Average nuclear engineering major salary

Updated September 14, 2023

$74,969

$42,00010%

$74,969Median

$132,00090%

What is the average nuclear engineering major salary in the US?

The national average salary for a nuclear engineering major graduate in the United States is $74,969 per year or $36.04 per hour.Those in the bottom 10 percent make under $42,000 a year, and the top 10 percent make over $132,000.Most jobs for nuclear engineering majors are in technology companies and health care companies.The best states for high paying jobs for nuclear engineering major graduates are California, Alaska, Nevada, Connecticut, and Maryland.

Best paying cities

$88,009

$84,539

$82,293

Average nuclear engineering salary by company

Nuclear engineering major graduates report their job security as good. But just as in every field, some employers pay higher wages than others.Employers that have the highest concentration of job opportunities for nuclear engineering majors are technology companies and health care companies.Meta and Apple are the highest paying companies.In addition, companies like Applied Materials and Zoox report highly competitive salaries for nuclear engineering major graduates.

Average salary by company

Rank	Company	Zippia score	Average nuclear engineering salary
1	1.Meta	4.8	$130,654
2	2.Apple	4.8	$129,615
3	3.Applied Materials	4.5	$107,619
4	4.Zoox	3.4	$103,585
5	5.Palo Alto Networks	4.8	$101,496
6	6.Splunk	4.7	$101,046
7	7.Avid	4.7	$100,567
8	8.Texas Instruments	4.6	$98,650
9	9.Pure Storage	4.7	$96,466
10	10.Booz Allen Hamilton	4.9	$95,720
11	11.General Motors	4.6	$93,738
12	12.Westinghouse Appliances Australia	4.6	$91,660
13	13.Argonne National Laboratory	4.6	$91,452
14	14.Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory	4.4	$91,269
15	15.Los Alamos National Laboratory	4.2	$91,028
16	16.Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.	4.7	$90,947
17	17.Oak Ridge National Laboratory	4.5	$90,386
18	18.Lucid Motors	4.4	$90,381
19	19.Pacific Northwest National Laboratory	4.5	$90,104
20	20.Fortinet	4.8	$89,937

Average nuclear engineering major salary by city

Nuclear engineering major graduates in the US make an average salary of $74,969 per year or $36.04 per hour.The city with the highest salaries for nuclear engineering major graduates is San Francisco, CA at $88,009 per year.The average starting salary in San Francisco, CA for nuclear engineering major graduates is $49,000.Other top cities with competitive salaries are Washington, DC, Las Vegas, NV, Baltimore, MD, New York, NY, Boston, MA, and Seattle, WA.California, Alaska, Nevada, Connecticut, and Maryland are the states with the highest payscale for nuclear engineering major graduates.Georgia, North Carolina, and South Dakota have the lowest wages for nuclear engineering major graduates.

Average salary by location

Rank	City	Average nuclear engineering salary	Salary range
1	San Francisco, CA	$88,009	$50k $119k
2	Washington, DC	$84,539	$50k $119k
3	Las Vegas, NV	$82,293	$50k $119k
4	Baltimore, MD	$80,856	$50k $119k
5	New York, NY	$78,460	$50k $119k
6	Boston, MA	$78,185	$50k $119k
7	Seattle, WA	$77,901	$50k $119k
8	Washington, UT	$77,589	$50k $119k
9	Philadelphia, PA	$73,198	$50k $119k
10	Madison, WI	$73,066	$50k $119k
11	Colorado Springs, CO	$72,585	$50k $119k
12	Portland, ME	$71,989	$50k $119k
13	Chicago, IL	$71,745	$50k $119k
14	Columbus, OH	$71,534	$50k $119k
15	Portland, OR	$71,331	$50k $119k
16	Richmond, IN	$71,069	$50k $119k
17	Phoenix, AZ	$70,669	$50k $119k
18	Detroit, MI	$70,270	$50k $119k
19	Richmond, KY	$69,887	$50k $119k
20	Austin, TX	$69,332	$50k $119k

Average nuclear engineering major salary by state

The darker areas on the map show where nuclear engineering majors earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average salary

