Median pay for industrial engineers runs from $63,280 in Mayaguez to $171,910 in Anchorage — a 2.72× range across 468 metropolitan areas. The national median of $102,440 sits inside that range but describes no particular market.
Ten per cent of industrial engineers earn below $74,370 and ten per cent above $159,860 — a 2.15× band. The upside from median to 90th percentile is 56%, which is a normal amount of room for experience and specialisation to matter. An offer below the 25th percentile is worth questioning; one above the 75th is worth taking seriously.
Anchorage (AK) leads and Mayaguez (PR) trails, but the gap is modest. For a role like this the more useful comparison is not between cities but between the 10th and 90th percentile within one — see the band above.
| Metropolitan area | Median | Hourly | LQ | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anchorage AK | $171,910 | $82.65 | 0.27 | 110 |
| Charleston WV | $143,860 | $69.16 | 0.65 | 160 |
| Midland TX | $141,120 | $67.85 | 1.11 | 320 |
| Lexington Park MD | $139,600 | $67.12 | 0.98 | 160 |
| Billings MT | $139,420 | $67.03 | 0.48 | 110 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara CA | $136,950 | $65.84 | 1.8 | 4,800 |
| Western Wyoming nonmetropolitan area | $136,280 | $65.52 | 0.49 | 120 |
| Albuquerque NM | $132,290 | $63.60 | 0.86 | 820 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont CA | $132,230 | $63.57 | 0.98 | 5,470 |
| Fort Collins-Loveland CO | $131,870 | $63.40 | 1.62 | 650 |
| Santa Cruz-Watsonville CA | $131,740 | $63.34 | 0.53 | 120 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue WA | $131,210 | $63.08 | 0.94 | 4,590 |
| Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro OR-WA | $129,890 | $62.45 | 1.84 | 5,230 |
| Baton Rouge LA | $129,500 | $62.26 | 0.49 | 470 |
| Lake Charles LA | $129,260 | $62.14 | 0.74 | 180 |
| Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux LA | $128,690 | $61.87 | 0.3 | 60 |
| New Orleans-Metairie LA | $127,340 | $61.22 | 0.44 | 460 |
| Northeast Virginia nonmetropolitan area | $126,330 | $60.73 | 0.59 | 80 |
| Slidell-Mandeville-Covington LA | $126,090 | $60.62 | 0.25 | 60 |
| Urban Honolulu HI | $125,980 | $60.57 | 0.05 | 50 |
| Beaumont-Port Arthur TX | $123,660 | $59.45 | 1.85 | 710 |
| Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury CT | $123,540 | $59.40 | 1.27 | 1,210 |
| Corpus Christi TX | $122,470 | $58.88 | 0.77 | 350 |
| Santa Rosa-Petaluma CA | $121,660 | $58.49 | 0.47 | 230 |
| Mount Vernon-Anacortes WA | $121,360 | $58.35 | 0.82 | 100 |
| Metropolitan area | Median | Hourly | LQ | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayaguez PR | $63,280 | $30.42 | 0.46 | 60 |
| Lower East Mississippi nonmetropolitan area | $65,510 | $31.50 | 1.14 | 330 |
| College Station-Bryan TX | $65,730 | $31.60 | 0.81 | 260 |
| Lewiston-Auburn ME | $72,430 | $34.82 | 0.44 | 50 |
| Gadsden AL | $72,880 | $35.04 | 0.68 | 50 |
| Brownsville-Harlingen TX | $73,070 | $35.13 | 0.53 | 200 |
| Puerto Rico nonmetropolitan area | $77,410 | $37.22 | 0.82 | 60 |
| East Arkansas nonmetropolitan area | $77,490 | $37.25 | 0.76 | 120 |
| St. George UT | $79,020 | $37.99 | 0.35 | 80 |
| Montgomery AL | $79,480 | $38.21 | 1.39 | 540 |
Columbus has 7.76× the national concentration of industrial engineers — the densest market in the country for this role, with 910 employed locally. Pay there is $97,480, which does not put it near the top of the pay table. Concentration and compensation are different things — a dense market is easier to get hired in and easier to move around within, but the competition that makes it dense also caps what employers need to offer.
| Metropolitan area | Median | Hourly | LQ | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbus IN | $97,480 | $46.86 | 7.76 | 910 |
| Kalamazoo-Portage MI | $97,250 | $46.76 | 4.34 | 1,240 |
| Southern Michigan nonmetropolitan area | $96,840 | $46.56 | 4.09 | 1,300 |
| Sheboygan WI | $94,170 | $45.28 | 3.95 | 560 |
| Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MI | $104,110 | $50.06 | 3.87 | 17,350 |
| Peoria IL | $117,180 | $56.34 | 3.85 | 1,500 |
| West Northwestern Ohio nonmetropolitan area | $97,300 | $46.78 | 3.78 | 2,220 |
| Decatur AL | $106,230 | $51.07 | 3.65 | 530 |
| Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville FL | $101,610 | $48.85 | 3.52 | 2,030 |
| Racine-Mount Pleasant WI | $86,000 | $41.34 | 3.12 | 560 |
| Fond du Lac WI | $98,410 | $47.31 | 3.07 | 320 |
| Oshkosh-Neenah WI | $97,180 | $46.72 | 3.06 | 670 |
| Metropolitan area | Median | Hourly | LQ | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit-Warren-Dearborn MI | $104,110 | $50.06 | 3.87 | 17,350 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington MN-WI | $104,730 | $50.35 | 3.04 | 13,970 |
| Chicago-Naperville-Elgin IL-IN | $101,760 | $48.92 | 1.2 | 12,750 |
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim CA | $113,040 | $54.34 | 0.78 | 11,460 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington TX | $105,640 | $50.79 | 1.12 | 10,680 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton MA-NH | $118,970 | $57.20 | 1.42 | 9,010 |
| Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands TX | $111,690 | $53.70 | 1.11 | 8,620 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City NY-NJ | $105,840 | $50.89 | 0.38 | 8,540 |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington PA-NJ-DE-MD | $103,370 | $49.70 | 0.9 | 6,170 |
| Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler AZ | $109,020 | $52.42 | 1.04 | 5,810 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont CA | $132,230 | $63.57 | 0.98 | 5,470 |
| Cincinnati OH-KY-IN | $105,140 | $50.55 | 2.1 | 5,430 |
Figures come from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics programme, May 2025 release, SOC code 17-2112. OEWS surveys employers, so it reports what is actually paid rather than what job advertisements claim, and it excludes the self-employed. Estimates cover 468 of 528 metropolitan areas — near-complete coverage, which means the ranges above are reliable rather than drawn from a handful of markets. Read the methodology.