Quick answer: This is among the least online-friendly degrees on the site. Marine engineers and naval architects earn a median $112,230 per year, or $53.96 per hour (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The credential runs through a ABET-accredited bachelor’s in marine engineering or naval architecture.
Marine Engineering at a Glance
Measure
Value
Median annual wage
$112,230
Median hourly wage
$53.96
Employed nationally
8,250
Bottom 10 percent
$83,010
Top 10 percent
$173,330
Middle half
$99,250 to $137,690
Projected change, 2024-34
5.8%
Annual openings
about 600
Wage and employment figures: BLS OEWS, May 2025. Growth and openings: BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34.
What Do These Programs Actually Look Like?
This is among the least online-friendly degrees on the site. Marine engineering is taught largely at maritime academies with laboratory work and, for license-track students, sea time aboard training vessels. Distance options are mostly limited to master’s-level and continuing education for people already in the industry.
Where This Sits on the Ladder
This degree sits above credentials many readers already hold. The rungs run:
Marine technician - maintains and repairs vessel systems
Marine engineer or naval architect - ABET-accredited degree, designs the vessel and its systems
How Fast Is the Field Growing?
Employment is projected to change by 5.8% between 2024 and 2034, with roughly 600 openings a year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). Openings come from growth and from replacing people who leave the occupation, which is why the annual figure can look large relative to the percentage.
The Credential That Actually Matters
Two credential systems apply here and they are not the same thing. Shore-side engineering follows the standard state Professional Engineer framework through an ABET-accredited degree and the NCEES sequence. Sailing as a ship’s engineer instead requires a U.S. Coast Guard license, earned through sea time and Coast Guard examination, which many maritime academy programs build directly into the degree.
Separately from any programmatic accreditation, the institution should hold accreditation from a recognized institutional accreditor. Credit transfer between institutions is decided by the receiving school and genuinely varies, so get any transfer evaluation in writing before enrolling.
What Does the Job Involve Day to Day?
Marine engineers design, build and maintain the propulsion, power and mechanical systems aboard vessels; naval architects design the hull and the vessel as a whole. Work splits between shipyards, design firms, government and naval organizations, and shipboard engineering roles, the last of which carry U.S. Coast Guard licensing separate from any state engineering license.
What You Will Study
Coursework runs thermodynamics and fluid mechanics into marine propulsion and power systems, ship structures and hydrostatics, naval architecture fundamentals, electrical systems, and regulatory and classification-society standards. License-track programs add sea time and Coast Guard examination preparation, which structures the entire calendar.
Cost, Time and Whether It Pays
This site does not publish tuition figures, because there is no sourced dataset behind them and the number varies enormously by institution and residency. What can be stated is the wage structure the degree leads into. The middle half of marine engineers and naval architects earn between $99,250 and $137,690, with the bottom 10 percent at $83,010 and the top 10 percent at $173,330 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The gap between the 25th and 75th percentile is the honest range to plan against - not the median alone, and not the top figure.
Where Do These Roles Pay Most?
State
Median annual wage
Employment
District of Columbia
$172,330
490
Texas
$152,780
330
South Carolina
$136,990
40
Florida
$130,640
370
Maryland
$130,150
300
Highest-paying states, BLS OEWS, May 2025. Cost of living is not held constant, so a higher median does not automatically mean more disposable income.
Where the Jobs Are
State
Employment
Median annual wage
District of Columbia
490
$172,330
Florida
370
$130,640
Washington
370
$109,550
Texas
330
$152,780
Maryland
300
$130,150
Largest employing states, BLS OEWS, May 2025. Employment concentration and pay do not track each other. State and metro pages linked below carry the full distribution.
What to Weigh Before Committing
This page has to be blunt about scale. Marine engineering is one of the smallest occupations covered on this site: 8,250 marine engineers and naval architects nationally, with roughly 600 openings a year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). BLS publishes usable state data for only a minority of states and metro data for very few, which is why the geographic pages below cover far fewer places than other programs here - employment is genuinely concentrated in coastal shipbuilding and Great Lakes regions. Pay is strong at a median of $112,230 (BLS OEWS, May 2025), but anyone entering should treat relocation as a near-certainty rather than a possibility.
