Electrical Engineering
Drawn directly from OPM FedScope (June 2026), this page tracks headcount, average salary, tenure, and pay comparison for the Electrical Engineering occupation series (code 0850).
The verdict
In the Engineering and Architecture Group family, Electrical Engineering counts 5,231 employees, a smaller, specialized federal occupation at 0.3% of the federal civilian workforce, and headcount edged down from the prior period; pay averages $142,419, which pays above the federal-wide average.
- Headcount change
- -0.6%
- Pay change
- +0.2%
- Avg tenure
- 13.5 yrs
- Rank in family
- #8 of 29
FedScope read on Electrical Engineering (dense series)
Headcount moved down versus the prior period, a useful gauge for job seekers on USAJOBS trying to assess whether this role is expanding government-wide or contracting under hiring freezes and attrition. Pay moved up between the two reporting periods, a small shift, within the range of normal year-to-year rounding rather than a broad pay-table change. On length of service, this series shows a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career.
The Engineering and Architecture Group family (code 08) groups Electrical Engineering together with 28 other related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Electrical 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 Electrical Engineering accounts for 4.3% of them. Its average salary ranks in the top half (59th percentile) of pay among Engineering and Architecture Group occupations.
Salary context · rich-pay series
How Electrical Engineering pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$142,419
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
+21.4%
Where Electrical Engineering ranks on rich federal pay
Electrical Engineering earns more on average than 84% of federal occupation series (454 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Electrical Engineering sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Electrical 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 |
| Computer Engineering | 3,753 | $160,672 | 14.2 yrs |
| Nuclear Engineering | 2,813 | n/a | 13.5 yrs |
| Environmental Engineering | 2,429 | $139,024 | 17 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this dense headcount
Two peer sets for Electrical Engineering outside the Engineering and Architecture Group family, on headcount and average salary axes that vary across all OPM occupation series.
Similar dense headcount
Nearest employee counts in other occupation families (5,231 here).
Similar rich average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($142,419 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Electrical 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 Electrical 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.