Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2003

17-2161 Nuclear Engineers

Conduct research on nuclear engineering problems or apply principles and theory of nuclear science to problems concerned with release, control, and utilization of nuclear energy and nuclear waste disposal.

National estimates for this occupation
Industry profile for this occupation
State profile for this occupation
Metropolitan area profile for this occupation

National estimates for this occupation: Top

Employment estimate and mean wage estimates for this occupation:

Employment (1)	Employment RSE (3)	Mean hourly wage	Mean annual wage (2)	Wage RSE (3)
16,010	8.0 %	$41.12	$85,520	1.3 %

Percentile wage estimates for this occupation:

Percentile	10%	25%	50% (Median)	75%	90%
Hourly Wage	$28.82	$34.02	$40.18	$46.17	$55.42
Annual Wage (2)	$59,950	$70,760	$83,570	$96,030	$115,270

Industry profile for this occupation: Top

Industries with the highest levels of employment in this occupation:

Industry	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Employment rank	Wage rank
Power generation and supply	6,670	$38.86	$80,840	1	7
Scientific research and development services	2,500	$43.89	$91,290	2	1
Federal government (OES designation)	2,040	$38.19	$79,430	3	9
Architectural and engineering services	1,000	$42.82	$89,070	4	3
Waste treatment and disposal	730	$39.17	$81,480	5	6

Top paying industries for this occupation:

Industry	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Employment rank	Wage rank
Scientific research and development services	2,500	$43.89	$91,290	2	1
Other chemical product and preparation mfg.	(6)	$43.75	$91,000	(6)	2
Architectural and engineering services	1,000	$42.82	$89,070	4	3
Management and technical consulting services	140	$40.36	$83,950	8	4
Remediation and other waste services	230	$40.18	$83,580	7	5

State profile for this occupation: Top

States with the highest concentration of workers in this occupation:

State	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Percent of State employment	Wage rank within State
Idaho	330	$49.67	$103,310	0.058%	10
Pennsylvania	2,950	$39.85	$82,890	0.053%	20
Maine	230	$34.67	$72,110	0.039%	23
South Carolina	600	$41.80	$86,940	0.034%	15
Alabama	570	$39.01	$81,130	0.031%	21

Top paying States for this occupation:

State	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Percent of State employment	Wage rank within State
Michigan	560	$60.56	$125,970	0.013%	11
Idaho	330	$49.67	$103,310	0.058%	10
Maryland	340	$48.45	$100,780	0.014%	15
Tennessee	380	$48.13	$100,120	0.015%	19
Nebraska	160	$43.10	$89,650	0.018%	15

Metropolitan area profile for this occupation: Top

Metropolitan areas with the highest concentration of workers in this occupation:

MSA	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Percent of MSA employment
Bremerton, WA PMSA	470	$32.08	$66,720	0.638%
Richland-Kennewick-Pasco, WA MSA	210	$42.49	$88,380	0.265%
Augusta-Aiken, GA-SC MSA	520	$41.41	$86,130	0.264%
Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News, VA-NC MSA	470	$30.93	$64,340	0.067%
Birmingham, AL MSA	300	$40.42	$84,080	0.067%

Top paying Metropolitan areas for this occupation:

MSA	Employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage	Percent of MSA employment
Knoxville, TN MSA	(6)	$56.46	$117,430	(6)
Columbia, SC MSA	(6)	$50.09	$104,190	(6)
Washington, DC-MD-VA-WV PMSA	490	$48.37	$100,610	0.018%
Richland-Kennewick-Pasco, WA MSA	210	$42.49	$88,380	0.265%
Augusta-Aiken, GA-SC MSA	520	$41.41	$86,130	0.264%

About May 2003 National, State, and Metropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

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These estimates are calculated with data collected from employers in all industry sectors in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas in every State and the District of Columbia. The top five employment and wage figures are provided above. The complete list is available in the downloadable Excel files(XLS).

Percentile wage estimates show the percentage of workers in an occupation that earn less than a given wage and the percentage that earn more. The median wage is the 50th percentile wage estimate—50 percent of workers earn less than the median and 50 percent of workers earn more than the median. More about percentile wages.

(1) Estimates for detailed occupations do not sum to the totals because the totals include occupations not shown separately. Estimates do not include self-employed workers.

(2) Annual wages have been calculated by multiplying the hourly mean wage by a "year-round, full-time" hours figure of 2,080 hours; for those occupations where there is not an hourly mean wage published, the annual wage has been directly calculated from the reported survey data.

(3) The relative standard error (RSE) is a measure of the reliability of a survey statistic. The smaller the relative standard error, the more precise the estimate.

(6) Estimates not released.

All Architecture and Engineering Occupations

2003 May National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

2003 May State Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

2003 May Metropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

2003 May National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

List of Occupations in SOC Code Number Order

List of Occupations in Alphabetical Order

Download May 2003 Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates in Zipped Excel files

Technical notes

 

Last Modified Date: May 7, 2004