I have been busy, so I have come up with this easy (for me) issue.
Since there has been a lot of interest in competitive salary, here is
some data from a number of U.S. salary surveys. I have more complete
data, but it appears fair to me (avoiding copyright issues) to only
publish part of the data.
Does any of our non-US colleagues have data to share? Send me your
data and I will publish in an upcoming issue.
PS: for the table below, use a Courier or any fixed spacing font for correct printing. I generated this with a Courier 12 font.
PPS: As long as you are between the Min and Max of the range, your salary is roughly correct. The average salary is very hard to use because it may be skewed by too many people,which for one reason or another has not been promoted to the next level but who has a lot of seniority, being at the top of the range!
PPPS: The last salary table below is from an EET survey and the upper ranges may be lower than in practice due to the fact that the higher paid people have a tendency not to participate in surveys.
Engineering Staff Salaries
Source: 1994/95 Professional and Scientific Personnel Report
Wyatt Data Services, 218 Route 17 N, Rochelle Park, NJ 07662
Cost $690
Definitions:
Level 1: entry or junior level
Level 3: senior engineers with 3 to 5 years of professional
experience, and is usually the first career level in the ladder
Often first level management is the next step beyond the level 4
category
Level 5: senior staff specialist with 8+ yerast of increasingly
responsible professional experience
AVERAGE SALARY AV SALARY RANGE
Average 1st Q Med 3rd Q Min Mid Max
Calibration Engineer
Level 1 28.6 23.7 25.9 36.0 24.3 30.7 37.2
Level 2 39.0 37.2 40.3 43.5 30.1 37.9 45.7
Level 3 45.1 36.0 50.4 52.4 38.4 48.4 58.4
Chemical Engineer
Level 1 37.9 34.8 39.7 41.0 31.4 39.6 47.8
Level 2 42.9 39.5 43.1 46.9 34.9 43.7 52.6
Level 3 49.1 44.6 48.8 54.3 40.3 50.5 60.8
Level 4 56.8 52.0 56.0 62.2 44.0 55.9 67.7
Level 5 64.6 57.7 63.2 72.8 51.2 65.5 79.7
Civil Engineer
Level 1 31.8 28.7 31.7 34.5 26.6 33.3 40.1
Level 2 38.5 35.0 37.6 40.2 32.2 40.0 47.9
Level 3 47.8 43.5 47.0 51.5 39.1 48.9 58.8
Level 4 57.1 52.9 57.5 61.8 47.8 59.7 71.6
Level 5 66.8 60.0 66.0 74.0 55.9 69.8 83.7
Electrical Engineer
Level 1 34.7 31.6 34.6 37.5 29.3 36.6 43.8
Level 2 40.9 37.0 40.3 44.1 33.8 42.3 50.7
Level 3 48.6 43.5 47.4 53.0 39.0 49.0 59.0
Level 4 54.9 49.2 54.1 60.1 43.1 54.4 65.8
Level 5 62.6 57.3 61.7 67.4 48.7 61.8 74.8
Environmental Engineer (*)
Level 1 35.3 31.0 36.1 38.5 29.8 37.2 44.7
Electronics Engineer
Level 1 35.2 33.0 35.4 37.7 29.1 36.6 44.1
Level 2 40.3 35.4 40.0 44.7 32.7 41.2 49.8
Level 3 47.4 43.2 48.1 52.0 38.6 48.9 59.1
Level 4 55.0 50.0 55.6 59.9 43.8 55.4 67.0
Level 5 64.0 59.5 63.0 69.4 49.2 62.4 75.7
Hardware Engineer
Level 1 36.2 34.2 35.5 37.0 29.0 37.4 45.7
Level 2 40.9 37.3 39.8 45.8 33.3 42.2 51.1
Level 3 47.1 44.1 45.9 50.1 37.5 48.1 58.8
Level 4 52.6 48.4 51.9 56.2 41.3 53.5 65.7
Level 5 60.2 52.3 60.0 66.0 46.6 59.4 72.3
Industrial Engineer (*)
Level 1 33.6 30.8 34.0 36.7 28.4 35.6 42.8
Mechanical Engineer
Level 1 34.9 32.3 34.7 37.2 30.4 37.7 45.0
Level 2 40.5 37.2 40.4 43.5 34.3 42.5 50.8
Level 3 47.9 43.5 47.5 51.9 39.1 49.0 58.9
Level 4 53.8 49.4 53.3 58.6 43.0 54.1 65.2
Level 5 61.9 56.0 60.8 67.6 48.6 61.4 74.1
Metallurgical Engineer (*)
Level 1 36.3 33.8 35.8 39.8 31.2 39.0 46.8
Optical Engineer (*)
Level 1 39.0 34.3 37.4 44.5 33.6 42.3 51.0
Packaging Engineer (*)
Level 1 31.6 27.3 32.5 36.0 26.4 32.5 38.7
Production/processing Engineer (*)
Level 1 34.6 31.1 35.0 37.4 29.4 36.8 44.1
Quality Control Engineer (*)
Level 1 35.3 31.0 35.1 38.7 30.3 38.1 45.9
Software Engineer
Level 1 33.5 31.0 34.0 36.2 28.9 36.2 43.6
Level 2 39.4 35.6 38.5 42.7 33.2 41.8 50.3
Level 3 47.3 43.3 46.8 50.2 38.4 48.5 58.6
Level 4 53.5 48.7 52.4 58.4 42.6 54.1 65.5
Level 5 62.8 56.5 62.7 66.6 50.1 63.7 77.2
Tool Design Engineer (*)
Level 1 36.9 34.2 37.3 39.3 29.7 37.4 45.1
(*): send me mail if you would like more data.
Income By Engineering Grade Level
Source: 1994 Income and Salary Survey
National Society of Professional Engineers,
1420 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
Cost: $45 for NSPE members, $110 for non members
Mean Median Typical Position Title
Engineer I/II 35,998 34,000 Junior Engineer/Engineer or Assistant
Engineer
Engineer III 39,904 38,000 Engineer or Assistant Engineer
Engineer IV 48,975 46,000 Engineer or Assistant Engineer
Engineer V 56,194 54,000 Senior or Principal Engineer, Project
Leader
Engineer VI 66,194 62,000 Senior or Principal Engineer, District
or Chief Engineer
Engineer VII 74,682 70,335 Principal Engineer, Department
Manager, Director of Research, Chief
Engineer
Engineer VIII 85,947 79,988 Chief Engineer, Director of Research,
Senior Advisor, Engineering Manager
Engineer IX 120,448 102,200 Director of Engineering, General
Manager, Vice-President
Engineering Mean Salary Level by Job Title
Source: Electronic Engineering Times
Department heads 82,200
VP, engineering 77,500
Member technical staff 68,300
Principal Engineers 66,900
Group leaders 66,400
Senior Engineer 60,800
Project Engineers 57,400
Systems Engineers 56,500
Software Engineers 53,500
Design Engineers 48,500
All respondents 59,800