Electrical Engineering

What the Numbers Say About Electrical Engineering

0.3% of the federal civilian workforce (2,289,472 employees total, March 2025) works in the Electrical Engineering occupation (OPM code 850): 6,003 people, headcount down -0.9% 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.

Average tenure in Electrical Engineering runs 11.7 years, a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career. Pay averages $129,458 per year, 17.8% above the $109,869 federal civilian average and up 2.5% from the prior period, a broad shift as locality pay tables and grade-level adjustments moved through the workforce.

The Engineering and Architecture Group family (code 8) 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, 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.

Inside the Engineering and Architecture Group family (29 occupations, 142,526 employees combined), Electrical Engineering holds the #8 spot by headcount, a 4.2% share of the family total. Its average salary ranks in the top half (55th percentile) of pay among Engineering and Architecture Group occupations.