Senior Design Engineer Salary

Q: How much does a Senior Design Engineer make?

Senior design engineers make $102,385 per year on average, or $49.22 per hour, in the United States. Senior design engineers on the lower end of that spectrum, the bottom 10% to be exact, make roughly $77,000 a year, while the top 10% makes $136,000. Location impacts how much a senior design engineer can expect to make. Senior design engineers make the most in California, Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, and Hawaii.

Updated July 11, 2022

Average Senior Design Engineer Salary

$102,385 yearly
To create our salary estimates, Zippia starts with data published in publicly available sources such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Foreign Labor Certification Data Center (FLC) Show More

$49.22 hourly

Entry level Salary

$77,000 yearly

$77,000

10 %

$102,385

Median

$136,000

90 %

How much does a Senior Design Engineer make?

Senior design engineers make $102,385 per year on average, or $49.22 per hour, in the United States. Senior design engineers on the lower end of that spectrum, the bottom 10% to be exact, make roughly $77,000 a year, while the top 10% makes $136,000.

Location impacts how much a senior design engineer can expect to make. Senior design engineers make the most in California, Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, and Hawaii.

Highest Paying States For Senior Design Engineers

The darker areas on the map show where senior design engineers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

State View
County View

Average Salary:

Senior Design Engineer average salary by State

Rank	State	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Count
1	California	$126,584	$60.86	9,750
2	Utah	$120,320	$57.85	585
3	Arizona	$107,337	$51.60	1,297
4	Washington	$106,655	$51.28	1,833
5	Idaho	$113,837	$54.73	231
6	District of Columbia	$111,753	$53.73	449
7	Oregon	$104,101	$50.05	1,034
8	Wyoming	$99,534	$47.85	92
9	New Mexico	$112,780	$54.22	206
10	Texas	$99,913	$48.04	3,081
11	Hawaii	$110,833	$53.29	121
12	Colorado	$96,317	$46.31	1,282
13	Massachusetts	$95,942	$46.13	1,899
14	Nevada	$102,609	$49.33	236
15	North Dakota	$98,755	$47.48	114
16	West Virginia	$99,494	$47.83	132
17	Louisiana	$102,738	$49.39	239
18	Montana	$94,096	$45.24	148
19	Alabama	$89,532	$43.04	630
20	Connecticut	$91,852	$44.16	578
21	Rhode Island	$90,053	$43.29	172
22	Florida	$91,157	$43.83	1,983
23	Georgia	$89,053	$42.81	1,282
24	Illinois	$88,998	$42.79	1,630
25	New Hampshire	$87,794	$42.21	246
26	Virginia	$87,592	$42.11	1,883
27	Delaware	$86,738	$41.70	240
28	Maryland	$87,922	$42.27	1,087
29	Michigan	$80,218	$38.57	1,124
30	New York	$85,434	$41.07	1,951
31	Alaska	$83,383	$40.09	118
32	New Jersey	$88,339	$42.47	854
33	Tennessee	$84,794	$40.77	420
34	Maine	$84,677	$40.71	136
35	Nebraska	$83,094	$39.95	227
36	North Carolina	$79,847	$38.39	1,215
37	Minnesota	$79,806	$38.37	940
38	Oklahoma	$83,165	$39.98	219
39	Wisconsin	$79,288	$38.12	665
40	South Carolina	$81,954	$39.40	390
41	Iowa	$75,505	$36.30	456
42	Indiana	$75,527	$36.31	793
43	Vermont	$73,409	$35.29	124
44	Ohio	$75,214	$36.16	997
45	Kansas	$74,695	$35.91	336
46	Arkansas	$74,439	$35.79	232
47	Mississippi	$77,134	$37.08	128
48	Missouri	$75,395	$36.25	530
49	Pennsylvania	$71,655	$34.45	1,235
50	South Dakota	$72,949	$35.07	88
51	Kentucky	$71,642	$34.44	290

Top Senior Design Engineer Jobs Near You

Highest Paying Cities For Senior Design Engineers

Rank	City	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
1	San Francisco, CA	$129,326	$62.18
2	Phoenix, AZ	$107,744	$51.80
3	Seattle, WA	$106,693	$51.29
4	Sugar Land, TX	$101,641	$48.87
5	Colorado Springs, CO	$97,036	$46.65
6	East Hartford, CT	$91,790	$44.13
7	Orlando, FL	$91,659	$44.07
8	Peoria, IL	$88,462	$42.53
9	Arlington, VA	$87,718	$42.17
10	Decatur, AL	$86,008	$41.35
11	New York, NY	$85,676	$41.19
12	Wilmington, NC	$81,072	$38.98
13	Troy, MI	$80,281	$38.60
14	Columbus, IN	$75,308	$36.21
15	Columbus, OH	$75,037	$36.08

Senior Design Engineer Salary Details

What is a Senior Design Engineer's Salary?

