SalariesArchitecture and Engineering: pay for 36 occupations, May 2025
The field Architecture and Engineering had 2,617,130 jobs in the United States in May 2025, with a median pay of $99,520 a year ($47.85 an hour) across all its occupations.
No occupation in this field matches.
In short
- Highest median pay in this field: Computer Hardware Engineers, $161,740 a year.
- Lowest: Surveying and Mapping Technicians, $54,240 a year.
- Most jobs: Civil Engineers (367,840), Industrial Engineers (365,740) and Mechanical Engineers (296,810).
- For comparison, the median for all occupations in the country was $50,980 a year.
Sorted by median pay, highest first. "Not published" in the yearly or hourly column means BLS releases only the other one for that occupation.
The field as a whole
Architecture and Engineering holds 2,617,130 of the 155,495,730 jobs in the national figures, about 2 in every 100. Its median pay of $99,520 a year is 95% above the median for all occupations ($50,980), which places it number 4 of the 22 fields. Across the whole field, the lowest-paid tenth earned less than $58,670 and the highest-paid tenth more than $166,490; the middle half earned between $76,560 and $130,240. The average was $106,830, 7% above the median.
Inside the field
Inside the field, the best-paid occupation with a published yearly median earns 3.0 times the lowest ($161,740 against $54,240). All 36 occupations with a yearly median are above the national median of $50,980. The occupation in the middle of the field's list is Agricultural Engineers, at $98,590. Jobs are unevenly spread: the three largest occupations hold 39% of the field's jobs, while the smallest, Agricultural Engineers, has 1,480. Pay stretches furthest within Petroleum Engineers, where the highest-paid tenth earn over $253,200 and the lowest-paid tenth under $81,440.
Reading the field
Pay also moves with place. For the field's largest occupation, Civil Engineers, the state medians run from $61,060 in Puerto Rico to $122,500 in California; its own page has every state. The Bureau of Labor Statistics sorts every occupation into one field by the work done, not by the industry of the employer, so an accountant at a hospital is counted under business and financial operations, not health care.
Questions about this field
What is the highest-paying job in architecture and engineering?
By published median pay in May 2025: Computer Hardware Engineers, at $161,740 a year.
Which architecture and engineering occupation has the most jobs?
Civil Engineers, with 367,840 jobs in the United States.
What is the median pay for architecture and engineering occupations?
$99,520 a year across the whole field, against $50,980 for all occupations.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Checked in November 2026. Figures are for employees, before tax, and leave out overtime pay and benefits. They are official statistics, not advice or a pay offer; see bls.gov/oes for the original tables.