Mechanical Engineering

What the Numbers Say About Mechanical Engineering

Federal agencies employ 14,519 people in the Mechanical Engineering occupation (OPM code 830), accounting for 0.6% of the total federal civilian workforce of 2,289,472 for the March 2025 reporting window. Headcount in this occupation moved down by -0.5% 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 Mechanical Engineering runs 10.9 years, a mid-length average tenure, reflecting a mix of career employees and those who transfer or exit mid-career. Pay averages $122,816 per year, 11.8% above the $109,869 federal civilian average and up 2.4% from the prior period, a broad shift as locality pay tables and grade-level adjustments moved through the workforce.

Mechanical Engineering sits inside the Engineering and Architecture Group family (code 8), which contains 29 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Mechanical 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.

Mechanical Engineering makes up 10.2% of the 142,526 employees across the Engineering and Architecture Group family, ranking #4 of 29 occupations in that family by headcount. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (38th percentile) of pay among Engineering and Architecture Group occupations.