Percentile	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate
90th Percentile	$136,000	$11,333	$65
75th Percentile	$118,000	$9,833	$57
Average	$102,385	$8,532	$49
25th Percentile	$88,000	$7,333	$42
10th Percentile	$77,000	$6,417	$37

Average Salary By Related Titles

Job Title	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
Principal Engineer	$132,282	$11,023	$63.60	312,683
Staff Engineer	$113,160	$9,430	$54.40	277,011
Lead Engineer	$89,605	$7,467	$43.08	301,777
Integration Engineer	$102,839	$8,570	$49.44	103,437
Service Engineer	$90,470	$7,539	$43.50	143,806
Electrical Design Engineer	$86,767	$7,231	$41.71	87,121

Here are the five companies hiring the most now:

Which Companies Pay Senior Design Engineers The Most?

According to our most recent salary estimates, Microsoft and Google are the highest paying companies for senior design engineers.

Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
1	Microsoft	$152,097	$73.12	203
2	Google	$142,456	$68.49	291
3	GoPro	$129,954	$62.48	1
4	Arista Networks	$126,831	$60.98	18
5	Barclays	$124,749	$59.98	10
6	Micron Technology	$123,750	$59.50	68
7	Appian	$122,749	$59.01	2
8	Arrow Electronics	$122,554	$58.92	511
9	Broadcom	$122,523	$58.91	57
10	PayPal	$121,226	$58.28	2
11	OCZ Technology	$118,636	$57.04
12	NeoPhotonics	$118,515	$56.98	5
13	Skyworks Solutions	$117,403	$56.44	62
14	Qorvo	$116,773	$56.14	34
15	PMC-Sierra	$116,433	$55.98
16	Microsemi	$116,175	$55.85
17	Apple	$116,011	$55.77	1444
18	SiFive	$115,943	$55.74	17
19	NVIDIA	$115,916	$55.73	82
20	Sigma Designs	$115,622	$55.59

Senior Design Engineer Salary Trends

Average Senior Design Engineer Salary Over Time

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

Senior Design Engineer Salary By Year

Year	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate	% Change
2022	$102,000	$49.22	+1.9%
2021	$100,000	$48.28	+1.2%
2020	$99,200	$47.70	+1.7%
2019	$97,500	$46.89	+2.0%
2018	$95,600	$45.96	+0.7%

Recently Added Senior Design Engineer Salaries

Company	Job	Location	Date Added	Salary
Goodwin Recruiting	SR. Fpga Design Engineer	Alameda, CA	05/31/2022	$140,000
Gannett Fleming	Senior Design Engineer/Bus & Rail Maintenance Facilities	Los Angeles, CA	05/31/2022	$160,000
Goodwin Recruiting	SR. Fpga Design Engineer	Arlington, VA	05/30/2022	$140,000
Trimet Public Transportation	Project Manager, Senior Transit Designer, Engineering & Construction	Portland, OR	05/29/2022	$97,654
Unitedhealth Group Inc.	SR UX Design Engineer-Telecommute	Eden Prairie, MN	05/28/2022	$82,100
Intel Corp.	Senior Logic Design Engineer	Santa Clara, CA	05/26/2022	$132,940
Nvidia	Senior Physical Design Methodology Engineer	Santa Clara, CA	05/23/2022	$133,200
Nv Energy	Senior Engineer-Design Transmission/Civil (LAS Vegas or Reno)	Reno, NV	05/18/2022	$95,800
Intel	Senior Logic Design Engineer	Atlanta, GA	05/18/2022	$97,230
Cybercoders	Senior Physical Design Engineer	San Jose, CA	05/17/2022	$200,000

Senior Design Engineer Salaries FAQs

What state pays Senior Design Engineers the most?

California pays Senior Design Engineers the most in the United States, with an average salary of $126,584 per year, or $60.86 per hour.

How do I know if I'm being paid fairly as a Senior Design Engineer?

You know if you are being paid fairly as a Senior Design Engineer if your pay is close to the average pay for the state you live in. For example, if you live in Utah you should be paid close to $120,320 per year.

What type of Senior Design Engineer gets paid the most?

Senior Staff Engineer gets paid the most. Senior Staff Engineer made a median salary of $136,810. The best-paid 10 percent make $164,000, while the lowest-paid 10 percent make $113,000.

Have more questions? See all answers to common architecture and engineering questions.

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