Mechanical Engineering Salary and Factors Affecting It

Mechanical Engineers can be found in different professional fields as they are known to be highly trained professionals who offer their service with respect to different methodologies that they are trained for. They are known to work with different kinds of machines that use power and are either involved with transmission or production of something. They design tools that are used by other engineers and in most cases they also work as part of teams that come up with new methods or ideas as far engineering is concerned. Mechanical engineers also develop machines from their own designs.

Mechanical engineering field uses basic principles aided with the use of computers and other tools to design and develop systems in different fields. The basic concepts or principles used in mechanical engineering field include structural analysis, thermodynamics, kinematics and mechanics among others. Due to their highly professional work, mechanical engineering salary is known to be high compared to other fields.

There are a couple of factors that are known to affect the mechanical engineering salary. The difference in methodology or the area of specialization is seen as one the factors that affects mechanical engineering income because different areas of specialization tend to offer different specific range of payments. For example mechanical engineers specializing in fields related to aeronautical, aerospace and astronautical are definitely paid higher salaries compared to those specializing in fields related to electrical and electronics. In the US aeronautical, astronautical and aerospace mechanical engineers has the highest 10 percent of them earning an income of approximately $ 124,550 per year which is a bigger figure compared to electrical mechanical engineers which has the highest 10 percent of them earning a salary of approximately $ 117,000 per year.

Another factor that is known to affect the mechanical engineering salary is the level of expertise. This is very normal even in other professions and not in the field of mechanical engineering alone. In most cases the higher the expertise level the higher the salary and vice versa. You actually don’t expect bachelor degree holders to earn a higher mechanical engineering salary than doctorate holders. For example mechanical engineers who are bachelor degree graduates in the US can expect to earn a starting average income of approximately $ 48,500 while those with masters’ degree can have a starting average salary of approximately $ 49,000. A mechanical engineer who is a doctorate holder can have a starting average salary of around $ 62,200.

The last known factor that affects mechanical engineering salary is the location that the engineers work as well as the company. Different companies are known to offer different range of salaries for their engineers. Some companies pay higher salaries while others don’t. Like in the US, the federal government’s mechanical engineers related to the field of agriculture earn an average salary of around $ 75,000 while some with the same expertise level but working in private multi-million dollar agricultural firms earn more. You can read more on mechanical engineering here.

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