https://spectrum.ieee.org/engineer-salary [ ] IEEE.orgIEEE Xplore Digital LibraryIEEE StandardsMore Sites Sign InJoin IEEE U.S. Tech Salaries Grow, But Not For Everyone Share FOR THE TECHNOLOGY INSIDER [ ] Explore by topic AerospaceArtificial IntelligenceBiomedicalComputingConsumer ElectronicsEnergyHistory of TechnologyRoboticsSemiconductorsSensors TelecommunicationsTransportation FOR THE TECHNOLOGY INSIDER Topics AerospaceArtificial IntelligenceBiomedicalComputingConsumer ElectronicsEnergyHistory of TechnologyRoboticsSemiconductorsSensors TelecommunicationsTransportation Sections FeaturesNewsOpinionCareersDIYEngineering Resources More Special ReportsExplainersPodcastsVideosNewslettersTop Programming LanguagesRobots Guide For IEEE Members The MagazineThe Institute For IEEE Members The MagazineThe Institute IEEE Spectrum About UsContact UsReprints & PermissionsAdvertising Follow IEEE Spectrum Support IEEE Spectrum IEEE Spectrum is the flagship publication of the IEEE -- the world's largest professional organization devoted to engineering and applied sciences. Our articles, podcasts, and infographics inform our readers about developments in technology, engineering, and science. Join IEEE Subscribe About IEEEContact & SupportAccessibilityNondiscrimination PolicyTerms IEEE Privacy Policy (c) Copyright 2021 IEEE -- All rights reserved. A not-for-profit organization, IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. IEEE websites place cookies on your device to give you the best user experience. By using our websites, you agree to the placement of these cookies. To learn more, read our Privacy Policy. view privacy policy accept & close Enjoy more free content and benefits by creating an account Saving articles to read later requires an IEEE Spectrum account The Institute content is only available for members Downloading full PDF issues is exclusive for IEEE Members Access to Spectrum's Digital Edition is exclusive for IEEE Members Following topics is a feature exclusive for IEEE Members Adding your response to an article requires an IEEE Spectrum account Create an account to access more content and features on IEEE Spectrum, including the ability to save articles to read later, download Spectrum Collections, and participate in conversations with readers and editors. For more exclusive content and features, consider Joining IEEE. Join the world's largest professional organization devoted to engineering and applied sciences and get access to all of Spectrum's articles, archives, PDF downloads, and other benefits. Learn more - CREATE AN ACCOUNTSIGN IN JOIN IEEESIGN IN Enjoy more free content and benefits by creating an account Create an account to access more content and features on IEEE Spectrum, including the ability to save articles to read later, download Spectrum Collections, and participate in conversations with readers and editors. For more exclusive content and features, consider Joining IEEE. CREATE AN ACCOUNTSIGN IN Careers Type News Topic U.S. Tech Salaries Grow, But Not For Everyone Gender and race gaps widen even as tech booms Tekla S. Perry 3h 2 min read Consumer and broadcast tech pay the most in 2020; gender and race gaps grow iStock Photo engineering salaries tech careers careers The median income for tech professionals hit US $154,443 in 2020, up from $148,500 in 2019. Adjusted to constant 2020 dollars, that's about a 2.8 percent increase. These numbers exclude overtime, profit sharing, and side hustles. That's particularly good news for engineers this year, considering that inflation-adjusted salaries were basically flat in 2019 compared with 2018. This data--and some 60 more pages of detailed salary and job satisfaction statistics--comes from IEEE-USA's 2021 Salary & Benefits survey. It focuses on professionals working in their area of technical competence (5466 of the respondents), and excludes overtime pay, profit sharing, and other supplemental earnings; when those are considered, the median income was $160,000. A Good Time for Broadcast Engineers The gains weren't spread equally, of course. In this latest survey, engineers working with consumer electronics and broadcast technology came out on top, with median salaries of $209,373 and $209,000 respectively. Though there's no way of telling from the data collected, it wouldn't be a huge leap to suggest that our dependence on home entertainment during the pandemic gave these categories a boost. Tech professionals working in energy and power engineering continue to hover near the bottom of the ranks, with a median salary of $140,000, and robotics and automation is down there as well. Both seem surprising, given the growing need for new energy technologies as well as increasing automation across the board. Bringing up a distant rear is education, with a median income of $120,000. (Consulting income is not included in that number; for some educators, that's a big missing piece.) Job Satisfaction and the Pandemic Job satisfaction data in the 2020 survey are the first to reflect the pandemic effect. This analysis looks at several factors, ranking them on a scale of -2 to +2. Comparing numbers to 2019, overall satisfaction rose during the pandemic. However, survey respondents found that their satisfaction with technical challenge, employer support for technical viability, and work/life balance declined since the 2019 survey. The West's Dominance Continues Companies forsaking California for Texas have made headlines over the past few years. And Texas salaries indeed saw gains, with 2020 salaries $7307 above the national norm, compared with $1500 in 2019. But these did not come at the expense of the Pacific region: West Coast tech professionals still draw top dollar. Gender and Race Gaps Increase Salary disparities related to gender and race continued to grow, according to the most recent IEEE-USA survey, with the median gap between men and women's salary jumping $5500 to $28,000 from 2019, after a similar increase in 2019 from 2018. This is certainly a trend in the wrong direction. And the gap between Caucasians and African Americans also continued to grow, up $2250 to $24,250 in 2019, after a $1500 increase in 2019 from 2018. From Your Site Articles * Tech Salaries: Silicon Valley Still Tops but Other Regions Come on ... > * U.S. Engineering Salaries Jump; Smartphone Developers Win Big ... > Related Articles Around the Web * Engineer salary in United States > * 2021 Engineering Salary Statistics | College of Engineering ... > engineering salaries tech careers careers Tekla S. Perry Tekla S. Perry is a senior editor at IEEE Spectrum. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., she's been covering the people, companies, and technology that make Silicon Valley a special place for more than 30 years. An IEEE member, she holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Michigan State University. The Conversation (0) Robot with legs and propellers hovers above a rock formation Type News Topic Robotics Caltech's LEO Flying Biped Can Skateboard and Slackline 1h 6 min read Three images showing two giraffes in each Type Article Topic Computing Forget JPEG, How Would a Person Compress a Picture? 7h 11 min read A woman looks at a map on computer screen with location icons Type News Topic Telecommunications Building an Alternative to GPS 05 Oct 2021 3 min read Related Stories Type Profile Topic Careers Magazine Safety at Scale: GM's Ankur Ganguli Careers Type Article Topic From Spacecraft to Sensor Fusion Energy Type Feature Topic Engineers: You Can Disrupt Climate Change Careers Type Feature Topic Special reports Special Report: Top Tech 2021 After months of blood, toil, tears, and sweat, we can all expect a much better year IEEE Spectrum 08 Jan 2021 1 min read Photo-illustration: Edmon de Haro Last January in this space we wrote that "technology doesn't really have bad years." But 2020 was like no other year in recent memory: Just about everything suffered, including technology. One shining exception was biotech, with the remarkably rapid development of vaccines capable of stemming the COVID-19 pandemic. This year's roundup of anticipated tech advances includes an examination of the challenges in manufacturing these vaccines. And it describes how certain technologies used widely during the pandemic will likely have far-reaching effects on society, even after the threat subsides. You'll also find accounts of technical developments unrelated to the pandemic that the editors of IEEE Spectrum expect to generate news this year. Making such predictions is, of course, risky. We trust, though, that whatever we may have missed won't possibly be as momentous as the earthshaker that we--indeed the whole world--didn't see coming 12 months ago. Keep Reading | Show less