Mechanical Drafters salary

SOC 17-3013 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$71,550

per year, nationally

Middle half

$58,080–$86,120

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

39,960

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-6.5%

3,300 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.

$48,360$106,580

10th: $48,360
25th: $58,080
Median: $71,550
75th: $86,120
90th: $106,580

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Associate'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 drafters 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	$89,940	92.2	90	0.40×
2	Colorado	$85,280	103.1	580	0.78×
3	New Jersey	$83,380	108.8	690	0.62×
4	California	$82,510	110.7	3,640	0.78×
5	Texas	$79,380	97.1	4,630	1.28×
6	Louisiana	$77,730	88.2	420	0.85×
7	North Dakota	$77,570	89.0	100	0.86×
8	Washington	$76,820	107.0	1,690	1.85×
9	Maryland	$76,740	105.0	360	0.51×
10	New York	$76,490	107.9	1,940	0.78×
11	Maine	$76,360	97.0	620	3.75×
12	Nevada	$75,830	100.0	250	0.64×
13	Massachusetts	$75,490	105.8	620	0.67×
14	Oregon	$74,000	103.4	410	0.81×
15	Minnesota	$73,090	98.6	1,220	1.61×
16	Vermont	$73,040	98.0	70	0.84×
17	Michigan	$72,280	96.2	2,030	1.80×
18	Ohio	$70,580	92.8	1,790	1.26×
19	Utah	$70,000	98.9	490	1.09×
20	Virginia	$69,630	101.1	630	0.60×
21	Rhode Island	$69,290	102.3	100	0.76×
22	Kentucky	$68,880	90.2	510	1.00×
23	Connecticut	$68,830	103.6	450	1.02×
24	Florida	$68,050	103.4	1,540	0.60×
25	Arizona	$67,410	100.7	630	0.76×
26	Georgia	$66,670	96.3	820	0.65×
27	Missouri	$66,350	90.8	870	1.15×
28	Kansas	$65,250	90.1	540	1.47×
29	West Virginia	$65,100	89.5	140	0.76×
30	Wisconsin	$63,770	94.1	1,630	2.15×
31	South Carolina	$63,740	93.7	640	1.09×
32	Pennsylvania	$63,480	97.6	2,330	1.50×
33	Oklahoma	$63,440	87.8	650	1.49×
34	Tennessee	$63,390	91.9	740	0.88×
35	Iowa	$63,330	87.8	630	1.58×
36	Illinois	$63,320	100.0	450	0.29×
37	Indiana	$62,820	93.3	1,300	1.58×
38	Nebraska	$61,170	90.1	530	2.01×
39	Wyoming	$61,070	92.7	60	0.81×
40	Mississippi	$60,460	87.0	260	0.88×
41	Arkansas	$59,960	86.9	250	0.74×
42	Idaho	$59,050	95.5	330	1.49×
43	North Carolina	$59,050	94.3	1,350	1.06×
44	Delaware	$57,110	99.8	160	1.26×
45	New Hampshire	$55,390	104.2	—	—
46	Alabama	$53,600	88.8	440	0.81×
47	South Dakota	$52,610	88.6	100	0.87×

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 drafters wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for mechanical drafters

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	Boulder, CO	$102,710	105.2	60	1.28×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$98,310	115.6	390	0.64×
3	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$97,450	110.4	240	0.83×
4	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$94,470	111.1	1,020	1.91×
5	Albuquerque, NM	$94,140	95.5	50	0.50×
6	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$90,160	105.8	380	0.93×
7	Colorado Springs, CO	$87,860	100.7	30	0.40×
8	Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX	$87,220	90.0	120	2.74×
9	Idaho Falls, ID	$86,420	94.4	60	3.04×
10	Midland, TX	$86,100	95.8	40	1.43×
11	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$84,100	100.9	50	1.61×
12	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$84,070	112.6	1,180	0.48×
13	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$83,550	111.9	370	0.95×
14	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$83,200	103.1	1,620	1.56×
15	Niles, MI	$82,960	92.4	50	3.02×
16	Wichita, KS	$82,590	88.9	190	2.35×
17	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$80,970	103.2	50	0.87×
18	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$80,780	113.6	1,480	0.92×
19	Davenport-Moline-Rock Island, IA-IL	$80,550	89.1	50	1.09×
20	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$80,510	105.4	410	1.31×
21	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$79,180	108.8	30	0.62×
22	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$79,130	92.6	80	0.72×
23	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$78,990	110.5	90	1.08×
24	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$78,820	98.6	1,300	1.54×
25	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$78,790	102.7	130	0.85×
26	Gulfport-Biloxi, MS	$78,640	90.0	90	2.12×
27	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$78,350	104.5	210	0.60×
28	Huntsville, AL	$78,250	93.1	90	1.29×
29	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$78,210	108.3	410	0.59×
30	San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX	$78,110	94.7	190	0.66×
31	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$77,790	106.7	180	0.64×
32	Baton Rouge, LA	$77,720	90.8	140	1.30×
33	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	$77,670	101.0	100	1.00×
34	Fargo, ND-MN	$77,520	90.9	40	1.16×
35	Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC	$77,500	97.9	160	0.80×
36	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN	$77,250	95.4	300	1.07×
37	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$77,160	98.1	310	0.92×
38	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$76,600	108.9	190	0.24×
39	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$76,520	100.9	40	0.52×
40	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$76,490	109.4	90	1.34×

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 drafters wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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