SOC 17-2171BLS OEWS May 2025H-1B LCAs, last 12 months
Devise methods to improve oil and gas extraction and production and determine the need for new or modified tool designs. Oversee drilling and offer technical advice.
National median · BLS
$144,910
▲ +2.57%YoY
H-1B sponsor median
$139,700
▲ +1.16%YoY · 91 LCAs
Average salary · BLS
$157,150
Mean annual wage
U.S. employment
18,060
Jobs (BLS)
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Enter your pay and a location to see where you stand against BLS and H-1B pay, your estimated take-home pay, and your purchasing power.
Pay range for Petroleum Engineers
Annual base pay at each percentile. BLS covers all U.S. workers in this occupation; H-1B covers 91 certified Labor Condition Applications filed by sponsoring employers in the last 12 months.
Percentile
All U.S. workers (BLS)
H-1B sponsored
10th — entry pay
$81,440
$98,072
25th
$106,270
$108,600
Median (50th)
$144,910
$139,700
75th
$197,920
$171,000
90th — top pay
$253,200
$205,000
H-1B sponsors pay a median of $139,700 for Petroleum Engineers —
3.6% below
the BLS national median of $144,910.
Hourly ⇄ annual pay
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Based on
hrs/week ×
weeks/year
= 2,080 hrs
Projections 2025–2035
Job outlook for Petroleum Engineers
BLS projects employment of petroleum engineers to grow 2% from 2025 to 2035, slower than the 3.5% average for all occupations.
About 1,000 openings are projected each year, on average, from new jobs and from replacing workers who retire or move to other occupations.
Jobs 2025 → 2035
18,500 → 18,800
+400 jobs
Projected change
+2%
All occupations: +3.5%
Openings per year
1,000
Average, 2025–2035
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
No related experience required
Self-employed
1.7% of workers (2025)
Preparation needed (O*NET Job Zone 4)
Considerable Preparation Needed. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Employers assign every H-1B filing a Department of Labor prevailing-wage level, from Level I (entry) to Level IV (fully competent). Pay rises steeply with level.
H-1B median$139,700
Change vs prior year+1.16%
After inflation (CPI-U)-1.91%
Wage level
LCAs
Share
P25
Median
P75
Level I
28
30.8%
$98,072
$101,023
$108,950
Level II
32
35.2%
$129,210
$142,400
$152,434
Level IV
20
22%
$192,816
$202,375
$231,522
H-1B job titles
Salaries by job title in Petroleum Engineers
The 1 most-filed job titles inside SOC 17-2171, from 91 H-1B filings. Seniority words and level numbers are grouped (“Senior Data Engineer II” counts as Data Engineer). Tap a title for its full range, wage levels and the exact titles employers used.
Job title
LCAs
Share
P25
Median
P75
YoY
▶Petroleum Engineer
10
10.99%
$112,552
$142,605
$169,700
+24%
Petroleum Engineer · full pay range (10 LCAs)
P10$99,808
P25$112,552
Median$142,605
P75$169,700
P90$180,384
Titles are cleaned from the employer's own LCA text (codes and typos removed, nothing invented). Rows need 10+ filings in this SOC.
Top H-1B sponsors for Petroleum Engineers
Employers with the most certified LCAs for this occupation nationwide. Browse all sponsors →
Employer
Certified LCAs
Median
Profile
Petroleum Engineers salaries by state
BLS state medians, plus the same figure adjusted for local prices (BEA Regional Price Parities). Tap a state for its full range and H-1B pay.
State
Median
Jobs
Cost-adjusted
Profile
Petroleum Engineers salaries by metro area
Search by city, ZIP code or metro name. Tap a metro for its full range.
Metro area
Median
Jobs
Cost-adjusted
Profile
Skills & tools
Skills needed for Petroleum Engineers
How important each skill and knowledge area is for this job, rated by O*NET on a 1–5 scale from surveys of workers and occupational analysts.
Highlighted = in demand: frequently listed in employer job postings for this occupation (O*NET).
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
About the job
What petroleum engineers do
Specify and supervise well modification and stimulation programs to maximize oil and gas recovery.
Monitor production rates, and plan rework processes to improve production.
Maintain records of drilling and production operations.
Analyze data to recommend placement of wells and supplementary processes to enhance production.
Assist engineering and other personnel to solve operating problems.
Direct and monitor the completion and evaluation of wells, well testing, or well surveys.
Develop plans for oil and gas field drilling, and for product recovery and treatment.
Assess costs and estimate the production capabilities and economic value of oil and gas wells, to evaluate the economic viability of potential drilling sites.
Also called
Drilling EngineerEngineerPetroleum EngineerReservoir EngineerCompletion EngineerOperations EngineerPetroleum Production EngineerProject Production EngineerProject Reservoir EngineerReservoir Engineering Consultant
More job titles for this occupation (25)
Certification EngineerCompletions EngineerDesign EngineerExploration EngineerGas Distribution EngineerGas EngineerGas Turbine EngineerLogging EngineerMining and Oil Field Equipment Design EngineerMining and Oil Field Equipment Test EngineerMining and Oil Well Equipment Research EngineerMud EngineerNatural Gas AnalystNatural Gas EngineerOil and Gas EngineerOil Drilling EngineerOil Exploration EngineerOil Well EngineerPetroleum Supply SpecialistPipeline EngineerProspecting ObserverResearch EngineerSupplier Quality Engineer (SQE)Test EngineerWell Surveying Engineer
Source: O*NET 31.0 (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0). These are general job titles, not H-1B filings; for titles employers actually filed, see “Job titles” above.
Similar jobs and how they pay
Occupations O*NET lists as closely related to Petroleum Engineers, with BLS national medians compared with this occupation's $144,910.
