---
title: "Manufacturing Engineer"
description: "Design, integrate, or improve manufacturing systems or related processes. May work with commercial or industrial designers to refine product designs to…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/manufacturing-engineer"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Manufacturing Engineer

**Category:** Architecture and Engineering · **SOC code:** 17-2112 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 17-2112.03

Design, integrate, or improve manufacturing systems or related processes. May work with commercial or industrial designers to refine product designs to increase producibility and decrease costs.

Also advertised as: Facility Engineer; Manufacturing Engineer; Plant Engineer; Process Engineer; Process Improvement 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:** 34/100 — 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/manufacturing-engineer/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/manufacturing-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 | 76.0% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 16.0% |
| Some College Courses | 4.0% |
| First Professional Degree | 4.0% |

## What the work involves

- Troubleshoot new or existing product problems involving designs, materials, or processes.
- Identify opportunities or implement changes to improve manufacturing processes or products or to reduce costs, using knowledge of fabrication processes, tooling and production equipment, assembly methods, quality control standards, or product design, materials and parts.
- Apply continuous improvement methods, such as lean manufacturing, to enhance manufacturing quality, reliability, or cost-effectiveness.
- Review product designs for manufacturability or completeness.
- Determine root causes of failures or recommend changes in designs, tolerances, or processing methods, using statistical procedures.
- Prepare documentation for new manufacturing processes or engineering procedures.
- Communicate manufacturing capabilities, production schedules, or other information to facilitate production processes.
- Read current literature, talk with colleagues, participate in educational programs, attend meetings or workshops, or participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in the manufacturing field.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.6 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 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Monitoring — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.9 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
- Technology Design — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Troubleshooting — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Production and Processing — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Engineering and Technology — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mechanical — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Design — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — 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
- Category Flexibility — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Visualization — 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 | 5.27 |
| I — Investigative | 4.53 |
| C — Conventional | 4.41 |
| E — Enterprising | 3.09 |
| A — Artistic | 2.22 |
| S — Social | 1.60 |

### 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 | 90.9 |
| ISTP | 84.5 |
| INTJ | 80.1 |
| ESTJ | 70.4 |
| ISFJ | 62.3 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

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

- [Industrial Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-engineer) — median $102,440
- [Mechanical Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mechanical-engineer) — median $104,110
- [Industrial Production Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-production-manager) — median $126,060
- [Mechatronics Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/mechatronics-engineer) — median $122,930
- [Chemical Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/chemical-engineer) — median $125,040
- [Automotive Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/automotive-engineer) — median $104,110
- [Materials Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/materials-engineer) — median $112,860
- [Electronics Engineer, Except Computer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/electronics-engineer) — median $130,220
- [Validation Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/validation-engineer) — median $102,440
- [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/manufacturing-engineer