Bioengineers and biomedical engineers earn a median annual salary of $100,730, or about $48.43 per hour, based on the most recent federal wage data. That places the field solidly in six-figure territory at the midpoint, though actual pay swings widely depending on your experience, education, location, and industry.
Entry-Level Through Senior Pay
If you’re just starting out, expect to earn considerably less than that median figure. Engineers with less than one year of experience bring in roughly $66,917 in total compensation. With one to four years under your belt, that climbs to about $73,922. Experienced bioengineers eventually reach an average of around $97,390, and those in the top tier of the profession push well past that.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the top 10 percent of biomedical engineers earn over $165,060 per year. So the ceiling is high, but the early years require patience. The jump from entry-level to mid-career pay is meaningful, roughly $7,000 in the first few years, with steeper gains as you move into senior roles or management.
How a Graduate Degree Affects Pay
A master’s degree makes a noticeable difference, especially early in your career. One year after graduation, engineers with a master’s degree earn a median of $70,941 compared to $54,518 for those with a bachelor’s. That’s about 30 percent more. The gap narrows over time but doesn’t disappear: five years out, master’s holders still earn roughly 13 percent more, pulling in $109,387 versus $96,582 for bachelor’s holders.
Whether that premium justifies the cost and time of graduate school depends on your specific situation. If you’re eyeing research-heavy roles or leadership positions at medical device companies, the degree often pays for itself. If you plan to move into adjacent fields like data science or software, the calculation may look different.
Bioengineering vs. Other Engineering Fields
Biomedical engineering pays well by most standards, but it sits in the middle of the pack compared to other engineering disciplines. The mean annual salary of $115,020 trails aerospace engineering ($141,180) and chemical engineering ($128,430). It does outpace civil engineering, which averages $107,050.
The entry-level picture tells a similar story. New biomedical engineers start around $68,808 on average, while chemical engineers begin closer to $73,837 and aerospace engineers near $76,293. Civil engineers start lower, at roughly $64,502. These gaps tend to persist throughout a career, so if maximizing lifetime earnings is your primary goal, it’s worth weighing bioengineering against related disciplines. That said, bioengineering offers access to industries like medical devices, tissue engineering, and pharmaceutical development that many engineers find uniquely compelling.
Where Bioengineers Earn the Most
Geography plays a surprisingly large role. The highest-paying states for biomedical engineers aren’t always the ones you’d expect. Oklahoma tops the list at $130,550, followed by Rhode Island ($128,130), New Mexico ($127,940), California ($127,610), and Oregon ($127,590). Some of these states benefit from concentrated clusters of medical device manufacturers or research institutions that drive up local demand.
Among major metro areas, New York-Newark-Jersey City leads with an annual mean wage of $116,410. Boston-Cambridge-Nashua follows at $109,620, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim comes in at $108,850. Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area remain the largest biotech hubs in the country, so they offer the most job openings even if their raw salary numbers don’t always top the charts. Keep in mind that cost of living eats into those metro-area salaries significantly. A $110,000 salary in Boston stretches much further in Oklahoma City, where housing costs a fraction of what it does in New England.
Industries That Pay Bioengineers
Three industries drive the strongest demand for biomedical engineers: scientific research and development services, medical equipment and supplies manufacturing, and pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing. Each of these sectors hires bioengineers for distinct roles, from designing implantable devices to developing drug delivery systems to running clinical testing protocols.
Research and development positions tend to require advanced degrees and offer compensation at the higher end of the range. Manufacturing roles, particularly at large medical device companies, often provide strong base salaries plus bonuses tied to product launches or regulatory milestones. Pharmaceutical companies increasingly recruit bioengineers for roles that blend biology with computational modeling, a combination that commands a premium as the industry leans harder into personalized medicine.
Job Growth Outlook
The architecture and engineering occupational group is projected to grow 6.8 percent from 2023 to 2033, adding roughly 180,000 jobs. That outpaces the 4.0 percent growth rate projected for all occupations. Biomedical engineering specifically benefits from an aging population that needs more medical devices, prosthetics, and diagnostic equipment, along with ongoing expansion in pharmaceutical research and regenerative medicine.
The field isn’t enormous in raw numbers compared to, say, software engineering, so competition for positions at top employers remains stiff. A combination of relevant internship experience, strong computational skills, and at least a bachelor’s degree from an ABET-accredited program gives you the strongest footing in the job market.