Nuclear engineering major average salary by state

State	Average nuclear engineering major salary	Average hourly rate
California	$83,316	$40.06
Alaska	$82,897	$39.85
Nevada	$82,628	$39.73
Connecticut	$80,826	$38.86
Maryland	$80,482	$38.69
Delaware	$79,644	$38.29
Rhode Island	$78,739	$37.86
New Jersey	$78,314	$37.65
New York	$78,267	$37.63
Massachusetts	$78,209	$37.60
New Hampshire	$77,714	$37.36
Washington	$77,348	$37.19
New Mexico	$77,195	$37.11
Vermont	$75,653	$36.37
Idaho	$75,305	$36.20
West Virginia	$74,557	$35.84
Wisconsin	$73,508	$35.34
Pennsylvania	$72,780	$34.99
Colorado	$72,184	$34.70
Ohio	$71,945	$34.59
Oregon	$71,838	$34.54
North Dakota	$71,750	$34.50
Utah	$71,705	$34.47
Louisiana	$71,607	$34.43
Illinois	$71,582	$34.41
Maine	$71,353	$34.30
Indiana	$70,601	$33.94
Arizona	$70,556	$33.92
Michigan	$70,072	$33.69
Kentucky	$69,532	$33.43
Montana	$69,388	$33.36
Minnesota	$69,025	$33.19
Texas	$68,872	$33.11
Iowa	$68,841	$33.10
Oklahoma	$68,655	$33.01
Kansas	$68,250	$32.81
South Carolina	$68,042	$32.71
Missouri	$67,356	$32.38
Alabama	$67,042	$32.23
Nebraska	$66,363	$31.91
Tennessee	$66,123	$31.79
Virginia	$66,055	$31.76
Wyoming	$65,713	$31.59
Mississippi	$65,483	$31.48
Georgia	$65,170	$31.33
North Carolina	$65,167	$31.33
South Dakota	$64,864	$31.18
Florida	$64,334	$30.93
Arkansas	$64,231	$30.88
Hawaii	$63,854	$30.70

Highest paying jobs for nuclear engineering majors

Rank	Job title	Average salary	Open jobs
1	Senior Engineer	$108,743	343,200
2	Software Engineer	$100,259	339,938
3	Nuclear Engineer	$99,676	8,747
4	Reactor Engineer	$98,752	3,227
5	Operations Engineer	$91,522	155,188
6	Software Developer	$87,521	294,329
7	Systems Engineer	$82,833	145,936
8	Test Engineer	$79,831	228,974
9	Systems Administrator	$77,155	134,500
10	Design Engineer	$77,134	138,173
11	Mechanical Engineer	$75,351	105,618
12	Project Engineer	$75,050	176,689
13	Data Analyst	$74,342	167,520
14	Analyst	$73,007	253,138
15	Nuclear Medicine Technologist	$72,978	56,975
16	Field Engineer	$71,873	86,015
17	Engineering Associate	$70,656	87,421
18	Engineering Technician	$60,273	111,343
19	Health Physics Technician	$46,169	55,571
20	Maintenance Technician	$43,292	178,450

Average nuclear engineering major salary by industry

Nuclear engineering major salaries can vary depending on the industry.Our data shows that government companies, manufacturing companies, and energy companies tend to have the highest salaries for nuclear engineering major graduates.Salaries for nuclear engineering major graduates in government companies average $81,223 annually, while manufacturing companies and energy companies pay $75,988 and $61,997, respectively.At $40,796, the average salary for nuclear engineering majors in the professional industry is lower than other industries.

Average salary by industry

Rank	Industry	Average nuclear engineering major salary	Range
1	Government	$81,223	$35k $98k
2	Manufacturing	$75,988	$35k $98k
3	Energy	$61,997	$35k $98k
4	Utilities	$51,740	$35k $98k
5	Professional	$40,796	$35k $98k

Salary history for nuclear engineering major graduates

This data shows the national average salary between 2011-2020 among Nuclear Engineering major graduates.

Salaries for related majors

Rank	Major	Average salary	Range
1	Systems Engineering	$92,720	$41k $114k
2	Manufacturing Engineering	$86,102	$41k $114k
3	Petroleum Engineering	$85,578	$41k $114k
4	Plastics Engineering	$85,097	$41k $114k
5	Engineering	$84,098	$41k $114k
6	Operations Research	$82,068	$41k $114k
7	Mining Engineering	$81,856	$41k $114k
8	Aerospace Engineering	$80,340	$41k $114k
9	Computer Engineering	$79,862	$41k $114k
10	Industrial Engineering	$79,503	$41k $114k
11	Mechanical Engineering	$75,070	$41k $114k
12	Electrical Engineering	$75,040	$41k $114k
13	Engineering Science	$72,902	$41k $114k
14	Civil Engineering	$72,245	$41k $114k
15	Materials Science And Engineering	$70,247	$41k $114k
16	Environmental Engineering	$70,158	$41k $114k
17	Mechatronics And Robotics	$69,788	$41k $114k
18	Chemical Engineering	$68,316	$41k $114k
19	Architectural Engineering	$65,064	$41k $114k
20	Biomedical Engineering	$55,912	$41k $114k