BLS OEWS May 2025 · SOC 17-2141 · 30,530 CA workers
Mechanical Engineer Salary in California 2026, $130,900 Median | BLS Data by City
California pays mechanical engineers more than a quarter above the national median while employing fewer of them per worker than the country as a whole. The explanation is in the metro table: San Jose and San Francisco pay hardware and device engineering rates, and they pull the whole state figure with them.
Updated July 2026 · BLS OEWS May 2025
Compiled by GlobalCybers Labor Market Research · Reviewed by Anita Rao, PE (Civil), Technical Recruitment Lead · See methodology & sources →
CA Median
$130,900
$62.94/hr
vs National
+$26,790
25.7% above US median
CA P90
$203,620
$97.89/hr · top earners
CA Job Growth
+9.1%
2024–2034 · national BLS EP 2024–34
🤑California's progressive income tax to 13.3% bites hardest at the upper end of this occupation, where the state 75th percentile of $166,580 and 90th of $203,620 sit, and the 1.3% State Disability Insurance contribution applies to all wages in 2026 with no cap — a detail engineers moving from capped-contribution states routinely miss. For mechanical engineers holding equity at Bay Area hardware and device companies, California taxes RSU and option income as ordinary compensation and sources it to where the work was performed during vesting, which is a real consideration before relocating.
Direct Answer
How much do mechanical engineers make in California in 2026?
California mechanical engineers earn a median $130,900 a year, or $62.94 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, 25.7% above the $104,110 national median. The state range runs $82,070 at the 10th percentile to $203,620 at the 90th, with a 25th percentile of $102,360 and a 75th of $166,580. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara leads the metro table at $168,030, then San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont at $161,370, Santa Cruz-Watsonville at $132,920, Salinas at $132,560 and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim at $123,900. → Full mechanical engineer career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $130,900 blends every experience level, apprentice through master. For pay by license level alone, see pay by level below.
Key takeaways
California mechanical engineers earn a median $130,900/yr ($62.94/hr) per BLS OEWS May 2025 (SOC 17-2141), 25.7% above the $104,110 national median; the state P10–P90 range is $82,070 to $203,620.
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara at $168,030 and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont at $161,370 sit more than thirty thousand dollars above the state median. Hardware, medical device and semiconductor equipment mechanical engineering is a different market from the rest of the profession.
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim at $123,900 is the lowest published California metro and sits below the state median, despite hosting the state's aerospace and defence base. Volume of employment there is high; the marginal role is not paid like a Bay Area hardware seat.
California's location quotient of 0.88 across about 30,530 mechanical engineers means the state uses fewer of them per worker than the country does. The premium is about what they work on, not how scarce they are.
California at a glance
Median salary$130,900
Median hourly$62.94
Range (P10–P90)$82,070–$203,620
Top-paying metroSan Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara · $168,030
vs national25.7% above
State income tax9.3%
CA employment (BLS)30,530
Location quotient0.88× US concentration
Wage basisBLS OEWS May 2025, California
California Mechanical Engineer Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
$82,070
P10
$102,360
P25
$130,900
Median
$166,580
P75
$203,620
P90
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025
Methodology & Sources
How the California mechanical engineer pay figures on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 17-2141, California statewide estimate. Public, methodologically rigorous, but sampled on a rolling 3-year basis and published ~10 months after collection — so it reflects wages that are already 1–2 years old by the time you read them. OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation in California; it does not break pay out by credential or licence level.
Pay by level: the level and career-stage tables on this page distribute California's own published BLS pay range across the tiers employers actually hire at. They are GlobalCybers estimates aligned to published percentiles, not separate BLS publications.
Placement sample: GlobalCybers holds no California placement sample for this occupation, so this page shows published and percentile-aligned figures only — no placement-based median is claimed anywhere on it.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara leads the state at $168,030.
Getting Licensed
How to become a licensed mechanical engineer in California, step by step
1
Start in design support, test or plant engineering
The California entry route runs through a hardware company, an aerospace supplier or a building systems consultancy at around the state 10th percentile of $82,070.
2
Decide whether the industrial exemption applies
Product design inside a company needs no licence; building mechanical systems, pressure vessels and public works do. If you are on the licensed side, pursue the BPELSG Professional Engineer licence.
3
Take subsystem or product-line ownership
Owning thermal, mechanisms, packaging or fluidics for a product rather than contributing components is the California move that reaches the state 75th percentile of $166,580.
4
Move into principal engineering or engineering management
Principal technical authority or engineering management in semiconductor equipment, medical devices or space hardware reaches the California 90th percentile of $203,620.
BPELSG License Levels
How much do the mechanical engineer credential levels pay in California?
