Computer Hardware Engineers salary

SOC 17-2061 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$161,740

per year, nationally

Middle half

$126,090–$202,990

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

76,660

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+7.3%

4,700 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.

$92,940$225,330

10th: $92,940
25th: $126,090
Median: $161,740
75th: $202,990
90th: $225,330

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 computer hardware 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	California	$185,180	110.7	19,820	2.21×
2	Washington	$169,120	107.0	1,800	1.03×
3	Massachusetts	$167,600	105.8	3,150	1.76×
4	New Mexico	$165,350	92.2	5,260	12.25×
5	Texas	$163,860	97.1	7,390	1.06×
6	New York	$163,470	107.9	3,020	0.63×
7	District of Columbia	$163,360	109.9	210	0.62×
8	Hawaii	$159,880	110.0	90	0.28×
9	Arizona	$158,280	100.7	3,110	1.94×
10	Colorado	$156,080	103.1	2,660	1.87×
11	Maryland	$152,730	105.0	1,720	1.27×
12	New Jersey	$142,880	108.8	580	0.27×
13	Virginia	$139,030	101.1	1,720	0.85×
14	Alabama	$136,990	88.8	680	0.66×
15	Delaware	$135,690	99.8	30	0.13×
16	Nebraska	$134,950	90.1	80	0.16×
17	North Carolina	$134,670	94.3	1,340	0.55×
18	Minnesota	$134,300	98.6	770	0.53×
19	Florida	$134,160	103.4	3,290	0.67×
20	Illinois	$133,220	100.0	1,420	0.47×
21	Idaho	$131,570	95.5	920	2.18×
22	Tennessee	$130,830	91.9	—	—
23	New Hampshire	$129,140	104.2	310	0.92×
24	Iowa	$125,120	87.8	130	0.18×
25	South Carolina	$125,110	93.7	690	0.61×
26	Arkansas	$120,290	86.9	160	0.25×
27	Michigan	$119,670	96.2	1,420	0.66×
28	Rhode Island	$119,510	102.3	390	1.58×
29	Ohio	$118,160	92.8	580	0.21×
30	Nevada	$116,530	100.0	160	0.22×
31	Kentucky	$116,200	90.2	500	0.50×
32	Utah	$106,950	98.9	430	0.50×
33	Missouri	$103,980	90.8	900	0.62×
34	Kansas	$101,750	90.1	220	0.32×
35	South Dakota	$101,400	88.6	160	0.73×
36	Georgia	$100,210	96.3	650	0.27×
37	Indiana	$98,350	93.3	320	0.20×
38	Oklahoma	$95,600	87.8	180	0.21×
39	Wisconsin	$83,670	94.1	270	0.19×
40	Louisiana	$83,550	88.2	270	0.28×
41	Mississippi	$78,320	87.0	150	0.26×

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 computer hardware engineers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for computer hardware 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	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$209,860	110.4	7,940	14.19×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$203,890	115.6	2,810	2.40×
3	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$202,390	106.9	120	0.61×
4	Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$175,110	97.6	430	2.56×
5	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$174,440	111.9	3,330	4.39×
6	Manchester-Nashua, NH	$174,140	105.7	130	1.32×
7	Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ	$172,210	100.0	190	1.05×
8	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$169,370	109.9	80	1.60×
9	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$169,120	111.1	1,410	1.37×
10	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$168,990	101.1	490	5.87×
11	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$167,600	108.3	2,840	2.13×
12	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$167,010	103.3	2,820	2.41×
13	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$165,530	98.1	3,850	6.03×
14	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$162,870	103.1	1,570	0.78×
15	Boulder, CO	$161,720	105.2	650	6.80×
16	Cedar Rapids, IA	$161,160	89.0	60	0.84×
17	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$160,300	112.6	1,780	0.38×
18	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$159,480	108.9	1,790	1.16×
19	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$158,530	113.6	1,870	0.60×
20	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$156,750	104.5	740	1.11×
21	Utica-Rome, NY	$151,330	92.7	90	1.49×
22	Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL	$150,530	100.0	500	4.12×
23	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$148,440	108.8	60	0.60×
24	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$144,660	105.8	970	1.22×
25	Urban Honolulu, HI	$143,020	111.0	60	0.30×
26	Worcester, MA	$142,780	102.5	140	0.81×
27	Huntsville, AL	$142,670	93.1	560	4.27×
28	Syracuse, NY	$141,180	95.7	100	0.68×
29	Bend, OR	$140,390	103.6	40	0.77×
30	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$137,740	98.6	840	0.52×
31	Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN	$137,450	96.3	—	—
32	Colorado Springs, CO	$136,920	100.7	490	3.15×
33	Omaha, NE-IA	$136,600	91.9	60	0.25×
34	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	$136,300	101.4	650	0.94×
35	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$135,220	114.2	460	0.33×
36	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$134,300	104.8	550	0.57×
37	Montgomery, AL	$134,190	89.7	40	0.44×
38	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$134,060	106.4	200	0.24×
39	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$133,860	103.6	1,080	0.49×
40	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	$133,430	101.0	270	1.39×

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 computer hardware 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
Aerospace Engineers$134,960
Environmental Engineers$107,110