--- title: "Automotive Engineer" description: "Develop new or improved designs for vehicle structural members, engines, transmissions, or other vehicle systems, using computer-assisted design…" canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/automotive-engineer" last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z" --- # Automotive Engineer **Category:** Architecture and Engineering · **SOC code:** 17-2141 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 17-2141.02 Develop new or improved designs for vehicle structural members, engines, transmissions, or other vehicle systems, using computer-assisted design technology. Direct building, modification, or testing of vehicle or components. Also advertised as: Dimensional Integration Engineer; Engineer; Product Engineer; Project Engineer; Research Engineer. ## At a glance - **Median annual wage:** $104,110 (BLS OEWS, May 2025) - **Median hourly wage:** $50.05/hr - **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $73,990 to $164,340, with the middle half between $84,130 and $132,590 - **Total US employment:** 296,810 - **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's - **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed" - **Projected growth:** +9.1% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034) - **Annual job openings:** 18,100 openings a year - **AI-resilience score:** 31/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure ## Pay National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 296,810 US jobs. | Percentile | Annual wage | | --- | --- | | 10th | $73,990 | | 25th | $84,130 | | 50th (median) | $104,110 | | 75th | $132,590 | | 90th | $164,340 | | Mean (average) | $113,610 | ### Pay by state The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there. | State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | NM | $157,710 | $171,030 | 2,710 | | DC | $133,300 | $121,291 | 510 | | CA | $130,900 | $118,226 | 30,530 | | DE | $125,130 | $125,371 | 610 | | CO | $124,430 | $120,745 | 7,190 | | AK | $124,340 | $121,474 | 380 | | MD | $122,870 | $117,065 | 6,550 | | LA | $119,540 | $135,522 | 1,890 | | MA | $119,300 | $112,806 | 7,680 | | WY | $117,750 | $127,035 | 230 | | RI | $116,230 | $113,639 | 1,560 | | TX | $112,410 | $115,819 | 22,080 | | NJ | $112,300 | $103,212 | 4,180 | | WA | $110,430 | $103,193 | 8,240 | | VT | $107,330 | $109,567 | 530 | 38 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 53 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/automotive-engineer/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/automotive-engineer. ## Outlook BLS projects employment to move from 293,100 in the 2024–2034 base year to 319,600 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 26,500 jobs, or +9.1%. Much faster than average: 9.1% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 18,100 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034. ## How to get in - **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections). - **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed". - **Related work experience typically required:** None. - **Typical on-the-job training:** None. ### Education people in this job actually hold O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above. | Education level | Share of workers | | --- | --- | | Bachelor's Degree | 71.4% | | Master's Degree | 14.3% | | Post-Secondary Certificate | 4.8% | | Post-Master's Certificate | 4.8% | | Doctoral Degree | 4.8% | ## What the work involves - Conduct or direct system-level automotive testing. - Provide technical direction to other engineers or engineering support personnel. - Perform failure, variation, or root cause analyses. - Write, review, or maintain engineering documentation. - Read current literature, attend meetings or conferences, or talk with colleagues to stay abreast of new automotive technology or competitive products. - Prepare or present technical or project status reports. - Conduct research studies to develop new concepts in the field of automotive engineering. - Establish production or quality control standards. ## Skills and knowledge ### Essential skills - Critical Thinking — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Writing — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Speaking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Mathematics — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Active Listening — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Active Learning — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Science — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ### Transferable skills These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site. - Complex Problem Solving — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Operations Analysis — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Systems Analysis — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Systems Evaluation — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Coordination — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Time Management — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Persuasion — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ### Knowledge areas - Engineering and Technology — importance 4.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Physics — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Mathematics — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Mechanical — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Design — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Computers and Electronics — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ### Abilities - Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale - Inductive Reasoning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale ## Who it suits O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Investigative (I), Conventional (C). | Interest area | Score (1–7) | | --- | --- | | R — Realistic | 6.17 | | I — Investigative | 5.67 | | C — Conventional | 4.06 | | A — Artistic | 2.55 | | E — Enterprising | 2.13 | | S — Social | 1.37 | ### Personality fit These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job. | Type | Fit score (0–100) | | --- | --- | | ISTP | 88.7 | | ISTJ | 85.7 | | INTJ | 84.1 | | INTP | 73.3 | | ESTJ | 59.2 | Best-fitting types: ISTP, ISTJ, INTJ. ## Related occupations O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order. - [Mechanical Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mechanical-engineer) — median $104,110 - [Manufacturing Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/manufacturing-engineer) — median $102,440 - [Industrial Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-engineer) — median $102,440 - [Aerospace Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/aerospace-engineer) — median $134,960 - [Electronics Engineer, Except Computer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electronics-engineer) — median $130,220 - [Mechatronics Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mechatronics-engineer) — median $122,930 - [Electrical Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-engineer) — median $120,630 - [Fuel Cell Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/fuel-cell-engineer) — median $104,110 - [Validation Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/validation-engineer) — median $102,440 - [Robotics Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/robotics-engineer) — median $122,930 ## Sources - **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html - **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/ - **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/ - **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/ - **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area --- This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105). O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/automotive-engineer