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Employment and wages of engineers in 2015

October 17, 2016

There were about 1.6 million engineers employed in the United States in May 2015. Mechanical, civil, and industrial engineers together made up half of all employed engineers. The three smallest engineering occupations—agricultural engineers, marine engineers and naval architects, and mining and geological engineers—together made up about 1 percent of total engineer employment.

 

 

Employment and median annual wages of engineers, May 2015
Occupation Employment Median annual wage

Engineers

1,610,480 $90,060

Aerospace engineers

66,980 107,830

Agricultural engineers

2,330 75,090

Biomedical engineers

20,890 86,220

Chemical engineers

32,230 97,360

Civil engineers

275,210 82,220

Computer hardware engineers

75,870 111,730

Electrical engineers

178,580 93,010

Electronics engineers, except computer

135,390 98,270

Environmental engineers

52,600 84,560

Health & safety engineers, except mining

24,900 84,600

Industrial engineers

247,570 83,470

Marine engineers and naval architects

7,600 93,110

Materials engineers

27,040 91,310

Mechanical engineers

278,340 83,590

Mining & geological engineers

8,000 94,040

Nuclear engineers

16,880 102,950

Petroleum engineers

34,600 129,990

Engineers, all other

125,460 95,900

Engineers had a median annual wage of $90,060 in 2015. That was more than twice the $36,200 national median annual wage across all occupations. The median annual wage for petroleum engineers, $129,990, was 73 percent higher than the median annual wage for agricultural engineers, $75,090. The median annual wages for the three largest engineering occupations—mechanical, civil, and industrial—were all close to one another.

The median annual wage for civil engineers in 2015 was highest in Alaska, $103,640. California, Texas, and New York had the largest number of employed civil engineers in 2015. Those states also were among the highest in median annual wages for civil engineers.

 

These data are from the Occupational Employment Statistics program. To learn more, see Architecture and Engineering Occupations Profiles.
SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Employment and wages of engineers in 2015 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/employment-and-wages-of-engineers-in-2015.htm (visited October 31, 2024).

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