---
title: "Industrial Engineer"
description: "Design, develop, test, and evaluate integrated systems for managing industrial production processes, including human work factors, quality control…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-engineer"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Industrial Engineer

**Category:** Architecture and Engineering · **SOC code:** 17-2112 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 17-2112.00

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.

Also advertised as: Continuous Improvement Engineer; Engineer; Facilities Engineer; Industrial Engineer; Operations Engineer; Plant Engineer; Process Engineer; Project Engineer.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $102,440 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $49.25/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $74,370 to $159,860, with the middle half between $83,600 and $129,250
- **Total US employment:** 365,740
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +11.0% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 25,200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 32/100 — 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 365,740 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $74,370 |
| 25th | $83,600 |
| 50th (median) | $102,440 |
| 75th | $129,250 |
| 90th | $159,860 |
| Mean (average) | $109,900 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| AK | $156,510 | $152,903 | 220 |
| WA | $129,050 | $120,593 | 6,130 |
| OR | $128,290 | $124,118 | 5,810 |
| NM | $128,090 | $138,908 | 1,140 |
| CA | $124,600 | $112,536 | 32,680 |
| HI | $123,800 | $112,596 | 50 |
| LA | $122,920 | $139,354 | 1,710 |
| WY | $122,070 | $131,696 | 240 |
| DE | $120,190 | $120,421 | 820 |
| MD | $119,930 | $114,264 | 3,900 |
| CO | $109,750 | $106,500 | 5,200 |
| MA | $109,420 | $103,464 | 11,470 |
| RI | $109,350 | $106,912 | 990 |
| WV | $108,360 | $121,077 | 850 |
| AZ | $108,280 | $107,552 | 7,520 |

37 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 52 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-engineer/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/industrial-engineer.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 351,100 in the 2024–2034 base year to 389,600 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 38,500 jobs, or +11.0%. Much faster than average: 11.0% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 25,200 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 | 58.6% |
| Some College Courses | 15.8% |
| Master's Degree | 11.1% |
| High School Diploma | 7.5% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 4.4% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 2.6% |

## What the work involves

- Confer with clients, vendors, staff, and management personnel regarding purchases, product and production specifications, manufacturing capabilities, or project status.
- Communicate with management and user personnel to develop production and design standards.
- Plan and establish sequence of operations to fabricate and assemble parts or products and to promote efficient utilization.
- Recommend methods for improving utilization of personnel, material, and utilities.
- Review production schedules, engineering specifications, orders, and related information to obtain knowledge of manufacturing methods, procedures, and activities.
- Record or oversee recording of information to ensure currency of engineering drawings and documentation of production problems.
- Estimate production costs, cost saving methods, and the effects of product design changes on expenditures for management review, action, and control.
- Analyze statistical data and product specifications to determine standards and establish quality and reliability objectives of finished product.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — 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 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Engineering and Technology — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Production and Processing — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Design — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — 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
- Written Expression — 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 Conventional (C), Investigative (I), Realistic (R).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| C — Conventional | 5.35 |
| I — Investigative | 4.99 |
| R — Realistic | 4.96 |
| E — Enterprising | 3.29 |
| A — Artistic | 1.58 |
| 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) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 93.2 |
| INTJ | 79.8 |
| ISTP | 79.4 |
| ESTJ | 75.8 |
| ISFJ | 65.5 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Industrial Engineering Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-engineering-technologist-and-technician) — median $66,120
- [Manufacturing Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/manufacturing-engineer) — median $102,440
- [Industrial Production Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-production-manager) — median $126,060
- [Validation Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/validation-engineer) — median $102,440
- [Mechanical Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mechanical-engineer) — median $104,110
- [Logistics Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/logistics-engineer) — median $82,320
- [Mechatronics Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mechatronics-engineer) — median $122,930
- [Electrical Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electrical-engineer) — median $120,630
- [Materials Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/materials-engineer) — median $112,860
- [Human Factors Engineer and Ergonomist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/human-factors-engineer-and-ergonomist) — median $102,440

## 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/industrial-engineer