Materials Engineering
Federal headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison for the Materials Engineering occupation series (code 0806), drawn directly from the OPM FedScope dataset (June 2026).
The verdict
With 1,138 employees (0.1% of the federal civilian workforce), Materials Engineering ranks as a smaller, specialized federal occupation within the Engineering and Architecture Group family, and headcount declined from the prior period. Its average salary of $153,992 pays well above the federal average.
- Headcount change
- -1.2%
- Pay change
- -0.1%
- Avg tenure
- 15.1 yrs
- Rank in family
- #15 of 29
FedScope read on Materials Engineering (dense series)
On pay, the move between reporting periods was 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. Headcount moved down versus the prior period, a modest but trackable signal for anyone considering this specialized federal career path.
The Engineering and Architecture Group family (code 08) groups Materials Engineering together with 28 other related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Materials Engineering postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Engineering and Architecture Group family. Materials Engineering makes up 0.9% of the Engineering and Architecture Group family's 120,278 combined employees. Its average salary ranks in the top half (74th percentile) of pay among Engineering and Architecture Group occupations.
Salary context · rich-pay series
How Materials Engineering pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$153,992
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
+31.2%
Where Materials Engineering ranks on rich federal pay
Materials Engineering earns more on average than 90% of federal occupation series (487 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Materials Engineering sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Materials 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 peers near this dense headcount
Two peer sets for Materials 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 (1,138 here).
Similar rich average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($153,992 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Materials 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 Materials 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.