How much do systems engineers make in 2026?
Systems engineer is counted here in the residual BLS series, engineers, all other: OEWS May 2025 puts SOC 17-2199 at a national median of $122,930 a year ($59.10 an hour), with a P10 of $66,810 and a P90 of $189,950. Before using that figure, resolve the ambiguity in the title, because it covers two unrelated jobs. The first is systems engineering in the INCOSE sense: requirements definition, architecture, interface control, verification and validation across a complex product — the discipline that keeps an aircraft, a satellite, a medical device or a vehicle programme coherent. That is the profession this engineering series describes, and it pays around and above this median in aerospace, defence and medical devices. The second is the IT systems engineer, who builds and maintains servers, virtualisation, identity and cloud infrastructure; those roles are usually counted in the computer occupations rather than here, and their pay follows the systems administration and cloud engineering market instead. The two jobs share almost no skills. Anyone comparing an offer against a published figure needs to be certain which profession the number describes. Employment is projected to grow 2.1% through 2034 with roughly 9,300 openings a year. → Full systems engineer career guide, career path, credentials & placement →
Note: $122,930 blends every experience level and every setting in this occupation. For pay by level alone, see Pay by Level below.
- Systems Engineers earn a national median $122,930/yr ($59.10/hr) (BLS OEWS May 2025, SOC 17-2199); the P10 to P90 range is $66,810 to $189,950.
- The title covers two unrelated professions — product systems engineering in the INCOSE sense, and IT infrastructure systems engineering — which are counted in different occupation families and paid in different markets.
- This page's series describes the product discipline: requirements, architecture, interfaces and verification across complex programmes in aerospace, defence, medical devices and automotive.
- Pay follows programme complexity and clearance eligibility more than tool skills, because the value is in keeping a large technical system coherent across teams.
US Systems Engineer Pay Distribution · BLS OEWS May 2025
Pay by Level · BLS OEWS May 2025
How much do systems 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 17-2199; 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 17-2199, 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 systems engineer earn at each career stage?
Systems engineering pay follows the breadth of the system you are trusted to keep coherent. Each median is anchored to the BLS OEWS distribution for SOC 17-2199.
By State
Which states pay systems engineers the most in 2026?
These are modeled state estimates — the national median of the BLS engineers, all other series scaled by the GlobalCybers state wage index — not BLS state observations. Product systems engineering clusters where large programmes are run, so states with defence, space, automotive or medical device programmes hold most of the work regardless of their general wage level.
6 of 51 state guides shown, ranked by median. Bar is relative to California ($141,370), the highest-paying state shown. See all role salary guides →
systems engineer pay by state — all 1 state guide
By Metro
Which cities pay systems 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. Programme cities dominate this occupation more than general labour-market size does.
BLS OEWS MSA estimates, May 2025. Nominal pay — weigh each metro against its cost of living before relocating.
Certification Impact
Which certifications raise a systems 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 systems engineer pay compare to related roles?
BLS OEWS national median across the closest trades. Systems 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 systems engineer wages on BLS.gov →
Take-Home Pay
What does a systems 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
Systems Engineer Salary, Frequently Asked Questions
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