Mechanical Engineers salary

SOC 17-2141 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$104,110

per year, nationally

Middle half

$84,130–$132,590

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

296,810

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+9.1%

18,100 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.

$73,990$164,340

10th: $73,990
25th: $84,130
Median: $104,110
75th: $132,590
90th: $164,340

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 mechanical 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	$157,710	92.2	2,710	1.63×
2	District of Columbia	$133,300	109.9	510	0.38×
3	California	$130,900	110.7	30,530	0.88×
4	Delaware	$125,130	99.8	610	0.66×
5	Colorado	$124,430	103.1	7,190	1.31×
6	Alaska	$124,340	102.4	380	0.61×
7	Maryland	$122,870	105.0	6,550	1.24×
8	Louisiana	$119,540	88.2	1,890	0.51×
9	Massachusetts	$119,300	105.8	7,680	1.11×
10	Wyoming	$117,750	92.7	230	0.44×
11	Rhode Island	$116,230	102.3	1,560	1.63×
12	Texas	$112,410	97.1	22,080	0.82×
13	New Jersey	$112,300	108.8	4,180	0.51×
14	Washington	$110,430	107.0	8,240	1.22×
15	Vermont	$107,330	98.0	530	0.92×
16	Connecticut	$105,090	103.6	4,600	1.42×
17	Michigan	$104,890	96.2	34,630	4.12×
18	South Carolina	$104,580	93.7	5,780	1.31×
19	Virginia	$104,180	101.1	7,470	0.95×
20	New Hampshire	$103,660	104.2	2,760	2.12×
21	Oregon	$103,470	103.4	2,920	0.78×
22	Illinois	$102,680	100.0	11,790	1.01×
23	Nevada	$102,680	100.0	1,410	0.48×
24	Utah	$102,500	98.9	3,370	1.02×
25	New York	$102,440	107.9	8,590	0.46×
26	Maine	$102,430	97.0	890	0.72×
27	Oklahoma	$101,850	87.8	2,270	0.70×
28	Kentucky	$101,050	90.2	4,170	1.09×
29	North Carolina	$100,720	94.3	9,560	1.01×
30	Georgia	$100,620	96.3	5,290	0.57×
31	Arizona	$100,270	100.7	5,050	0.82×
32	Alabama	$100,230	88.8	—	—
33	Florida	$99,980	103.4	10,740	0.57×
34	Indiana	$99,590	93.3	8,690	1.42×
35	Tennessee	$99,550	91.9	3,930	0.63×
36	Missouri	$99,330	90.8	4,870	0.87×
37	Minnesota	$99,140	98.6	5,890	1.05×
38	Ohio	$99,100	92.8	14,390	1.36×
39	Hawaii	$98,740	110.0	530	0.44×
40	Mississippi	$98,000	87.0	1,570	0.71×
41	Pennsylvania	$97,920	97.6	13,550	1.17×
42	Iowa	$97,700	87.8	3,470	1.17×
43	West Virginia	$97,390	89.5	760	0.57×
44	Wisconsin	$95,870	94.1	7,470	1.33×
45	Montana	$94,190	94.6	500	0.51×
46	Idaho	$93,190	95.5	1,070	0.65×
47	South Dakota	$88,380	88.6	560	0.64×
48	Nebraska	$88,060	90.1	950	0.49×
49	North Dakota	$86,330	89.0	790	0.96×
50	Kansas	$86,260	90.1	4,630	1.69×
51	Arkansas	$80,180	86.9	1,410	0.56×

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 mechanical engineers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for mechanical 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	$168,030	110.4	5,540	2.56×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$161,370	115.6	5,150	1.14×
3	Baton Rouge, LA	$135,530	90.8	540	0.69×
4	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$132,920	109.9	190	0.99×
5	Salinas, CA	$132,560	109.0	70	0.19×
6	Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC	$128,740	91.9	980	2.21×
7	Peoria, IL	$128,710	91.2	2,120	6.70×
8	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$128,180	105.8	4,530	1.47×
9	Columbus, IN	$127,700	93.0	1,000	10.52×
10	Lexington Park, MD	$127,650	100.8	670	4.97×
11	Ann Arbor, MI	$127,310	100.9	2,280	5.43×
12	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$126,990	108.9	5,390	0.90×
13	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$126,590	111.1	4,500	1.13×
14	Lake Charles, LA	$126,090	85.9	110	0.59×
15	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$125,780	106.9	650	0.84×
16	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$125,350	98.6	8,310	1.32×
17	Midland, TX	$125,200	95.8	250	1.07×
18	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$124,780	100.1	570	2.30×
19	Boulder, CO	$124,360	105.2	1,130	3.08×
20	Corpus Christi, TX	$124,340	92.7	280	0.76×
21	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$123,900	113.6	8,780	0.73×
22	Fairbanks-College, AK	$122,760	103.2	50	0.69×
23	Cheyenne, WY	$122,500	96.5	60	0.66×
24	Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX	$122,280	90.0	470	1.52×
25	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$121,750	111.9	3,370	1.15×
26	Anchorage, AK	$121,610	105.4	270	0.80×
27	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$121,130	108.8	390	1.02×
28	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$120,970	106.7	1,480	0.72×
29	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$120,650	107.8	150	0.38×
30	Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach, SC	$120,070	93.6	60	0.21×
31	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$119,790	100.9	560	0.87×
32	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$119,300	108.3	6,890	1.33×
33	Slidell-Mandeville-Covington, LA	$118,920	92.7	100	0.55×
34	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$117,990	92.6	530	0.63×
35	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$117,420	105.1	220	0.40×
36	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$117,380	110.5	950	1.53×
37	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$116,700	104.5	3,050	1.18×
38	Logan, UT-ID	$116,680	95.9	210	1.68×
39	Decatur, AL	$115,750	87.2	310	2.69×
40	Napa, CA	$112,670	112.6	30	0.21×

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 mechanical 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
Electrical Engineers$120,630
Engineers, All Other$122,930
Electronics Engineers, Except Computer$130,220
Computer Hardware Engineers$161,740
Aerospace Engineers$134,960
Environmental Engineers$107,110