Electrical engineers held about 319,200 jobs in 2008, making this the second largest branch of the U.S. engineering community (behind software engineering).

Most EEs were employed by manufacturers of electrical/electronic components and computer/office equipment, industrial machinery, and professional, medical and scientific instruments. Transportation, communications, computer related sectors, the federal government and utilities firms (as well as computer services firms) accounted for most of the remaining jobs.

California, Texas, Maryland, New York, Georgia and New Jersey employ nearly 40% of all electrical engineers nationwide.

Electrical Engineering Employment Outlook

Electrical Engineers (and Firmware Engineers) should have favorable job opportunities into 2014. The number of openings resulting from employment growth, and the need to replace electrical engineers who transfer to other occupations, are promoted or leave the labor force is expected to be in rough balance - because of the sharply reduced supply of recent electrical engineering new graduates (which has declined annually since 2003). Employment of electrical and firmware engineers is expected to grow slightly faster than the average for all non-engineering occupations.

Projected job growth comes largely from increased demand for electrical and electronic goods, including communications, wide area network and defense equipment - and increasing demand for sophisticated consumer products, including home automation, medical devices and automotive. The need for electronics manufacturers to invest heavily in R&D (to remain competitive) will provide openings for experienced Electrical Engineers who have documented skills with the latest technologies.

Opportunities for Electrical Engineers in defense-related firms should improve significantly as aircraft and weapons systems are upgraded with improved navigation, control, guidance, firing and targeting systems. Additionally, upgrades in C4ISR systems, remote imaging, commercial and military applications and RF will account for increased employment. Growth is expected to be fastest in large defense sector companies that provide engineering expertise or product development to the federal government via multi-year contracts.

Electrical Engineering Salaries

The middle 50% earned between $59,710 and $100,920. The lowest 10% earned less than $47,100, and the highest 10% earned more than $129,220. Median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of electrical engineers in 2008 were:

Computer and office equipment: $74,630
Measuring and control devices: $75,550
Search and navigation equipment: $72,240
Electronic peripherals, components and accessories: $75,980
Engineering service firms: $69,570
Federal Government $71,180
RF Engineering: $82,160

Salaries in 2008 for new grads: B.S.E.E. received starting offers averaging $59,110; M.S.E.E. grads averaged $70,630; and new Ph.D.'s averaged $87,380. Advanced degrees are in the high demand by both Fortune 500s and start-ups. Highest salaries for experienced engineers were concentrated on the east and west coasts, and averaged nearly 6.1% higher than the rest of the United States.