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Role hub · Industrial Engineers

Industrial 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.

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Updated Oct 24, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
Pay ladder · select a percentile
Median percentile pay

Half of industrial engineers earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$102,440
Hourly
$49.25
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Industrial Engineers design, develop, test, and evaluate integrated systems for managing industrial production processes, including human work factors, quality control, inventory control, logistics and material flow, cost analysis, and production coordination. The median pay is $102,440 a year ($49.25 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a bachelor's degree (59% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$102,440
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
365,740
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 4 of 5
considerable preparation
Most common education
Bachelor's Degree
59% of workers
Explore the role

Every page for Industrial Engineers

SalaryIndustrial Engineer salary

Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.

Open →Career changeIndustrial Engineer career change

Where these skills transfer, with skill match and pay change.

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The work

What industrial engineers do day to day

Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).

  1. Estimate production costs, cost saving methods, and the effects of product design changes on expenditures for management review, action, and control.
  2. Plan and establish sequence of operations to fabricate and assemble parts or products and to promote efficient utilization.
  3. Analyze statistical data and product specifications to determine standards and establish quality and reliability objectives of finished product.
  4. Confer with clients, vendors, staff, and management personnel regarding purchases, product and production specifications, manufacturing capabilities, or project status.
  5. Communicate with management and user personnel to develop production and design standards.
  6. Evaluate precision and accuracy of production and testing equipment and engineering drawings to formulate corrective action plan.
  7. Recommend methods for improving utilization of personnel, material, and utilities.
  8. Record or oversee recording of information to ensure currency of engineering drawings and documentation of production problems.
Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.

Reading ComprehensioncoreActive ListeningcoreCritical ThinkingcoreComplex Problem SolvingSpeakingWritingMonitoringSystems AnalysisSystems Evaluation

Knowledge areas: Engineering and Technology, Production and Processing, Mechanical, Design, English Language, Mathematics.

Tools and technology

Software industrial engineers use

Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.

  • Autodesk AutoCADComputer aided design CAD softwareIn demand
  • Bentley MicroStationComputer aided design CAD softwareHot technology
  • Dassault Systemes SolidWorksComputer aided design CAD softwareHot technology
  • Extensible markup language XMLEnterprise application integration softwareHot technology
  • GitHubApplication server softwareHot technology
  • JUnitProgram testing softwareHot technology
  • Microsoft VisioProcess mapping and design softwareHot technology
  • SASAnalytical or scientific softwareHot technology
  • The MathWorks MATLABAnalytical or scientific softwareHot technology
  • 3D Static Strength Prediction Program 3DSSPPAnalytical or scientific software
  • A mathematical programming language AMPLAnalytical or scientific software
  • Allen Bradley PanelViewIndustrial control software

Also called: Continuous Improvement Engineer, Engineer, Facilities Engineer, Operations Engineer, Plant Engineer.

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Method

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.

What this page can't tell you
  • How a specific employer defines the job.
  • Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
Sources
  1. 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.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).