Chemical Engineering
Drawn directly from OPM FedScope (June 2026), this page tracks headcount, average salary, tenure, and pay comparison for the Chemical Engineering occupation series (code 0893).
The verdict
Chemical Engineering is a smaller, specialized federal occupation: 784 employees (0.0% of the federal civilian workforce) in the Engineering and Architecture Group family. At an average salary of $149,951 it pays well above the federal average, and headcount declined from the prior period.
- Headcount change
- -3.1%
- Pay change
- +0.5%
- Avg tenure
- 13.8 yrs
- Rank in family
- #19 of 29
What the Numbers Say About Chemical Engineering
For job seekers weighing career length: this series shows a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career. Headcount moved down versus the prior period, a modest but trackable signal for anyone considering this specialized federal career path. As for pay, the latest move was a modest shift, consistent with routine locality pay and grade-level movement.
Chemical Engineering sits inside the Engineering and Architecture Group family (code 08), which contains 29 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Chemical Engineering postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Engineering and Architecture Group family. The Engineering and Architecture Group family totals 120,278 employees, and Chemical Engineering accounts for 0.7% of them. Its average salary ranks in the top half (67th percentile) of pay among Engineering and Architecture Group occupations.
Salary context · rich-pay series
How Chemical Engineering pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$149,951
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
+27.8%
Where Chemical Engineering ranks on rich federal pay
Chemical Engineering earns more on average than 88% of federal occupation series (477 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Chemical Engineering sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Chemical Engineering.
Related Occupations in Engineering and Architecture Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| General Engineering | 27,619 | $158,941 | 16.9 yrs |
| Engineering Technical | 14,443 | $93,062 | 15.2 yrs |
| Mechanical Engineering | 12,920 | $136,601 | 11.9 yrs |
| Electronics Engineering | 12,889 | $155,270 | 16.8 yrs |
| Civil Engineering | 10,260 | $124,230 | 14.7 yrs |
| Aerospace Engineering | 8,359 | $155,848 | 14.8 yrs |
| Electronics Technical | 7,298 | $103,713 | 15.6 yrs |
| Electrical Engineering | 5,231 | $142,419 | 13.5 yrs |
| Computer Engineering | 3,753 | $160,672 | 14.2 yrs |
| Nuclear Engineering | 2,813 | n/a | 13.5 yrs |
Nationwide occupation series with similar scale or pay
Two peer sets for Chemical Engineering outside the Engineering and Architecture Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (784 here).
Similar rich average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($149,951 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Chemical Engineering pay in context with the pay-rank chart above, then compare it with another occupation.
- Turn an average salary into a grade: the GS pay grade tables show how grades and steps map to pay.
- Browse the Engineering and Architecture Group family occupations in the table above, or search current Chemical Engineering postings on USAJOBS.
OPM FedScope and Federal Workforce Data figures are federal civilian headcounts, average salaries, and length-of-service statistics - not job-quality scores, hiring advice, or a live vacancy listing. A larger or higher-paid agency is not a better employer.