Ship Engineers · SOC 53-5031

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Ship Engineerss

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025U.S. metropolitan areas

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for ship engineers. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked (1 such areas are excluded here). Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 22 of 22 metro areas

Ship Engineers: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$132,710	230	0.5
2	Urban Honolulu, HI	$131,640	60	0.1
3	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$131,260	520	0.2
4	Jacksonville, FL	$130,600	450	0.6
5	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$129,700	640	0.2
6	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$126,630	90	0.0
7	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$122,820	650	0.1
8	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$122,090	50	0.0
9	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$119,330	50	0.1
10	Anchorage, AK	$109,990	50	0.3
11	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$108,900	580	0.3
12	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$108,770	140	0.1
13	Corpus Christi, TX	$108,530	30	0.2
14	Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA	$100,260	150	1.8
15	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	$98,450	70	0.2
16	Mobile, AL	$95,540	40	0.2
17	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$88,800	50	0.0
18	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$85,310	70	0.0
19	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$84,630	Not published	Not published
20	Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC	$82,370	1,420	1.9
21	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$77,770	50	0.0
22	Pittsburgh, PA	$73,550	30	0.0

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Ship Engineers overview.

About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.