Mechanical Engineering
Everything OPM FedScope (June 2026) reports about the Mechanical Engineering occupation series (code 0830): headcount, average salary, length of service, and pay comparison.
The verdict
Mechanical Engineering is a mid-sized federal occupation: 12,920 employees (0.7% of the federal civilian workforce) in the Engineering and Architecture Group family. At an average salary of $136,601 it pays above the federal average, and headcount edged down from the prior period.
- Headcount change
- -0.3%
- Pay change
- +0.3%
- Avg tenure
- 11.9 yrs
- Rank in family
- #3 of 29
FedScope read on Mechanical 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.
Mechanical Engineering sits inside the Engineering and Architecture Group family (code 08), which contains 29 related occupations across the federal government. Candidates browsing USAJOBS for Mechanical Engineering postings should also review these sibling occupations in the Engineering and Architecture Group family. Mechanical Engineering makes up 10.7% of the Engineering and Architecture Group family's 120,278 combined employees. Its average salary ranks in the bottom half (41st percentile) of pay among Engineering and Architecture Group occupations.
Salary context · rich-pay series
How Mechanical Engineering pay compares to the federal average
Occupation Average
$136,601
Federal Average
$117,339
vs. Federal Avg
+16.4%
Where Mechanical Engineering ranks on rich federal pay
Mechanical Engineering earns more on average than 80% of federal occupation series (431 of 541). The highlighted bar marks where Mechanical Engineering sits in the federal pay distribution.
Average-salary distribution across all 541 federal occupation series; the highlighted bar marks Mechanical 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 |
| 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 Mechanical 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 (12,920 here).
Similar rich average salary
Nearest average salaries in other occupation families ($136,601 here).
Key takeaways
- Place Mechanical 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 Mechanical 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.