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Materials Engineers

US occupation · SOC 17-2131

Job titles people report: Automotive Sheet Metal Engineer, Ceramic Engineer, Extrusion Engineer, Materials Development Engineer, Materials Research Engineer, Metallurgical Engineer, Metallurgist, Process Engineer, Textile Engineer

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025
$112,860
Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn
$88,080 – $142,720
25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025
22,770
Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35
+7.5%
Growing at twice the all-jobs rate or more (7%+)
Openings a year (projected)
1,300
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

Evaluate materials and develop machinery and processes to manufacture materials for use in products that must meet specialized design and performance specifications. Develop new uses for known materials. Includes those engineers working with composite materials or specializing in one type of material, such as graphite, metal and metal alloys, ceramics and glass, plastics and polymers, and naturally occurring materials. Includes metallurgists and metallurgical engineers, ceramic engineers, and welding engineers.

Main tasks

  • Conduct or supervise tests on raw materials or finished products to ensure their quality.
  • Review new product plans, and make recommendations for material selection, based on design objectives such as strength, weight, heat resistance, electrical conductivity, and cost.
  • Evaluate technical specifications and economic factors relating to process or product design objectives.
  • Solve problems in a number of engineering fields, such as mechanical, chemical, electrical, civil, nuclear, and aerospace.
  • Plan and implement laboratory operations to develop material and fabrication procedures that meet cost, product specification, and performance standards.
  • Analyze product failure data and laboratory test results to determine causes of problems and develop solutions.
  • Determine appropriate methods for fabricating and joining materials.
  • Guide technical staff in developing materials for specific uses in projected products or devices.

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 5 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
  • Materials Engineering
  • Metallurgical Engineering
  • Textile Sciences and Engineering
  • Polymer/Plastics Engineering

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Engineering at the Major step.

Where many students take engineering

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.

← All careers

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