Pay · 17-2141
Mechanical Engineers earn $104,110 a year at the midpoint
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The lowest tenth are paid about $73,990, the highest tenth about $164,340 — figures from the 2025 federal wage survey.
National figures for mechanical engineers, 17-2141, from the 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.
- 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.”
Mechanical engineer earnings, from starting pay to the highest 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.
The survey has no complete figures for that job — pick the closest title from the list.
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 →
Place 98 of 788 by median pay
Better paid than 88% of the occupations in the survey.
- 96 Education Administrators, Postsecondary $104,590
- 97 Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers $104,300
- 98 Mechanical Engineers $104,110
- 99 Web and Digital Interface Designers $104,000
- 100 Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists $103,410
Resumes for mechanical engineers
Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.
- Read and interpreted blueprints, technical drawings, schematics, or computer-generated reports.
- Researched, designed, evaluated, installed, operated, or maintained mechanical products, equipment, systems or processes to meet requirements.
- Specified system components or directed modification of products to ensure conformance with engineering design, performance specifications, or environmental regulations.
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.
Examples
Resumes written for this kind of work.
Real sheets, filled in end to end — for this job and the ones beside it.
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Mechanical engineer wages by state
The 43 states where the most people do this work, of 51 with a published figure: their medians range by 1.97 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.
| State | Median a year | Where most start | 10th to 90th | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Mexico | $157,710 | $103,780 | $103,780 — $203,140 | 2,710 |
| California | $130,900 | $82,070 | $82,070 — $203,620 | 30,530 |
| Delaware | $125,130 | $65,890 | $65,890 — $168,180 | 610 |
| Colorado | $124,430 | $75,100 | $75,100 — $170,810 | 7,190 |
| Maryland | $122,870 | $79,670 | $79,670 — $176,680 | 6,550 |
| Louisiana | $119,540 | $70,350 | $70,350 — $181,550 | 1,890 |
| Massachusetts | $119,300 | $79,570 | $79,570 — $166,480 | 7,680 |
| Rhode Island | $116,230 | $79,000 | $79,000 — $195,190 | 1,560 |
| Texas | $112,410 | $75,810 | $75,810 — $175,210 | 22,080 |
| New Jersey | $112,300 | $79,160 | $79,160 — $162,800 | 4,180 |
| Washington | $110,430 | $79,400 | $79,400 — $167,680 | 8,240 |
| Connecticut | $105,090 | $77,340 | $77,340 — $157,980 | 4,600 |
| Michigan | $104,890 | $76,310 | $76,310 — $159,840 | 34,630 |
| South Carolina | $104,580 | $74,260 | $74,260 — $166,340 | 5,780 |
| Virginia | $104,180 | $77,840 | $77,840 — $160,770 | 7,470 |
| New Hampshire | $103,660 | $72,740 | $72,740 — $165,500 | 2,760 |
| Oregon | $103,470 | $78,100 | $78,100 — $162,550 | 2,920 |
| Illinois | $102,680 | $72,150 | $72,150 — $160,160 | 11,790 |
| Nevada | $102,680 | $75,960 | $75,960 — $160,210 | 1,410 |
| Utah | $102,500 | $73,070 | $73,070 — $160,640 | 3,370 |
| New York | $102,440 | $74,990 | $74,990 — $160,220 | 8,590 |
| Maine | $102,430 | $78,440 | $78,440 — $137,280 | 890 |
| Oklahoma | $101,850 | $70,070 | $70,070 — $136,110 | 2,270 |
| Kentucky | $101,050 | $65,370 | $65,370 — $139,810 | 4,170 |
| North Carolina | $100,720 | $71,260 | $71,260 — $155,550 | 9,560 |
| Georgia | $100,620 | $71,940 | $71,940 — $156,320 | 5,290 |
| Arizona | $100,270 | $71,030 | $71,030 — $159,040 | 5,050 |
| Florida | $99,980 | $66,260 | $66,260 — $153,950 | 10,740 |
| Indiana | $99,590 | $66,330 | $66,330 — $143,090 | 8,690 |
| Tennessee | $99,550 | $64,150 | $64,150 — $156,150 | 3,930 |
| Missouri | $99,330 | $64,750 | $64,750 — $142,100 | 4,870 |
| Minnesota | $99,140 | $75,870 | $75,870 — $151,580 | 5,890 |
| Ohio | $99,100 | $69,160 | $69,160 — $138,020 | 14,390 |
| Mississippi | $98,000 | $62,210 | $62,210 — $136,990 | 1,570 |
| Pennsylvania | $97,920 | $65,770 | $65,770 — $150,950 | 13,550 |
| Iowa | $97,700 | $71,050 | $71,050 — $137,540 | 3,470 |
| West Virginia | $97,390 | $64,640 | $64,640 — $143,030 | 760 |
| Wisconsin | $95,870 | $64,850 | $64,850 — $130,360 | 7,470 |
| Idaho | $93,190 | $63,660 | $63,660 — $141,020 | 1,070 |
| Nebraska | $88,060 | $61,860 | $61,860 — $136,870 | 950 |
| North Dakota | $86,330 | $63,930 | $63,930 — $136,060 | 790 |
| Kansas | $86,260 | $72,210 | $72,210 — $131,660 | 4,630 |
| Arkansas | $80,180 | $57,650 | $57,650 — $131,840 | 1,410 |
Mechanical 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.
Questions people often ask
What is a mechanical engineer’s yearly income?
A mechanical engineer makes a median of $104,110 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $84,130 and $132,590.
What is a mechanical engineer’s hourly pay rate?
The median pay rate is $50.05 an hour; the average is $113,610 a year.
What is the starting pay for a mechanical engineer?
Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $84,130 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $73,990.
Which state pays mechanical engineers the most?
New Mexico, with a median of $157,710 a year.
How many people work as mechanical engineers?
About 296,810 in the United States — number 98 of 788 occupations by median pay.
Work that pays nearly the same
Median pay within $960 of what mechanical engineers earn — $104,110 a year — but not always the same spread.
- $510 more Database Administrators $104,620median a year 10th percentile: $60,230 90th percentile: $163,320
- $810 more Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Products $104,920median a year 10th percentile: $52,600 90th percentile: $200,440
- $960 more Personal Financial Advisors $105,070median a year 10th percentile: $50,190 90th percentile: $357,020