How much do mining engineers make in 2026?
Mining engineers earn a national median of $106,220 a year ($51.07 an hour) according to BLS OEWS May 2025 for SOC 17-2151, mining and geological engineers including mining safety engineers, with the bottom 10% near $67,490 and the top 10% at $169,990 across just 6,080 workers. This is one of the smallest engineering occupations BLS tracks, and the scarcity is central to understanding it. The number of accredited mining engineering programmes in the United States is small and their graduating classes are smaller, while the industries that need mining engineers — metal mining, coal, aggregates, industrial minerals, and increasingly the critical minerals supply chain — cannot substitute another discipline for mine design, ventilation, ground control and mine planning. That imbalance supports pay well above the general engineering average despite an essentially flat employment projection of 0.7% growth. The work divides between operations engineering at a mine site, technical services and mine planning, and consulting, with consulting and senior technical services paying at the top of the band. Professional Engineer licensure matters for consulting sign-off and for the mining safety engineering side. Roughly 400 openings a year arise nationally, which is genuinely few, so mobility is part of the career. → Full mining engineer career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $106,220 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Mining Engineers earn a national median $106,220/yr ($51.07/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 17-2151); the P10 to P90 range is $67,490 to $169,990.
- The graduate pipeline is genuinely small and no other discipline substitutes for mine design, ventilation, ground control and planning, which supports pay despite flat projected employment.
- Consulting and senior technical services sit at the top of the $67,490 to $169,990 band, with site operations engineering below them.
- Roughly 400 openings a year arise nationally, so geographic mobility is a structural feature of this career rather than an optional extra.
US Mining Engineer Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do mining engineers earn at each level?
BLS OEWS publishes one blended wage for the whole occupation and does not break pay out by credential or practice level. The levels below distribute the published percentile range across the credential tiers this role actually hires at.
Level medians are aligned to the BLS OEWS May 2025 percentile distribution for SOC 17-2151; GlobalCybers does not yet publish a verified placement sample for this role, so no verified median is shown.
Methodology & Sources
How the numbers on this page are built
Published (BLS): BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 17-2151, United States national 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.
Level and certification medians: distributed across the published BLS percentile range for this SOC code (P10 through P90) according to the credential tiers this occupation actually hires at. They are modeled reference points, not separately surveyed wages.
State and metro figures: modeled — the BLS national median multiplied by the GlobalCybers state wage index, and for metros by the published metro index for that state. They are estimates of local pay, not BLS state or metropolitan-area observations, and are labelled as modeled in the tables below.
No verified placement sample:GlobalCybers does not yet publish a placement median for this role, so no "verified" figure appears anywhere on this page.
Pay by Career Level
How much does a mining engineer earn at each career stage?
Mining engineering pay follows technical specialism and whether you sign the design. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS distribution for SOC 17-2151.
By State
Which states pay mining engineers the most in 2026?
These are modeled state estimates — the national mining engineer median scaled by the GlobalCybers state wage index — not BLS state observations. With only 6,080 engineers nationally, positions are concentrated in mining states and consulting centres, and a state's general wage level says little about the opportunities in it.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($122,150), the highest-paying state shown. See all role salary guides →
By Metro
Which cities pay mining engineers the most?
Modeled metro estimates: the national median scaled by the state wage index and then by that state's published metro index. They estimate local wage levels and are not BLS metropolitan-area observations. Consulting and corporate technical services sit in a handful of metros while operations engineering is at remote sites.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise a mining engineer’s pay the most?
Median annual pay before and after each credential, based on GlobalCybers placement data cross-referenced with BLS. License upgrades move the needle most; stackable certs add on top.
Impacts are not additive, the licensing rows share the same career ladder. Browse all 167 certifications →
Trade Comparison
How does mining engineer pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Mining Engineers sit mid-pack on median but carry one of the widest P10–P90 spreads, licensing and specialization drive the upside.
BLS OEWS May 2025. Verify mining engineer wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does a mining engineer actually take home after taxes?
The medians above are gross base wage.
Estimates use 2026 federal brackets, standard deduction, and 7.65% FICA. Actual take-home varies with filing status, deductions, and local tax.
FAQ
Mining Engineer Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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