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SalaryEngineer

The U.S. Engineering Pay Reference

Know what engineers earn.

Engineers in the United States earn a median of $120,395 per year. Look up pay by role, state, and metro — every figure labeled with its source.

U.S. median across verified engineering roles · Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2024

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22
Engineering roles
51
States & D.C.
61
Metro areas
March 2025
Data updated
Browse by roleSoftware, mechanical, civil, EM, and 18 more.Compare by locationState and metro pay, side by side.Estimate your payTune by role, location, and experience.

Real numbers, clearly labeled. Nothing made up. How we calculate this →

Engineering salary by role

Median and top-end pay across engineering disciplines.

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By state

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Estimated engineering pay by state.

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By city

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Estimated engineering pay by metro.

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Methodology & sources

What is verified, what is estimated, and exactly where it comes from.

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A living dataset

Help build the most trusted engineering pay data

Start with trusted national pay for every discipline, then go local — by state, city, and experience. As engineers add their own numbers, the estimates get sharper and new roles, titles, and cities come online.

Submit your salaryHow the data works
  1. 1

    Your submission stays private

    Individual entries are never shown — only pooled, reviewed numbers appear publicly.

  2. 2

    Shown only when there's enough data

    A city or role number appears once enough independent submissions back it up — never from one entry.

  3. 3

    Everyone gets sharper numbers

    More submissions mean tighter estimates and broader coverage — including titles standard surveys miss.

How much do engineers make? Common questions

How much do engineers make in the United States?
Engineering pay varies widely by discipline. The typical U.S. engineering median is around $120,395 per year, ranging from about $99,590 for civil engineers to $167,740 for engineering managers. Software engineers sit near $133,080. Location and experience move pay by tens of thousands of dollars beyond the discipline you choose.
Which type of engineer earns the most?
Among the engineering occupations tracked here, engineering (architectural and engineering) managers have the highest median at $167,740, followed by petroleum, aerospace, and software engineers. See the highest-paid engineering jobs for the full ranking.
Where does the salary data come from?
Every figure on SalaryEngineer is sourced from official U.S. government wage data and labeled with its provenance — verified benchmarks, mapped estimates for emerging titles, and clearly-marked blended estimates. Nothing is fabricated. See our methodology for the full sourcing.
How much does location change an engineering salary?
A lot — often more than the choice of discipline. The same role can pay 20–40% above the national median in high-cost states and metros like California, Washington, and the San Francisco Bay Area, and below it in lower-cost markets. Open any role to see its pay ranked by state and metro area.

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