Chemical Engineers salary

SOC 17-2041 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$125,040

per year, nationally

Middle half

$97,820–$157,190

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

21,070

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+2.6%

1,100 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$79,420$182,880

10th: $79,420
25th: $97,820
Median: $125,040
75th: $157,190
90th: $182,880

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where chemical engineers earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	New Mexico	$158,190	92.2	160	1.33×
2	Virginia	$136,380	101.1	790	1.42×
3	Alabama	$135,030	88.8	600	2.08×
4	Louisiana	$134,800	88.2	730	2.80×
5	Delaware	$133,670	99.8	370	5.59×
6	Texas	$132,750	97.1	2,610	1.37×
7	West Virginia	$129,210	89.5	160	1.65×
8	New York	$129,060	107.9	540	0.41×
9	Washington	$128,290	107.0	650	1.36×
10	Oklahoma	$127,790	87.8	110	0.46×
11	Montana	$127,490	94.6	80	1.16×
12	Maryland	$127,190	105.0	500	1.35×
13	New Jersey	$126,760	108.8	440	0.75×
14	Colorado	$125,800	103.1	720	1.84×
15	Illinois	$121,560	100.0	520	0.63×
16	Massachusetts	$118,000	105.8	1,460	2.96×
17	Iowa	$117,590	87.8	40	0.20×
18	North Carolina	$117,410	94.3	380	0.56×
19	Kentucky	$117,170	90.2	190	0.70×
20	Pennsylvania	$116,970	97.6	810	0.98×
21	Oregon	$116,950	103.4	140	0.53×
22	North Dakota	$115,400	89.0	80	1.32×
23	Indiana	$113,160	93.3	720	1.66×
24	Rhode Island	$111,590	102.3	50	0.70×
25	Ohio	$111,200	92.8	1,030	1.37×
26	Florida	$109,000	103.4	230	0.17×
27	Minnesota	$107,670	98.6	210	0.54×
28	Idaho	$106,740	95.5	140	1.17×
29	Mississippi	$106,740	87.0	150	0.94×
30	Alaska	$106,080	102.4	—	—
31	Arkansas	$105,270	86.9	290	1.66×
32	Georgia	$103,880	96.3	330	0.49×
33	Michigan	$103,230	96.2	670	1.13×
34	Missouri	$102,320	90.8	320	0.80×
35	Connecticut	$102,270	103.6	410	1.80×
36	Kansas	$102,020	90.1	280	1.44×
37	South Carolina	$101,570	93.7	390	1.26×
38	Nebraska	$98,310	90.1	130	0.96×
39	Wisconsin	$97,660	94.1	110	0.28×
40	Utah	$85,520	98.9	—	—
41	New Hampshire	$73,250	104.2	40	0.45×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where chemical engineers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for chemical engineers

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Albuquerque, NM	$163,380	95.5	80	1.44×
2	Pittsburgh, PA	$152,290	94.7	110	0.71×
3	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$139,220	101.1	40	1.74×
4	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$138,120	98.6	1,510	3.40×
5	Mobile, AL	$137,170	88.1	150	6.24×
6	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$136,870	92.6	190	3.12×
7	Lake Charles, LA	$136,810	85.9	100	7.16×
8	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$135,110	103.2	40	1.24×
9	Baton Rouge, LA	$134,800	90.8	360	6.50×
10	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$134,210	113.6	320	0.37×
11	Rochester, NY	$133,740	97.0	—	—
12	St. Louis, MO-IL	$133,450	95.1	110	0.62×
13	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$132,820	108.9	640	1.51×
14	Toledo, OH	$132,760	91.5	70	1.81×
15	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$131,690	105.4	70	0.42×
16	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$130,520	103.1	130	0.24×
17	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$130,030	100.1	320	18.03×
18	Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX	$129,850	90.0	140	6.46×
19	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$129,790	98.1	60	0.34×
20	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	$129,070	101.0	50	0.87×
21	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$129,060	99.6	40	0.58×
22	Wichita, KS	$128,780	88.9	—	—
23	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$128,610	104.5	180	0.97×
24	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$128,110	105.8	410	1.88×
25	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$127,770	102.6	790	2.00×
26	Tulsa, OK	$127,360	89.2	50	0.83×
27	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$126,830	112.6	510	0.39×
28	Corpus Christi, TX	$126,690	92.7	100	3.70×
29	Boulder, CO	$125,800	105.2	190	7.35×
30	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$125,200	111.1	230	0.82×
31	Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek, OH	$123,860	92.7	50	0.95×
32	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$122,730	104.8	170	0.64×
33	Evansville, IN	$120,990	91.5	60	3.30×
34	Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN	$118,010	95.7	—	—
35	Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$117,440	97.6	110	2.37×
36	Richmond, VA	$117,150	97.9	60	0.69×
37	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$115,890	97.3	110	0.61×
38	Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI	$114,800	95.5	100	1.23×
39	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$112,770	95.8	70	0.90×
40	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$111,980	114.2	50	0.13×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where chemical engineers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Civil Engineers$100,840
Industrial Engineers$102,440
Mechanical Engineers$104,110
Electrical Engineers$120,630
Engineers, All Other$122,930
Electronics Engineers, Except Computer$130,220
Computer Hardware Engineers$161,740
Aerospace Engineers$134,960