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Application engineer salary

Quoted expert
Daisy Huang

Average application engineer salary

$92,921

$44.67 hourly rate

Entry-level application engineer salary
$69,000 yearly salary
Updated December 15, 2025

Average Application Engineer Salary

The salary for an Application Engineer typically averages around $92,921 annually, which translates to approximately $45 per hour. Factors influencing this salary include experience, location, and industry sector.

How Much Does an Application Engineer Make?

Entry-level positions can expect to earn less, while experienced engineers may see salaries exceeding $120,000 in high-demand areas. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for career planning.

Where Can an Application Engineer Earn More?

Salaries for Application Engineers can vary significantly by state and city. For example, cities like San Francisco and New York often offer higher salaries due to the cost of living and demand for skilled professionals.

Average Application Engineer Salary by State

Explore specific salary averages by state to find the best locations for your career. States such as California and Texas frequently report higher salaries for Application Engineers.

Highest Paying Cities for Application Engineers

  • San Francisco, CA
  • New York, NY
  • Seattle, WA
  • Austin, TX

By targeting these areas, you can significantly enhance your earning potential as an Application Engineer.

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Where can an Application Engineer earn more?

Compare salary by location
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136k
116k
96k
76k
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Columbus, OH$123,703
Columbus, IN$65,664
Compare salary by company
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Morgan Lewis$150,243
Palo Alto Networks$129,411

Average application engineer salary by state

The average application engineer salary in California, Colorado, and Virginia are the highest in the U.S. The lowest average application engineer salary states are Alabama, Kentucky, and Michigan.

  • State view
  • County view
Average salary:

Highest paying states for application engineers

RankStateAvg. salaryHourly rate
1Colorado$107,003$51.44
2California$114,148$54.88
3Oregon$100,687$48.41
4Virginia$103,441$49.73
5District of Columbia$108,462$52.15
6Arizona$95,546$45.94
7Rhode Island$95,073$45.71
8New Hampshire$94,446$45.41
9Maryland$100,066$48.11
10Texas$92,525$44.48
11Idaho$89,588$43.07
12Vermont$87,992$42.30
13Wyoming$86,274$41.48
14New York$91,659$44.07
15Montana$90,282$43.40
16North Dakota$88,828$42.71
17Maine$91,579$44.03
18Nevada$88,663$42.63
19Georgia$86,228$41.46
20South Dakota$87,423$42.03
21Washington$84,589$40.67
22Utah$81,591$39.23
23New Jersey$87,748$42.19
24Massachusetts$83,898$40.34
25Delaware$82,713$39.77
26Alaska$85,064$40.90
27Illinois$83,648$40.22
28Iowa$84,116$40.44
29Arkansas$82,888$39.85
30Pennsylvania$82,013$39.43
31New Mexico$83,489$40.14
32West Virginia$81,447$39.16
33Wisconsin$78,749$37.86
34Mississippi$83,288$40.04
35Florida$79,727$38.33
36North Carolina$76,179$36.62
37Connecticut$77,186$37.11
38Minnesota$74,023$35.59
39Tennessee$74,555$35.84
40Michigan$68,464$32.92
41Alabama$69,235$33.29
42Ohio$70,533$33.91
43Kansas$71,630$34.44
44South Carolina$72,156$34.69
45Oklahoma$72,535$34.87
46Hawaii$69,755$33.54
47Louisiana$72,210$34.72
48Nebraska$65,983$31.72
49Missouri$68,353$32.86
50Indiana$65,774$31.62
51Kentucky$68,762$33.06

Highest paying cities for application engineers

The highest-paying cities for application engineers are Redwood City, CA, Washington, DC, and Colorado Springs, CO.

RankCityAvg. salaryHourly rate
1Redwood City, CA$123,703$59.47
2Washington, DC$108,515$52.17
3Colorado Springs, CO$107,059$51.47
4Hillsboro, OR$100,576$48.35
5Phoenix, AZ$95,626$45.97
6Austin, TX$93,594$45.00
7New York, NY$91,782$44.13
8Burlington, VT$87,670$42.15
9Atlanta, GA$86,194$41.44
10Seattle, WA$84,980$40.86
11Boston, MA$83,950$40.36
12Chicago, IL$83,774$40.28
13Wilmington, DE$82,840$39.83
14Columbus, MS$82,511$39.67
15Charlotte, NC$75,460$36.28
16Plymouth, MN$74,039$35.60
17Columbus, OH$70,326$33.81
18Washington, MI$68,679$33.02
19Columbus, IN$65,664$31.57

Application Engineers are the most in-demand in these five cities:

  1. Redwood City, CA
  2. Washington, DC
  3. Colorado Springs, CO
  4. Hillsboro, OR
  5. Phoenix, AZ

Application engineer salary details

An application engineer's salary ranges from $69,000 a year at the 10th percentile to $125,000 at the 90th percentile.

Average application engineer salary graph
Average application engineer salary graph, trends, and summary

What is an application engineer's salary?

PercentileAnnual salaryMonthly salaryHourly rate
90th Percentile$125,000$10,417$60
75th Percentile$108,000$9,000$52
Average$92,921$7,743$45
25th Percentile$79,000$6,583$38
10th Percentile$69,000$5,750$33

Highest paying application engineer jobs

The highest paying types of application engineers are contracting engineer, senior sales engineer, and senior engineer.

Job titleAnnual salaryMonthly salaryHourly rateJob openings
Manufacturing Engineer$78,522$6,543$37.75115,384
Software Engineer$100,260$8,355$48.20339,938
Development Engineer$93,206$7,767$44.81224,881
Process Engineer$82,443$6,870$39.6466,937
Systems Engineer$82,834$6,903$39.82145,936
Engineer$92,076$7,673$44.27618,207

How would you rate the starting salaries for application engineers, as well as the prospects for salary advancement?

Daisy Huang

Assistant Professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Above average, but you won't be a millionaire easily (you can with some effort, saving, and investing well). It is very unlikely you'll ever be *super* wealthy, but it's also very unlikely you'll ever not find employment in your field. You'll have a solid ticket to a modestly comfortable life, with some luxuries, too.

Top companies hiring application engineers now:

  1. Meta jobs (138)
  2. Google jobs (594)
  3. Cadence Design Systems jobs (310)
  4. Texas Instruments jobs (454)
  5. Applied Materials jobs (157)

Which companies pay application engineers the most?

Application engineer salaries at Morgan Lewis and Meta are the highest-paying according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, the average application engineer salary at companies like Apple and Google are highly competitive.

RankCompanyAverage salaryHourly rate
1Morgan Lewis$150,243$72.23
2Meta$146,694$70.53
3Apple$144,180$69.32
4Google$137,948$66.32
5PayPal$136,577$65.66
6Match Group$135,207$65.00
7First Republic Bank$134,994$64.90
8Waymo$133,902$64.38
9Twitter$133,171$64.02
10Pacific Investment Management Company LLC$131,896$63.41
11Snowflake Computing$131,705$63.32
12Algolia$131,404$63.17
13Zoox$130,934$62.95
14MongoDB$130,725$62.85
15Netflix$130,155$62.57
16Brocade Services Corporation$130,135$62.56
17Intuitive Surgical$129,753$62.38
18Hunton & Williams LLP$129,612$62.31
19NVIDIA$129,534$62.28
20Palo Alto Networks$129,411$62.22

Wage gap by gender, race and education

$93,000$92,000$91,000$90,000$89,000$88,000
MaleFemale

Application Engineer salary by industry

The average application engineer salary varies across industries:

  • The average application engineer salary in the technology industry is $100,321, the highest of any industry.
  • The average application engineer salary in the finance industry is $96,918.
  • Application engineers in the manufacturing industry earn an average salary of $90,328, the lowest of any industry.

Highest paying industries for application engineers

RankIndustryAverage salaryHourly rate
1Technology$100,321$48.23
2Automotive$96,918$46.60
3Health Care$91,869$44.17
4Professional$90,834$43.67
5Manufacturing$90,328$43.43

High paying application engineer jobs

Application engineer salary trends

The average application engineer salary has risen by $16,649 over the last ten years. In 2014, the average application engineer earned $76,272 annually, but today, they earn $92,921 a year. That works out to a 9% change in pay for application engineers over the last decade.

Compare application engineer salaries for cities or states with the national average over time.

Average application engineer salary over time

Compare application engineer salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.

Application engineer salary by year

YearAvg. salaryHourly rate% Change
2025$92,900$44.67+4.5%
2024$88,700$42.65+2.4%
2023$86,600$41.63+2.7%
2022$84,300$40.52-1.3%
2021$85,400$41.05+2.3%

Recently added application engineer salaries

CompanyJobLocationDate addedSalary
Arrow ElectronicsApplication EngineerReno, NV06/30/2025$98,900
Discover Financial ServicesApplication Engineer (Multiple Openings)-IHMHouston, TX06/30/2025$103,210
Discover Financial ServicesPrincipal Application Engineer (Multiple Openings)-IHMRiverwoods, IL06/30/2025$148,949
BloomenergyApplication Engineer (NCG)San Jose, CA06/30/2025$82,000
HenkelAssociate Application Engineer, Technical CenterBridgewater, NJ06/30/2025$65,000
ZieglerApplication Engineer-OEMShakopee, MN06/30/2025$109,100
BlackrockApplication Engineer, AssociateAtlanta, GA06/30/2025$120,000
BlackrockAnalyst, Application EngineerWilmington, DE06/30/2025$90,250
Alfa LavalApplication EngineerBroken Arrow, OK06/30/2025$90,000
Blue OriginApplication Engineer IIISeattle, WA06/30/2025$108,795

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