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United States Department of Labor
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.
| 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 on the Internet at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/employment-and-wages-of-engineers-in-2015.htm (visited October 26, 2020).
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