Chemical Engineers
US occupation · SOC 17-2041
Job titles people report: Chemical Engineer, Development Engineer, Engineer, Engineering Scientist, Process Control Engineer, Process Engineer, Project Engineer, Refinery Process Engineer, Research Chemical Engineer, Scientist
Pay and outlook
- Median annual wage, May 2025
- $125,040
- Half earn more, half earn less
- Middle half earn
- $97,820 – $157,190
- 25th to 75th percentile
- People employed, May 2025
- 21,070
- Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
- Projected change, 2025–35
- +4.7%
- At or above the all-jobs rate (3.5% to under 7%)
- Openings a year (projected)
- 1,100
- New jobs plus replacing people who leave
- Typical education to enter
- Bachelor's degree
- BLS
- All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
- Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
- Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.
What the work involves
Design chemical plant equipment and devise processes for manufacturing chemicals and products, such as gasoline, synthetic rubber, plastics, detergents, cement, paper, and pulp, by applying principles and technology of chemistry, physics, and engineering.
Main tasks
- Develop safety procedures to be employed by workers operating equipment or working in close proximity to ongoing chemical reactions.
- Troubleshoot problems with chemical manufacturing processes.
- Monitor and analyze data from processes and experiments.
- Evaluate chemical equipment and processes to identify ways to optimize performance or to ensure compliance with safety and environmental regulations.
- Design and plan layout of equipment.
- Prepare estimate of production costs and production progress reports for management.
- Perform tests and monitor performance of processes throughout stages of production to determine degree of control over variables such as temperature, density, specific gravity, and pressure.
- Conduct research to develop new and improved chemical manufacturing processes.
Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.
Getting in
- Typical education to enter (BLS)
- Bachelor's degree
- O*NET Job Zone 4
- Considerable preparation
- Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Interests it suits
The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.
- Realistic: hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals
- Investigative: research, analysis and solving problems with ideas
- Conventional: organising information, records and procedures
Fields of study that lead here
From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 8 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.
Engineering
- Ceramic Sciences and Engineering
- Chemical Engineering
- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
- Chemical Engineering, Other
- Polymer/Plastics Engineering
- Paper Science and Engineering
- Biochemical Engineering
- Engineering Chemistry
Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Engineering at the Major step.
Where many students take engineering
- Purdue University-Main CampusWest Lafayette, IN · 25% of degrees · 44,503 undergraduates
- Texas A&M University-College StationCollege Station, TX · 17% of degrees · 59,615 undergraduates
- Georgia Institute of Technology-Main CampusAtlanta, GA · 42% of degrees · 18,785 undergraduates
- University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignChampaign, IL · 21% of degrees · 36,258 undergraduates
- Ohio State University-Main CampusColumbus, OH · 15% of degrees · 45,638 undergraduates
- North Carolina State University at RaleighRaleigh, NC · 24% of degrees · 27,371 undergraduates
Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.
Related careers
Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.
- Materials Engineers
$112,860 median · +7.5% projected
- Materials Scientists
$117,790 median · +8.3% projected
- Chemists
$91,240 median · +6.4% projected
- Industrial Engineers
$102,440 median · +12.4% projected
- Petroleum Engineers
$144,910 median · +2% projected
- Mechanical Engineers
$104,110 median · +11.2% projected
Sources
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0
Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.
Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk