As of April 01, 2025, the average hourly pay of Nuclear Engineer I in the United States is $39. While Salary.com is seeing that Nuclear Engineer I salary in the US can go up to $45 or down to $32, but most earn between $36 and $42. Salary.com shows the average base salary (core compensation), as well as the average total cash compensation for the job of Nuclear Engineer I in the United States.
| Annual Salary |
Monthly Pay |
Weekly Pay |
Hourly Wage |
|
| 75th Percentile | $42 | $3 | $1 | $0 |
| Average | $39 | $3 | $1 | $0 |
| 25th Percentile | $36 | $3 | $1 | $0 |
As of April 01, 2025, Salary.com is seeing that an entry-level Nuclear Engineer I with under 1 year experience makes about $80,850. With less than 2 years of experience, a mid-level Nuclear Engineer I makes around $81,590. After 2-4 years, the Nuclear Engineer I pay rises to about $82,899. Those senior Nuclear Engineer I with 5-8 years of experience earn roughly $83,160, and those Nuclear Engineer I having 8 years or more experience is expected to earn about $83,335 on average.
| Levels | Salary |
|---|---|
| Entry Level Nuclear Engineer I | $80,850 |
| Intermediate Level Nuclear Engineer I | $81,590 |
| Senior Level Nuclear Engineer I | $82,899 |
| Specialist Level Nuclear Engineer I | $83,160 |
| Expert Level Nuclear Engineer I | $83,335 |
| 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 Nuclear Engineer I is $89,801 in California and in Massachusetts, the average annual salary goes to $88,604. While in New Jersey, a Nuclear Engineer I earns $88,246 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 Nuclear Engineer I in San Francisco, CA is $101,679 and in New York, NY, the average annual salary goes to $94,352. While a Nuclear Engineer I earns $90,802 per year in Boston, MA.
For those exploring the changing dynamics of Nuclear 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 Nuclear 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 Nuclear 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 Nuclear Engineer I information for you to search for. Click on search button below to see Nuclear Engineer I job openings or enter a new job title here.
Here are companies hiring for Nuclear Engineer I and their salaries, click below for more details.
| Core Compensation | ||||
| Core Compensation | Median | % of Total | ||
| Base Salary | $81,415 | 70.5% | ||
| Bonus | $0 | 0.0% | ||
| Value of Benefits | ||||
| Core Compensation | Median | % of Total | ||
| Social Security | $6,228 | 5.4% | ||
| 401K/403B | $3,419 | 3.0% | ||
| Disability | $1,628 | 1.4% | ||
| Healthcare | $8,352 | 7.2% | ||
| Pension | $4,396 | 3.8% | ||
| Time Off | $10,020 | 8.7% | ||
| Total Compensation | $115,460 | 100% | ||
| Degree Level | % of user with this level of education |
|---|---|
| High School | 3.8% |
| Associates | 1.3% |
| Bachelors | 58.2% |
| Masters | 27.8% |
| Doctorate | 8.9% |
What Am I Worth?
Designs and initiates processes to gain benefit from nuclear energy and radiation. Conducts research into problems of nuclear energy systems. Designs and develops nuclear equipment. Monitors testing, operation, and maintenance of nuclear reactors. Requires a bachelor's degree in nuclear engineering or related field. Typically reports to a supervisor or 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.
Troubleshooting: Troubleshooting is a form of problem solving, often applied to repair failed products or processes on a machine or a system. It is a logical, systematic search for the source of a problem in order to solve it, and make the product or process operational again. Troubleshooting is needed to identify the symptoms. Determining the most likely cause is a process of elimination—eliminating potential causes of a problem. Finally, troubleshooting requires confirmation that the solution restores the product or process to its working state. In general, troubleshooting is the identification or diagnosis of "trouble" in the management flow of a system caused by a failure of some kind. The problem is initially described as symptoms of malfunction, and troubleshooting is the process of determining and remedying the causes of these symptoms. A system can be described in terms of its expected, desired or intended behavior (usually, for artificial systems, its purpose). Events or inputs to the system are expected to generate specific results or outputs. (For example, selecting the "print" option from various computer applications is intended to result in a hardcopy emerging from some specific device). Any unexpected or undesirable behavior is a symptom. Troubleshooting is the process of isolating the specific cause or causes of the symptom. Frequently the symptom is a failure of the product or process to produce any results. (Nothing was printed, for example). Corrective action can then be taken to prevent further failures of a similar kind.
Schematic: A schematic, or schematic diagram, is a representation of the elements of a system using abstract, graphic symbols rather than realistic pictures.
Computational Science: Computational science is a discipline concerned with the design, implementation and use of mathematical models to analyse and solve scientific problems.