How to Choose a Program
Decide first whether you want the shore-side engineering path or the sailing license path, because the programs differ substantially and switching later is expensive. Confirm ABET-EAC accreditation for the engineering route. For the license route, confirm how sea time is arranged. Ask where graduates are hired, because employment is concentrated in a small number of coastal and Great Lakes regions.
Licensing and Credentialing
The national framework is the constant: a ABET-accredited bachelor’s in marine engineering or naval architecture, then the NCEES Fundamentals of Engineering examination administered through NCEES. What sits on top of that framework is set jurisdiction by jurisdiction, and this site does not hold a sourced dataset of per-state rules, so confirm the specifics with your state engineering licensing board and the U.S. Coast Guard before enrolling.
Questions to Ask an Admissions Office
Ask these before an application fee, and get the answers in writing rather than over the phone:
Is the program currently with accreditation from ABET-EAC, and has its status changed in the last three years?
How are laboratory, field or practical requirements satisfied in any online or hybrid format?
Which prior coursework, certifications or documented work experience transfer in, and will you evaluate that in writing before I enroll? Transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies.
What is the total time to completion for someone in my situation, and where were recent graduates hired?
Colleges Offering This Degree
How we rank schools – graduation rate, graduate earnings, cost and retention.
Advertising plays no part.
This page lists 9 schools, closest group first, then ordered by
BOC Score with the highest at the top.
9 of them carry a score.
LOCAL RANK
Location / proximity to this page
Defines the local group
Graduation rate how often students finish
30%
Median earnings, 10 years after entry whether it paid off
25%
Average net price what students actually pay after aid; lower ranks higher
20%
Retention rate how many come back for year two
15%
Fully online availability whether you can study while working
10%
Scores come from IPEDS (2024) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Earnings are for all graduates of a school, not one program, so treat them as a signal
about the institution rather than about this subject.
Sponsored listings are paid placements and are labelled as such; they are separate from
this ranking and never change it. Read the full methodology.
Largely no. Marine engineering is taught at maritime academies with laboratory work and, on license tracks, required sea time aboard training vessels. Distance options are mostly master's-level or continuing education for people already in the industry.
How much do marine engineers make?
The national median annual wage for marine engineers and naval architects is $112,230, or $53.96 per hour (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The bottom 10 percent earn $83,010 or less and the top 10 percent earn $173,330 or more, across 8,250 nationally.
What is the difference between a marine engineer and a naval architect?
Marine engineers focus on propulsion, power and mechanical systems aboard a vessel. Naval architects design the hull and the vessel as a whole - stability, structure and hydrodynamics. BLS reports them as a single occupation, which is why the wage figures cover both.
Do I need a Coast Guard license?
Only if you intend to sail as a ship's engineer. That license comes from the U.S. Coast Guard through sea time and examination, and is separate from any state Professional Engineer license. Shore-side design and shipyard roles generally do not require it.
Is marine engineering a growing field?
Employment is projected to change by 5.8% from 2024 to 2034, with about 600 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). The percentage is healthy but the occupation is very small, so openings are few and concentrated.
Where do marine engineers work?
Employment clusters in coastal shipbuilding regions, Great Lakes ports and around naval facilities. It is one of the most geographically concentrated occupations covered on this site, and relocation should be assumed.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, SOC 17-2121 Marine Engineers and Naval Architects.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections program, 2024-34.
About this guide: Researched and written by the TradeCareerPath Editorial Team. Our editorial team researches and sources every trade school and career guide using federal labor and education data, including BLS OEWS and Employment Projections, DOL apprenticeship records, IPEDS, College Scorecard, and state licensing boards. We follow the editorial standards documented at /editorial-policy/.
