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Pay · 53-5031

Ship Engineers earn $109,530 a year at the midpoint

Half earn more than that and half earn less. The lowest tenth are paid about $57,870, the highest tenth about $165,490 — figures from the 2025 federal wage survey.

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$109,530median a year · United States
$52.66an hour $111,790average 8,400people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$82,13025th $109,530median $135,76075th
$57,87010th percentile $165,49090th percentile
$82,130a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$133,640best-paying state · New York
$65,010lowest-paying state · North Carolina
+22%top state against the national median
  • Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
  • What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
  • Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
  • Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”

State matters a lotThe same job pays $133,640 in New York and $65,010 in North Carolina — a gap of $68,630 a year.

Ship engineer earnings, from starting pay up to the top 10%

Pick the job, where you work and how long you have done it. The range comes from the published wage percentiles for that job.

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An estimate from survey percentiles, not an offer. Employer, industry, shift and credentials move pay within and beyond this range. Full wage page for this job →

Ship engineer wages in each state

Across 24 states the median ranges by 2.06 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
New York $133,640 $65,040 $65,040 — $174,260 550
Hawaii $131,640 $93,650 $93,650 — $194,880 70
Florida $130,480 $77,970 $77,970 — $149,920 1,260
Texas $127,810 $93,560 $93,560 — $150,460 660
Massachusetts $122,720 $81,580 $81,580 — $150,830 150
Indiana $122,190 $50,040 $50,040 — $165,440 210
Kentucky $120,550 $81,040 $81,040 — $121,880 —
Rhode Island $119,330 $76,120 $76,120 — $159,990 50
Connecticut $119,010 $53,690 $53,690 — $140,320 50
New Jersey $118,310 $87,310 $87,310 — $150,600 170
Illinois $115,310 $52,870 $52,870 — $136,310 110
Washington $107,940 $61,530 $61,530 — $157,340 730
Louisiana $103,430 $59,100 $59,100 — $244,020 610
Mississippi $98,380 $75,730 $75,730 — $129,880 140
South Carolina $97,890 $61,610 $61,610 — $114,860 80
California $97,660 $80,820 $80,820 — $169,280 610
Alabama $96,030 $91,410 $91,410 — $114,490 50
Oregon $88,800 $57,180 $57,180 — $168,360 80
Alaska $88,190 $40,240 $40,240 — $145,930 420
Virginia $82,370 $47,420 $47,420 — $150,300 1,450
Pennsylvania $80,210 $63,990 $63,990 — $126,510 90
Michigan $79,170 $34,050 $34,050 — $116,790 100
Maine $77,160 $60,280 $60,280 — $101,790 30
North Carolina $65,010 $62,360 $62,360 — $96,940 90

Ship engineer pay rate, hourly to annual

Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.

$109,533a year

Nearby work, and what it pays

Occupations in the same group of the federal classification — the usual next steps, or the ones beside this one.

Ship Engineers$109,530
Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels$92,460−$17,070 Sailors and Marine Oilers$51,520−$58,010

Writing a resume for ship engineers

Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.

Computerized maintenance management system CMMSMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft WordSAP softwareMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft PowerPointMicrosoft Project
  • Monitored engine, machinery, or equipment indicators when vessels are underway, and report abnormalities to appropriate shipboard staff.
  • Monitored the availability, use, or condition of lifesaving equipment or pollution preventatives to ensure that international regulations are followed.
  • Monitored and tested operations of engines or other equipment so that malfunctions and their causes can be identified.

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This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Place 77 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 90% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 75 Nuclear Technicians $110,240
  2. 76 Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers $109,910
  3. 77 Ship Engineers $109,530
  4. 78 Bioengineers and Biomedical Engineers $109,370
  5. 79 Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary $109,270

Examples

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Questions people ask

What is a ship engineer’s yearly income?

A ship engineer makes a median of $109,530 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $82,130 and $135,760.

What is a ship engineer’s hourly pay rate?

The median pay rate is $52.66 an hour; the average is $111,790 a year.

What is the starting pay for a ship engineer?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $82,130 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $57,870.

Which state pays ship engineers the most?

New York, with a median of $133,640 a year.

How many people work as ship engineers?

About 8,400 in the United States — number 77 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Work that pays nearly the same

Median pay within $1,310 of what ship engineers earn — $109,530 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations