Chemical Engineering

What the Numbers Say About Chemical Engineering

0.0% of the federal civilian workforce (2,289,472 employees total, March 2025) works in the Chemical Engineering occupation (OPM code 893): 958 people, headcount down -1.8% versus the prior period, a modest but trackable signal for anyone considering this specialized federal career path.

Average tenure in Chemical Engineering runs 12.9 years, a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career. Pay averages $136,640 per year, 24.4% above the $109,869 federal civilian average and up 2.2% from the prior period, a broad shift as locality pay tables and grade-level adjustments moved through the workforce.

Chemical Engineering sits inside the Engineering and Architecture Group family (code 8), which contains 29 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Chemical Engineering postings should also review these sibling occupations, since federal hiring managers often cross-post positions across closely related codes when recruitment is difficult. All figures here come directly from OPM FedScope Employment Cubes, the same official source referenced in federal workforce planning, budget justifications, and GAO reports.

Within the Engineering and Architecture Group family, Chemical Engineering ranks #19 of 29 by headcount, accounting for 0.7% of the family's combined 142,526 employees. Its average salary ranks in the top half (69th percentile) of pay among Engineering and Architecture Group occupations.