Electrical Engineer Salary in Ohio 2026,
$100,620 Median | BLS Data by City

A median $100,620 a year, or $48.38 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025 — 16.6% below the national median of $120,630. But the band runs $72,690 at the 10th percentile to $149,390 at the 90th, and the $126,730 seventy-fifth percentile is above the national median, so senior and specialised work here is not below the national market.

Cincinnati at $105,350, then Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek $103,720, Columbus $102,380, Sandusky $100,900 and Toledo $100,290. About five thousand dollars covers the whole table, which means moving within Ohio is not a pay strategy — changing sector or specialisation is.

Only in some settings. The Ohio State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors issues the licence, and it is required where engineering services are offered to the public or where documents must be sealed — consulting practice, building systems and work touching public infrastructure. Electrical engineering performed inside manufacturers falls under the industrial exemption. Because Ohio's electrical engineering includes a substantial utility, grid and building systems component, the licence is more often relevant here than in states dominated by product engineering.

Because of what the national median contains. Semiconductor design, defence electronics and technology-sector electrical engineering are concentrated in high-cost coastal and south-western markets and pull the national figure of $120,630 upward. Ohio's electrical engineering is weighted toward utility and grid work, industrial power and controls, and building systems — valuable, stable work that has never commanded those premiums anywhere. The state's $126,730 seventy-fifth percentile, above the national median, shows what specialised Ohio work does earn.

Grid and utility work, industrial electrification and data centre development. Ohio has seen substantial data centre investment, which requires power distribution, backup systems and controls engineering at scale, and the electrification of industrial processes across the state's manufacturing base adds more. National projections put the occupation at 7.2% growth through 2034, and Ohio's location quotient of 0.90 means the state has room to add electrical engineering capacity rather than being saturated.

Because Ohio's electrical engineering distribution is broader at the bottom rather than weaker at the top. The state employs a large number of engineers in general industrial, building systems and controls work — solid, necessary engineering that is not paid at semiconductor or defence electronics rates anywhere in the country. Above that sits a genuinely competitive tier: power systems specialists, registered professional engineers with sealing authority, and technical leads, whose $126,730 seventy-fifth percentile exceeds the $120,630 national median. The gap is at the middle of the distribution, not the top of it, which is a much more encouraging picture than the headline percentage suggests.

The estimate pools product electrical engineering, industrial power and controls, utility and grid work and building systems engineering — markets with different pay structures and different licensing positions. That is most of why the band runs from $72,690 to $149,390 while the metro table spans five thousand dollars. The wage measure also excludes clearance premiums relevant around Dayton's defence concentration, and it cannot identify which engineers hold the professional engineer registration that consulting practice requires.

Specialisation first — power systems, protection and coordination, and industrial controls are the scarce competencies here, and they are most of the distance from the $100,620 median to the $126,730 seventy-fifth percentile. Professional engineer registration second, which matters more in Ohio than in product-engineering states because of the utility, infrastructure and building systems component. Sector third, with defence electronics around Dayton and data centre power engineering the growth areas. And technical leadership fourth, reaching the $149,390 ninetieth percentile.