The salary of an Engineer I in the United States varies depending on several factors, including experience, location, education level, marketing trend and company sizes.
As of April 01, 2025, the average hourly pay of Engineer I in the United States is $38. While Salary.com is seeing that Engineer I salary in the US can go up to $44 or down to $32, but most earn between $35 and $41. Salary.com shows the average base salary (core compensation), as well as the average total cash compensation for the job of Engineer I in the United States.
| Annual Salary |
Monthly Pay |
Weekly Pay |
Hourly Wage |
|
| 75th Percentile | $41 | $3 | $1 | $0 |
| Average | $38 | $3 | $1 | $0 |
| 25th Percentile | $35 | $3 | $1 | $0 |
As of April 01, 2025, Salary.com is seeing that an entry-level Engineer I with under 1 year experience makes about $79,148. With less than 2 years of experience, a mid-level Engineer I makes around $79,872. After 2-4 years, the Engineer I pay rises to about $81,152. Those senior Engineer I with 5-8 years of experience earn roughly $81,408, and those Engineer I having 8 years or more experience is expected to earn about $81,579 on average.
| Levels | Salary |
|---|---|
| Entry Level Engineer I | $79,148 |
| Intermediate Level Engineer I | $79,872 |
| Senior Level Engineer I | $81,152 |
| Specialist Level Engineer I | $81,408 |
| Expert Level Engineer I | $81,579 |
| Entry Level | 1% |
| Mid Level | 0% |
| Senior Level | 2% |
| Top Level | 2% |
| Experienced | 2% |
Salaries in the United States can vary significantly from state to state due to a multitude of factors, including cost of living, local economic conditions, and industry presence.
For example, as of April 01, 2025, the average yearly salary of Engineer I is $87,910 in California and in Massachusetts, the average annual salary goes to $86,739. While in New Jersey, an Engineer I earns $86,388 per year.
What Am I Worth?
Salaries in the United States can vary significantly from city to city due to a multitude of factors, including cost of living, local economic conditions, and industry presence.
For example, as of April 01, 2025, the average yearly salary of Engineer I in San Francisco, CA is $99,539 and in New York, NY, the average annual salary goes to $92,365. While an Engineer I earns $88,891 per year in Boston, MA.
For those exploring the changing dynamics of Engineer I salaries, Salary.com offers detailed insights through our Job Trending in CA Labor Market analysis. As of April 01, 2025, our research highlights a notable shift in Engineer I compensation over the past six years. For instance, the median salary has moved from $81,458 in 2023 to about $81,168 in 2024 (for a comprehensive analysis of Engineer I salary trends, click here). It's crucial to consider several elements, including geographical location, experience level, industry demand, and economic development, as they play a significant role in influencing salary variations.
Salary.com job board provides millions of Engineer I information for you to search for. Click on search button below to see Engineer I job openings or enter a new job title here.
Here are companies hiring for Engineer I and their salaries, click below for more details.
| Core Compensation | ||||
| Core Compensation | Median | % of Total | ||
| Base Salary | $79,701 | 70.4% | ||
| Bonus | $0 | 0.0% | ||
| Value of Benefits | ||||
| Core Compensation | Median | % of Total | ||
| Social Security | $6,097 | 5.4% | ||
| 401K/403B | $3,347 | 3.0% | ||
| Disability | $1,594 | 1.4% | ||
| Healthcare | $8,352 | 7.4% | ||
| Pension | $4,304 | 3.8% | ||
| Time Off | $9,809 | 8.7% | ||
| Total Compensation | $113,205 | 100% | ||
| Degree Level | % of user with this level of education |
|---|---|
| No Diploma | 0.6% |
| High School | 5.4% |
| Associates | 6.4% |
| Bachelors | 57.2% |
| Masters | 26.5% |
| Doctorate | 3.9% |
What Am I Worth?
Utilizes engineering methodologies, principles, and tools to develop or improve technical products, systems, or processes that meet specified requirements and standards. Researches and identifies optimal materials and processes to ensure product quality, performance, and manufacturability. Utilizes CAD software and engineering methodologies to create blueprints, drawings, or models and communicate designs and specifications to stakeholders. Collaborates with stakeholders to understand requirements and ensure specifications are captured. Oversees prototype testing to evaluate the performance and reliability of designs, collect feedback, and draw meaningful insight for product improvements. Maintains detailed documentation of test results, processes, and specifications for future needs. Requires a bachelor's degree. Typically reports to a manager. Work is closely managed. Works on projects/matters of limited complexity in a support role. Typically requires 0-2 years of related experience.
Specify the abilities and skills that a person needs in order to carry out the specified job duties. Each competency has five to ten behavioral assertions that can be observed, each with a corresponding performance level (from one to five) that is required for a particular job.
Analysis: Analysis is the process of considering something carefully or using statistical methods in order to understand it or explain it.
Carpentry: Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters traditionally worked with natural wood and did the rougher work such as framing, but today many other materials are also used and sometimes the finer trades of cabinetmaking and furniture building are considered carpentry. In the United States, 98.5% of carpenters are male, and it was the fourth most male-dominated occupation in the country in 1999. In 2006 in the United States, there were about 1.5 million carpentry positions. Carpenters are usually the first tradesmen on a job and the last to leave. Carpenters normally framed post-and-beam buildings until the end of the 19th century; now this old fashioned carpentry is called timber framing. Carpenters learn this trade by being employed through an apprenticeship training—normally 4 years—and qualify by successfully completing that country's competence test in places such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and South Africa. It is also common that the skill can be learned by gaining work experience other than a formal training program, which may be the case in many places.
Transportation: Refers to the mode of travel used to get from home to work most frequently. The transportation are bus, train, aeroplane, ship, car, etc while the mode of transportation refers to road, air, sea/ocean, etc.
