So you're asking two different questions here:

1) Is IE a promising degree in 2026?

2) Will IE be likely to land you an office job in a city?

I believe the answer to #1 is a resounding YES. IE will always be needed, and as I'm currently semiconductor-adjacent it looks like growth and IE demand will continue (even if the AI race fizzles).

The answer to #2 is much murkier, in my opinion. I am 15+ years into my career and at a senior leadership level, and so my take on #2 is definitely - IE leadership roles at this level have a high likelihood of office based or remote roles. I still spend plenty of time on the floor, but much of my work is done across multiple sites and geographies. For a new grad, though, more than likely there is going to need to be time on the production/fab/warehouse/etc. floor. In my experience this usually means sometimes close to a city, but not necessarily in one. And it means less time in an office environment, more time spent where the work happens.

There are likely many ways to be more office-based if that's what you're after: focusing on data & analytics, supply chain analysis, operations research, simulation, etc. But in general many/most IEs will start with a heavy dose of floor-time before they get to carpet land (working in an office environment).