Electrical Engineer: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.
The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.
10% of electrical engineers earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $76,550
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
25% of electrical engineers earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $92,830
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Half of electrical engineers earn more than this and half earn less.
- Annual
- $120,630
- Hourly
- $58.00
- Source
- BLS May 2025
75% of electrical engineers earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $152,950
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
90% of electrical engineers earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $184,300
- Hourly
- n/a
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Electrical Engineers research, design, develop, test, or supervise the manufacturing and installation of electrical equipment, components, or systems for commercial, industrial, military, or scientific use. The median pay is $120,630 a year ($58.00 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a bachelor's degree (82% of workers surveyed by O*NET).
- Median pay
- $120,630
- BLS May 2025
- Employed in the U.S.
- 198,750
- BLS May 2025
- Preparation
- Job Zone 4 of 5
- considerable preparation
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree
- 82% of workers
Every page for Electrical Engineers
Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.
Open →How to becomeElectrical Engineer how to becomeEducation, training and the skills to build first.
Open →ResumeElectrical Engineer resumeKeywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.
Open →Career changeElectrical Engineer career changeWhere these skills transfer, with skill match and pay change.
Open →Free toolCheck your resumeParsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.
Open →What electrical engineers do day to day
Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).
- Design, implement, maintain, or improve electrical instruments, equipment, facilities, components, products, or systems for commercial, industrial, or domestic purposes.
- Oversee project production efforts to assure projects are completed on time and within budget.
- Direct or coordinate manufacturing, construction, installation, maintenance, support, documentation, or testing activities to ensure compliance with specifications, codes, or customer requirements.
- Perform detailed calculations to compute and establish manufacturing, construction, or installation standards or specifications.
- Operate computer-assisted engineering or design software or equipment to perform engineering tasks.
- Confer with engineers, customers, or others to discuss existing or potential engineering projects or products.
- Investigate or test vendors' or competitors' products.
- Inspect completed installations and observe operations to ensure conformance to design and equipment specifications and compliance with operational, safety, or environmental standards.
Ranked by importance to the job
Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.
Knowledge areas: Engineering and Technology, Computers and Electronics, Design, English Language, Mathematics, Physics.
Software electrical engineers use
Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.
- Autodesk AutoCADComputer aided design CAD softwareIn demand
- Autodesk RevitComputer aided design CAD softwareIn demand
- The MathWorks MATLABAnalytical or scientific softwareIn demand
- ETAPGeographic information systemIn demand
- SKM Systems Analysis Power ToolsAnalytical or scientific softwareIn demand
- Apache Subversion SVNFile versioning softwareHot technology
- Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3DComputer aided design CAD softwareHot technology
- Bentley MicroStationComputer aided design CAD softwareHot technology
- Dassault Systemes SolidWorksComputer aided design CAD softwareHot technology
- ESRI ArcGIS softwareGeographic information systemHot technology
- Microsoft VisioProcess mapping and design softwareHot technology
- APLACAnalytical or scientific software
Also called: Circuits Engineer, Design Engineer, Electrical Controls Engineer, Electrical Design Engineer, Electrical Project Engineer.
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How this page is built
Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the correlation between the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level, subtract the average across all occupations, and correlate the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 or below means unrelated. Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.
- How a specific employer defines the job.
- Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
- Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).