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Job outlook for radio frequency engineers in the United States
Radio frequency engineer job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected radio frequency engineer job growth rate is 3% from 2018-2028.
About 9,800 new jobs for radio frequency engineers are projected over the next decade.
Radio frequency engineer salaries have increased 8% for radio frequency engineers in the last 5 years.
There are over 18,302 radio frequency engineers currently employed in the United States.
There are 35,158 active radio frequency engineer job openings in the US.
The average radio frequency engineer salary is $88,301.
Are radio frequency engineer jobs in demand?
Radio frequency engineer job and salary trends over time
Radio frequency engineer jobs over time
Radio frequency engineer job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 18,302 | 0.01% |
| 2020 | 20,889 | 0.01% |
| 2019 | 21,996 | 0.01% |
| 2018 | 22,903 | 0.01% |
| 2017 | 23,043 | 0.01% |
Average radio frequency engineer salary over time
Radio frequency engineer salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $88,301 | $42.45 | +1.9% |
| 2024 | $86,683 | $41.67 | +2.8% |
| 2023 | $84,326 | $40.54 | +0.5% |
| 2022 | $83,900 | $40.34 | +3.0% |
| 2021 | $81,461 | $39.16 | +1.0% |
Radio frequency engineer jobs by state
Most common states for radio frequency engineers
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 189 | 27% |
| 2 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 1,020 | 12% |
| 3 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 816 | 12% |
| 4 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 754 | 12% |
| 5 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 621 | 11% |
| 6 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 681 | 9% |
| 7 | California | 39,536,653 | 3,304 | 8% |
| 8 | Arizona | 7,016,270 | 586 | 8% |
| 9 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 342 | 8% |
| 10 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 255 | 8% |
| 11 | Delaware | 961,939 | 77 | 8% |
| 12 | Michigan | 9,962,311 | 671 | 7% |
| 13 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 92 | 7% |
| 14 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 53 | 7% |
| 15 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 362 | 6% |
| 16 | Alabama | 4,874,747 | 313 | 6% |
| 17 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 185 | 6% |
| 18 | New Mexico | 2,088,070 | 126 | 6% |
| 19 | Vermont | 623,657 | 36 | 6% |
| 20 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 34 | 6% |
Most common cities for radio frequency engineers
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Littleton | 17 | 37% | $90,455 |
| 2 | Cupertino | 22 | 36% | $110,838 |
| 3 | Andover | 11 | 33% | $95,116 |
| 4 | Annapolis | 12 | 30% | $98,373 |
| 5 | Redmond | 13 | 21% | $96,000 |
| 6 | Lafayette | 6 | 21% | $90,283 |
| 7 | Reston | 6 | 10% | $96,858 |
| 8 | Huntsville | 15 | 8% | $87,567 |
| 9 | Hawthorne | 6 | 7% | $104,461 |
| 10 | Sunnyvale | 9 | 6% | $110,835 |
| 11 | Tucson | 17 | 3% | $94,302 |
| 12 | Irvine | 9 | 3% | $103,560 |
| 13 | San Diego | 31 | 2% | $101,643 |
| 14 | Denver | 16 | 2% | $90,322 |
| 15 | San Francisco | 14 | 2% | $111,136 |
| 16 | Seattle | 14 | 2% | $96,121 |
| 17 | San Jose | 7 | 1% | $110,659 |
| 18 | Baltimore | 6 | 1% | $98,345 |
Radio Frequency Engineer job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of radio frequency engineer experts
Gonzaga University
Stevens Institute of Technology
University of Alabama at Birmingham
San Diego State University
Old Dominion University
University of Mississippi
Kennesaw State University
What Radio Frequency Engineer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Steven Schennum Ph.D. P.E.: The most important skill is the ability to learn new things, and especially to unlearn things you “know” after evidence demonstrates that these things are not true. Learn how to analyze information. Your intuition, simulations, and results should all be in alignment. If they are not, then dig deeper. Learn the terminology and jargon specific to your company and your projects. Spend time reading. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be intimidated by new software.
