General Engineering
Drawn directly from OPM FedScope (June 2026), this page tracks headcount, average salary, tenure, and pay comparison for the General Engineering occupation series (code 0801).
The verdict
With 27,619 employees (1.4% of the federal civilian workforce), General Engineering ranks as a major federal occupation within the Engineering and Architecture Group family, and headcount declined from the prior period. Its average salary of $158,941 pays well above the federal average.
- Headcount change
- -7.1%
- Pay change
- +0.1%
- Avg tenure
- 16.9 yrs
- Rank in family
- #1 of 29
FedScope read on General 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 long average tenure, typical of career federal roles where employees stay through much of a full career before retirement.
The Engineering and Architecture Group family (code 08) groups General Engineering together with 28 other related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for General 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 General Engineering accounts for 23.0% of them. Its average salary ranks in the top half (89th percentile) of pay among Engineering and Architecture Group occupations.
Salary context · rich-pay series
How General Engineering pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$158,941
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
+35.5%
Where General Engineering ranks on rich federal pay
General Engineering earns more on average than 94% of federal occupation series (506 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where General Engineering sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks General Engineering.
Related Occupations in Engineering and Architecture Group
10 other occupations in the same family
| Occupation | Employees | Avg Salary | Avg LOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| Environmental Engineering | 2,429 | $139,024 | 17 yrs |
Nationwide peers near this dense headcount
Two peer sets for General 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 (27,619 here).
Similar rich average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($158,941 here).
Key takeaways
- Place General 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 General 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.