Car Engineer Salary
$39K - $48K
3% of jobs
$48K - $57K
3% of jobs
$57K - $66K
4% of jobs
$66K - $75K
8% of jobs
$83.9K is the 25th percentile. Wages below this are outliers.
$75K - $84K
7% of jobs
$84K - $93K
6% of jobs
The median wage is $101.1K / yr.
$93K - $102K
21% of jobs
$102K - $111K
5% of jobs
$117K is the 75th percentile. Wages above this are outliers.
$111K - $120K
27% of jobs
$120K - $129K
3% of jobs
$129K - $138K
13% of jobs
$39K
$102.5K
$137.5K
$101,752
/year
$48.92
/hour
Car Engineer Salary Comparison by Location
Nationwide
United States
$101,752
Columbus
Ohio
$98,282
Do you get a good deal as a Car Engineer?
Take The Breakroom Quiz to find out if your job offers fair pay and conditions. The 3-minute quiz lets you compare your pay, hours, benefits, and more.
Take The Breakroom Quiz
How much does a Car Engineer make?
As of Aug 8, 2026, the average annual pay for a Car Engineer in the United States is $101,752 a year.
Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approximately $48.92 an hour. This is the equivalent of $1,956/week or $8,479/month.
While ZipRecruiter is seeing annual salaries as high as $137,500 and as low as $39,000, the majority of Car Engineer salaries currently range between $84,000 (25th percentile) to $116,500 (75th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $135,000 annually across the United States. The average pay range for a Car Engineer varies greatly (by as much as 32500), which suggests there may be many opportunities for advancement and increased pay based on skill level, location and years of experience.
A Car Engineer in your area makes on average $98,282 per year, or $3,470 (3.410%) less than the national average annual salary of $101,752. Ohio ranks number 30 out of 50 states nationwide for Car Engineer salaries.
To estimate the most accurate annual salary range for Car Engineer jobs, ZipRecruiter continuously scans its database of millions of active jobs published locally throughout America.
Find your next high paying job as a Car Engineer on ZipRecruiter today.
What are Top 10 Highest Paying Cities for Car Engineer Jobs
We've identified 10 cities where the typical salary for a Car Engineer job is above the national average. Topping the list is Cupertino, CA, , with Hanalei, HI, and Aspen, CO, close behind in the second and third positions. Aspen, CO, beats the national average by $21,238 (20.9%), and Cupertino, CA, furthers that trend with another $23,784 (23.4%) above the $101,752 average.
With these 10 cities having average salaries higher than the national average, the opportunities for economic advancement by changing locations as a Car Engineer appears to be exceedingly fruitful.
Finally, another factor to consider is the average salary for these top 10 cities varies very little at 5% between Cupertino, CA, and Livermore, CA, , reinforcing the limited potential for much wage advancement. The possibility of a lower cost of living may be the best factor to use when considering location and salary for a Car Engineer role.
City | Annual Salary | Hourly Wage |
|---|---|---|
Cupertino, CA | $125,536 | $60.35 |
Hanalei, HI | $123,047 | $59.16 |
Aspen, CO | $122,990 | $59.13 |
Sitka, AK | $122,579 | $58.93 |
Riverdale, ND | $122,047 | $58.68 |
Sunnyvale, CA | $121,056 | $58.20 |
Santa Clara, CA | $120,167 | $57.77 |
San Francisco, CA | $119,882 | $57.64 |
Palo Alto, CA | $119,764 | $57.58 |
Livermore, CA | $119,354 | $57.38 |
What are Top 5 Best Paying Related Car Engineer Jobs in the U.S.
We found a few related jobs that pay more than jobs in the Car Engineer category.
For example Devops Lead jobs pay as much as $54,596 (53.7%) more than the average Car Engineer salary of $101,752. If you're qualified, finding work as a Devops Lead may help you make more money than that of the average Car Engineer position.
Job Title | Annual Salary | Hourly Wage |
|---|---|---|
Devops Lead | $156,348 | $75.17 |
Security Devops Engineer | $152,773 | $73.45 |
No Experience Devops Engineer | $125,908 | $60.53 |
Terraform | $100,673 | $48.40 |
Devops Team Lead | $53,524 | $25.73 |
About Our Data
ZipRecruiter salary estimates, histograms, trends and comparisons are derived from both employer job postings and third party data sources.