California licenses issued by No licence for most California mechanical engineers — the state's industrial exemption means engineers designing products inside a manufacturing or technology company need no licensure, which covers the large majority of this workforce. Where designs must be sealed — building mechanical systems, pressure vessels, public works — the California Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists issues the Professional Engineer licence in mechanical engineering after the Fundamentals of Engineering examination, qualifying experience and the Principles and Practice examination.. Each level's median pay in California markets.
BPELSG License
CA Pay Range
CA Median
Key Note
Entry mechanical engineer
$76K–$102K
$82,070
Around the California 10th percentile of $82,070. Design support, test and validation or plant engineering, in a hardware company, an aerospace supplier or a building systems consultancy.
Mechanical engineer
$102K–$167K
$130,900
The California median of $130,900. Owning component or system design — for hardware, devices, vehicles or building mechanical scope.
Senior or staff engineer
$158K–$204K
$166,580
Around the California 75th percentile of $166,580. Technical ownership of a product line or subsystem, most often in the Bay Area where the metro medians sit in this band.
Principal engineer or engineering manager
$195K–$248K
$203,620
The California 90th percentile of $203,620. Principal technical authority or engineering management, predominantly in semiconductor equipment, medical device or space hardware programmes.
Beyond Base Pay
What's a California mechanical engineer's total compensation, not just base wage?
BLS and verified-placement medians above are base wage only. Total comp for a CA mechanical engineer typically adds the following on top.
California Mechanical Engineer Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
How much do mechanical engineers make in California?
California mechanical engineers earn a median $130,900 a year, $62.94 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with the middle half between $102,360 and $166,580 and a full range of $82,070 to $203,620. That is 25.7% above the $104,110 national median, one of the largest engineering premiums of any state.
Which California city pays mechanical engineers the most?
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara at $168,030, then San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont at $161,370, Santa Cruz-Watsonville at $132,920, Salinas at $132,560 and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim at $123,900. The forty-four-thousand-dollar gap between San Jose and Los Angeles is the widest for this occupation in any state.
Do mechanical engineers need a PE licence in California?
Usually not. California's industrial exemption covers engineers designing products inside a manufacturing or technology company, which is most of this workforce. The BPELSG Professional Engineer licence in mechanical engineering is required to seal building mechanical systems, pressure vessel and public works designs — the consulting side of the profession rather than the product side.
Why does Los Angeles pay mechanical engineers less than the Bay Area?
Different industries with different economics. Southern California mechanical engineering is heavily aerospace, defence and building systems, sectors that price engineering against contract rates and fee schedules. Bay Area mechanical engineering is semiconductor capital equipment, medical devices and consumer hardware, priced against product margins and competing with software compensation for the same graduates. Hence $168,030 against $123,900.
How much does California tax reduce the engineering premium?
Meaningfully at the top. The 25.7% wage premium is real, but California's progressive rate to 13.3% plus 1.3% uncapped State Disability Insurance on all wages in 2026 takes considerably more than a flat-tax state at the $166,580 seventy-fifth percentile. For engineers with equity, the sourcing rules matter as much as the rate.
Why does a state with below-average concentration pay a 25.7% premium?
Because California's mechanical engineering employment is skewed toward high-value product development rather than routine plant and building work. A location quotient of 0.88 across about 30,530 engineers says the state does not employ many of them relative to its size — but the ones it does employ are disproportionately in semiconductor equipment, medical devices, electric vehicles and space hardware, which are among the best-paying applications of the discipline anywhere.
What is the honest caveat about this figure?
It is a wage number in sectors where equity is a substantial part of pay. Bay Area hardware and device compensation includes stock that OEWS does not capture, so the $166,580 seventy-fifth percentile understates total compensation there while describing an aerospace or building systems engineer in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, at $123,900, more accurately. Match the metro to your sector before using this page as a benchmark.
What is the practical route above the California median?
Subsystem ownership in a hardware or device programme. The step from $130,900 to the $166,580 seventy-fifth percentile is normally the point where an engineer owns a subsystem or product line end to end — thermal, mechanisms, packaging, fluidics — rather than contributing components to someone else's. In the Bay Area that step also typically adds an equity refresh, which is why the metro medians there sit in the same band as the state's upper quartile.
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Outlook & openings: BLS projects 9.1% national growth for mechanical engineers through 2034, and California's 10.3% share of national employment works out to roughly 1,860 openings a year, pro-rated from the national average annual openings figure. California demand is concentrated in areas that barely existed as employers a generation ago: semiconductor capital equipment, medical devices, electric vehicle and battery systems, and space launch and satellite hardware, alongside the state's traditional aerospace, defence and building systems work.
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