List of Mechanical Engineering Salaries Worldwide (2024)

Hundreds of mechanical engineering jobs get posted online every single day. This is not counting the jobs posted offline and through print advertising or word of mouth marketing, in various parts of the world. This means that a career in mechanical engineering can have many directions, and it could be lucrative depending on how you define your target industries, companies, and places.

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Factors Affecting Mechanical Engineering Salaries Worldwide

Like any other career, there are strong points, and there are points with other characteristics.One of the strong points, also considered to be a point for improvement in some countries, is the mechanical engineering salary. Mechanical engineers build everything we see around us.

Without having a strong mechanical engineering team, companies will be left with ideas and prototypes and never successfully make it to the market, or won't last long in the consumer's hands. How much money a mechanical engineer gets paid is affected by many factors, and in this article, we'll review a list of salaries around the world.

Mechanicalengineeringsalary in different parts of the world

To cover places around the globe, here are eight countries to look at, especially for those wanting to study, in a place that's advancing rapidly within the mechanical engineering industry.

1. Australia – mechanical engineering salary in Australia averages AU$72,124 yearly.
2. Canada – in Canada, on average mechanical engineers earn $55,892 yearly.
3. France – approximately €40,225 yearly salary for mechanical engineers in France.
4. Germany – mechanical engineers who work in Germany receive a yearly average salary of €44,000 with at least two years of working experience.
5. Italy – on average, mechanical engineers get paid €31,386 every year in Italy.
6. Japan – this career pays ¥3,585,185 every year on average in Japan.
7. United Kingdom – mechanical engineering salary average per year in the UK is at £33,023.
8. United States of America – the U.S. offers mechanical engineers an annual average salary of $80,094.

Of course, these salaries are set to change anytime without prior notice, and different businesses offer different salaries. They can be higher or lower than actual pay in other companies and based on the terms set by the new hiring company. Just like the United States of America was paying mechanical engineers an average yearly salary of $85,880 back in 2017!

Various fields of mechanical engineering and their average salary

Like any other business or industry, the mechanical engineering career also follows a hierarchy. The higher up the ladder a candidate goes, the higher their pay per month or year.

The hierarchy titles may not always be the same in every company, but they have these basics covered. Those looking for mechanical engineering jobs should be aware of the different mechanical engineering positions in a company so they can align their goals with their skills.

1. Robotics Engineer – Robotics engineer often receive anaverage annual salaryof between $64,000 and $96,000. They are an integral part of system engineering and manufacturing teams, enabling simple and complex tasks to be automated.
2. Aerospace Engineer – just like the title says, this type of mechanical engineer specializes in the aerospace field. He/she is hired to build planes, spacecraft, and anything that flies or surveys the air! He/she is employed by private companies as well as the government. The annual average salary is at $115,220.
3. Materials Engineer – this type of engineer works with various materials, from raw material to small computer chips, to large machine parts, such as an aircraft’s wing. He/she studies the particles that make up metal, plastic, and nanomaterials. The average annual salary of a materials engineer is at $92,390.
4. Nuclear Engineer – A nuclear engineer works on the research and development of nuclear energy. The average annual salary of a nuclear engineer is at $107,600.
5. Petroleum Engineer – A petroleum engineer’s job is to find and develop ways to extract oil and gas from under the ground, and this is just one of the first things he/she has to do. The petroleum engineer is paid an average annual salary of $137,170, probably the highest paid type of engineer or mechanical engineer in the world!

What factors affect a mechanical engineering salary?

There are factors that affect a mechanical engineer’s average annual salary or even his/her actual take-home pay. Here’s a few of them.

Type of Job

Mechanical engineers work in different industries. This is because their main responsibilities are in designs, research, and development of every product and system you can think of, so the job type can vary. Often working in aircraft companies results in higher salaries. As well as medical services, research, and development sectors. Those taking this path will not run out of mechanical engineering jobs or career growth options.

Educational Level

Some companies pay higher for those who hold Doctorate degrees. A bachelor’s degree may get a mechanical engineer a good-paying entry-level job, but the chances of getting a higher pay may be more difficult than for someone who uses his/her Ph.D. level as leverage to get a job as a Scientist, who gets paid more. This is not to say that once a candidate holds a Master’s or Doctorate degree, he/she is guaranteed a job with higher pay. Some companies will have different business and hiring strategies.

Experience

Most, if not all, companies prefer to hire and pay more for candidates who have work experiences in a similar or the same field. If a bachelor’s degree holder with experience is pitted against a Ph.D. holder without experience, they’d probably get the same salary offer, or the former will be chosen over the latter.

Location

The candidate’s location also affects how much money mechanical engineering jobs earn per year. In some countries, earning $30,000 USD per year is big money while in others, it may be small. The location/country factor may be the biggest factor affecting salaries of mechanical engineers worldwide because it cannot be changed or challenged unless a company is willing to compromise and go above and beyond the set regular rates by the government.

It is important that candidates consider all of these factors but also think about their welfare and lifestyle other than just the money/salary they’ll receive. Is the work environment healthy? Will the transfer to a location require more work than expected? Will the work fulfill career satisfaction?