What Radio Frequency Engineer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Min Song: Communication skills and innovative thinking skills. As emerging technologies continue to be complex and multidisciplinary, it’s important to be able to communicate with professionals in diverse disciplines. Taking robotics, for example, the electrical engineer must be able to work with mechanical and biomechanical engineers, computer engineers, software engineers, artificial intelligence experts, cognitive scientists, system engineers, etc. A person will be able to generate innovative ideas only if the person has a complete and comprehensive understanding of the entire system and can work well with other individuals with a range of expertise.
What general advice would you give to a Radio Frequency Engineer?
Arie Nakhmani: Electrical Engineering combines a dozen sub-fields such as power systems, telecommunications, embedded systems, machine learning/AI, hardware design, signal analysis, IoT, etc., and jobs in these different subfields could look completely different. Some involve office work with the computer designing algorithms or optimizing processes, others might involve inspecting power transmission lines with drones in the middle of the forest. Some jobs include testing airplane engines and others designing microchips and working in clean rooms.
What Radio Frequency Engineer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Arie Nakhmani: Electrical Engineering has always (from its inception) been a good profession to enter, but now it is better than ever. Now everything is becoming Electrical Engineering, and the world cannot survive without it even for a few days. Electrical Engineering is the most necessary profession for the survival of modern society.
What Radio Frequency Engineer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Arif Engin: Electrical engineering graduates are sought by a wide range of employers in government and industry for many different types of work. The top occupations in electrical engineering fields are projected to grow and sometimes require an advanced degree.
What will help Radio Frequency Engineers increase their earning potential?
Dr. Arif Engin: Electrical engineers solve problems by skillfully applying mathematics and science. Electrical engineering classes are challenging at college, and electrical engineers must embrace lifelong learning to remain at the top of their skills. In the end, seeing the results of their work in a finished product is a rewarding experience.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Radio Frequency Engineers?
Michel Audette Ph.D.: My take on this is what I've seen with my wife's work in industry, which suggests that the industrial landscape is going to be increasingly equipped for, and open to, remote work. I think that the implication for graduates is that they may need to be flexible about working within a geographically distributed team. If company deciders feel that someone is worth employing because of a unique skill set, then they would typically be more willing to hire that person even if unable to make it to work regularly, if that is feasible given the nature of the work; some work, such as hardware testing or industrial production, may not lend itself to remote contributions.
Nonetheless, for those areas that accommodate geographically distributed activity, such as software development, graduates can expect to interact with team members all over the US, possibly all over the world, if someone is deemed unique enough to hire despite living abroad. This places a high premium on the ability and willingness to work in a heterogeneous team, where not only will members look different, but also have myriad accents in their English, which will also impose a certain adaptability and tolerance to team members.
A related impact could also be that global hiring will make it easier for multi-national companies to hire a portion of their talent in countries where wages are lower and motivate US-based engineers to seek out graduate degrees in order to increase their competitiveness and employability at US salaries.
How do you envision technology impacting Radio Frequency Engineers in the next 5 years?
Dr. John Daigle Ph.D.: Starting with automatic speech recognition and leading to biometrics in identifications/verifications of people and self-driving autonomous vehicles in the near future, artificial intelligence/machine learning continues to play a big role in the development of our society and our thinking with respect to ethics and safety. Additionally, wireless access to information and entertainment and connectivity for data-intensive applications in IoT and industrial IoT would skyrocket with emerging 5G and future technologies. Tomorrow's electrical engineers would work in interdisciplinary teams that would increasingly involve mechanical and biomedical engineers and computer scientists.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Radio Frequency Engineers?
Hai Ho Ph.D.: I believe the impact is short term, and once vaccines are effective and available, our graduates will have expected graduation and access to a responsive job market.