems design and related services
758
9,352
$97,600
Software publishers
85
5,667
$124,100
Data processing, hosting and related services
162
2,686
$130,000
Computer and electronic product manufacturing
104
5,713
$79,900
The first three of those industries employ 1.8% of the metro area’s private-sector workers, against 2.6% nationally, below the national share.
Of these industries, computer systems design and related services employs the most people in the metro area, 9,352, while data processing, hosting and related services pays the most per employee, $130,000.
Businesses, employees (mid-March) and annual payroll: U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, metropolitan areas and United States (cbp23msa, cbp23us), private sector, Cleveland, OH metro area; payroll per employee covers every job in the industry, not only developers.
Pay
What software developers earn
$78,86010th
$98,37025th
$111,310median
$132,15075th
$167,57090th
Software developers, Cleveland, OH metro area, BLS OEWS May 2025. National median: $135,980.
The metro area’s median is $111,310, $24,670 below the national $135,980. Half of the metro area’s software developers earn between $98,370 and $132,150.
BEA puts prices in the Cleveland, OH metro area at 93.9 against a national 100 (2024), so the median goes as far as $118,540 would nationally, $17,440 less than the national median.
BEA price parities, 2024; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, metropolitan areas, May 2025.
Steps
How to become a software engineer
The path to software engineering near Cleveland is the same one people take everywhere: a degree, real experience before you graduate, and a first job search. What changes is the schools you can choose from and who’s hiring nearby. Here are the five steps, with Cleveland’s options in each.
1
Start with a bachelor’s degree
Most software developer jobs ask for a bachelor's degree, and you don’t need work experience to get your first one. Around Cleveland you’ve got one bachelor’s program titled software engineering, at Baldwin Wallace University, plus four computer science bachelor’s programs across the metro if you want a wider net. Before you fall for one, compare what they cost; the tuition figures above make that quick.
2
Pick between software engineering and computer science
Employers hire from both majors. Software engineering leans toward building and maintaining large systems as a team; computer science gives you a broader base in theory. Around Cleveland, that’s two software engineering programs and six computer science programs across the metro, so you really can choose. An easy way to decide: put Baldwin Wallace University’s course list next to Case Western Reserve University’s and see which you’d rather spend four years in. Compare them.
3
Build experience before you graduate
Internships are often what turn a degree into a job offer. Baldwin Wallace University builds a required co-op or internship into the degree, so you’d graduate with real work on your résumé. Baldwin Wallace University includes a capstone or senior project where you build real software with a team. With 758 computer systems design firms in the metro, a summer role close to home is realistic.
4
Know where licensing stands
You don’t need a license to work as a software engineer, and there’s no longer a licensing exam for it: the last one was given in April 2019. Accreditation still matters if you might want a license or certification later, since those often ask for an ABET-accredited degree. The closest accredited software engineering program to Cleveland is Gannon’s bachelor’s in Erie, about 93 miles away. Check any program’s accreditation before you apply.
5
Look for your first job nearby
The Cleveland area had 8,460 software developers in May 2025, earning a median of $111,310. The biggest software industries here are computer systems design (9,352 jobs) and computer and electronics manufacturing (5,713 jobs), so start your search with those firms. Ask your program which local employers hire its graduates, and go to its career fairs from your first year. Across the country there are about 95,300 openings a year, so you can widen the search if you’re willing to move.
Online options
Online software engineering degrees
If no program near Cleveland fits, these are the highest-scoring online programs in our rankings. Confirm with each school that it enrolls students living near Cleveland.
Tuition: IPEDS 2023–24 out-of-state, the rate an online student from another state usually pays (a master’s figure is the school’s graduate average); a published rate is the school’s own price. National rank and score: our national ranking at the program’s level.
How many software engineering programs are near Cleveland?
2 degrees titled software engineering, 1 bachelor’s and 1 master’s, at 2 schools. 0 of them are on ABET’s accredited list.
What is the best software engineering school near Cleveland?
Baldwin Wallace University ranks first of the 1 ranked bachelor’s programs near Cleveland, with a score of 33.6 out of 100 (#61 nationally). The score combines completion, net price, ABET accreditation and program size.
How much do software engineers make near Cleveland?
Software developers, the BLS occupation that includes software engineers, earned a median of $111,310 near Cleveland in May 2025. The 10th percentile was $78,860 and the 90th $167,570.
Is Cleveland pay worth it after cost of living?
BEA puts Cleveland’s prices at 93.9 against a national 100 in 2024. Divided by that, the developer median of $111,310 is worth about $118,540 at national prices.
Who hires software engineers near Cleveland?
No source counts software hiring by company the same way in every metro, so we don’t name employers. The Census Bureau counted 758 computer systems design businesses in the Cleveland, OH metro area in 2023, employing 9,352 people. Nationally, the industries that employ the most software developers are computer systems design and related services, software publishers and management of companies and enterprises.
Can Cleveland residents take a software engineering degree online?
Yes. Kennesaw State, Minnesota-Crookston and University of Arizona are among the online software engineering programs in our rankings. Check with each school that it enrolls students living near Cleveland.
2NCES IPEDS institutional charges, 2023–24Tuition at the program’s level, and undergraduate tuition per school for the cost medians. Excludes fees, housing and aid.
3NCES IPEDS graduation ratesThe school’s six-year graduation rate, for the whole school rather than the program; IPEDS DRVGR2023 where the main pull has no figure.
4Each school’s own program pageProgram name, delivery, credits, and every bullet on the program cards, quoted from the saved page. Read .
13NCES IPEDS HD2024: campus coordinatesCampus latitude and longitude, for the distance from Cleveland to the nearest ABET-accredited software engineering program (straight line).
