As the literal and figurative builders of the future, architects and engineers shoulder an enormous responsibility. They are the creators and innovators of some of society’s most important breakthroughs, and there are plenty of well-paying careers in these industries.
Using the most recent data from the and the , found the 19 highest-paying jobs in architecture and engineering. For this list, we only considered occupations the BLS placed into the architecture or engineering categories. Jobs with fewer than 10,000 employees were not included. Salary data from the FLCDC was released in June 2015, while employment data from the BLS is from May 2014. The FLCDC is funded by the and breaks BLS wage data out into different experience levels.
The FLCDC uses four categorizations for experience level: entry level, qualified, experienced and fully competent. Experienced workers typically have multiple years of experience (three years or more) in their careers and require less on-the-job supervision than entry level or qualified workers. Fully competent workers have five or more years of experience and require little to no on-the-job supervision. Jobs are ranked according to their annual experienced salaries.
Experienced salary: $65,691 Employment: 18,110
Description: Plan and design land areas for projects such as parks and other recreational facilities, airports, highways, hospitals, schools, land subdivisions, and commercial, industrial, and residential sites.
Experienced salary: $74,821 Employment: 88,900
Description: Plan and design structures, such as private residences, office buildings, theaters, factories and other structural property.
Experienced salary: $78,650 Employment: 263,460
Description: Perform engineering duties in planning, designing and overseeing construction and maintenance of building structures and facilities, such as roads, railroads, airports, bridges, harbors, channels, dams, irrigation projects, pipelines, power plants and water and sewage systems.
Experienced salary: $79,701 Employment: 24,530
Description: Promote worksite or product safety by applying knowledge of industrial processes, mechanics, chemistry, psychology and industrial health and safety laws.
Experienced salary: $80,382 Employment: 236,990
Experienced salary: $82,132 Employment: 53,240
Description: Research, design, plan or perform engineering duties in the prevention, control and remediation of environmental hazards using various engineering disciplines. Work may include waste treatment, site remediation or pollution control technology.
Experienced salary: $97,406 Employment: 76,360
Description: Research, design, develop or test computer or computer-related equipment for commercial, industrial, military or scientific use. May supervise the manufacturing and installation of computer or computer-related equipment and components.
Experienced salary: $99,379 Employment: 69,080
Description: Perform engineering duties in designing, constructing and testing aircraft, missiles and spacecraft. May conduct basic and applied research to evaluate adaptability of materials and equipment to aircraft design and manufacture.
Experienced salary: $106,177 Employment: 16,520
Description: Conduct research on nuclear engineering projects or apply principles and theory of nuclear science to problems concerned with release, control and use of nuclear energy and nuclear waste disposal.
Experienced salary: $131,212 Employment: 33,740
Description: Devise methods to improve oil and gas extraction and production and determine the need for new or modified tool designs. Oversee drilling and offer technical advice.
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