Mechanical engineer salary in the US
What mechanical engineers are paid in the US, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with how your own pay compares. Figures from the BLS OEWS release dated May 2025.
Median annual pay
$104,110
Middle half earn
$84,130 to $132,590
People in this job, US
296,810
Pay check
Am I underpaid?
$
Stays in your browser. No account needed.
Mechanical Engineers, national, annual pay, May 2025
- 10th percentile
- $73,990
- 25th percentile
- $84,130
- Median
- $104,110
- 75th percentile
- $132,590
- 90th percentile
- $164,340
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 17-2141. Percentiles across everyone employed in the occupation, not experience levels.
At a glance
What mechanical engineers earn across the US
- About 296,810 people are employed in this occupation across the US.
- Pay varies widely within the job: the 90th percentile earns 2.2 times the 10th.
Worked from BLS OEWS, May 2025. Not adjusted for the cost of living.
Skills
What employers look for in a mechanical engineer
The skills our mechanical engineer resume example leads with, written for US employers.
- SolidWorks
- CREO
- GD&T
- Finite element analysis
- Tolerance stack-up
- Design for manufacturability
- Injection molding
- Sheet metal design
- CNC machining
- Thermal analysis
See the full mechanical engineer resume example, with bullets and keywords.
Negotiating
Using these numbers
Below $84,130 puts you in the bottom quarter for mechanical engineers in the US. That is worth raising, with evidence of what you deliver.
The median, $104,110, is the middle of the market, not a ceiling. An offer at or near it is a fair starting point to negotiate from.
Asking for $132,590 or more puts you in the top quarter, so it needs a reason an employer will accept: a wider scope, a competing offer, or a skill that is hard to hire for.
Percentiles are not experience levels. They describe everyone doing the job, so a senior hire can sit at the median of a market full of senior people.
About the numbers
What these figures are
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys employers for its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, and these figures are from the release dated May 2025. They cover wage and salary workers in Mechanical Engineers, a category that is often broader than a single job title. Self-employed people are not included.
They are base pay: bonuses, equity and overtime are not included, and they are not adjusted for the cost of living.
Questions
Questions about mechanical engineer pay in the US
Know your number? Now get the offer.
Get a free resume score in seconds, read straight from your file.