# Chemical Engineers

SOC 17-2041. Page: https://educationguide.com/careers/chemical-engineers

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.

## Pay and outlook
- U.S. median wage $125,040 (middle half $97,820–$157,190; BLS May 2025)
- Ages 25-34: median $102,649; 96% hold a bachelor's or higher (Census ACS 2020-2024)
- Jobs 2025-35: 4.7%; ~1.1k openings a year; typical entry: Bachelor's degree

## Fields of degree of young workers (ages 25-34, bachelor's+)
- Chemical Engineering: 45% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/chemical-engineering)
- Mechanical Engineering: 12% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/mechanical-engineering)
- General Engineering: 4% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/engineering)
- Biomedical Engineering: 4% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/biomedical-engineering)
- Electrical Engineering: 3% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/electrical-engineering)
- Civil Engineering: 2% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/civil-engineering)
- Biology: 2% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/biology)
- Business Management And Administration: 1% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/business-administration)
- Chemistry: 1% (https://educationguide.com/degrees/chemistry)
- Miscellaneous Engineering: 1%

## Median wage by state
- AK: $106,080
- AL: $135,030
- AR: $105,270
- CO: $125,800
- CT: $102,270
- DE: $133,670
- FL: $109,000
- GA: $103,880
- IA: $117,590
- ID: $106,740
- IL: $121,560
- IN: $113,160
- KS: $102,020
- KY: $117,170
- LA: $134,800
- MA: $118,000
- MD: $127,190
- MI: $103,230
- MN: $107,670
- MO: $102,320
- MS: $106,740
- MT: $127,490
- NC: $117,410
- ND: $115,400
- NE: $98,310
- NH: $73,250
- NJ: $126,760
- NM: $158,190
- NY: $129,060
- OH: $111,200
- OK: $127,790
- OR: $116,950
- PA: $116,970
- RI: $111,590
- SC: $101,570
- TX: $132,750
- UT: $85,520
- VA: $136,380
- WA: $128,290
- WI: $97,660
- WV: $129,210

Method: https://educationguide.com/how-we-score#careers

Free to reuse with attribution: cite "EducationGuide.com" with a link to the page URL. Most figures are U.S. government data (public domain); loan default rates and athletics come from the Urban Institute Education Data Portal (ODC-By 1.0, attribution required) and founding years from Wikidata (CC0). O*NET data: CC BY 4.0, O*NET 31.0 (USDOL/ETA).