Side-by-side distribution
Assembler
$22.50/hr
per hour · USD
- Disclosing
- 42.1%
- Live roles
- 1,662
Manufacturing Engineer
$125,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 40.5%
- Live roles
- 3,334
Highest-paying jobs
R&D Assembly Technician
Sr. Electronics Assembler
Sr. Electronics Assembler - 2nd Shift
Assembly Technician
Senior Assembly Integration & Test Technician
Assembly & Test Technician (1st shift)
Mechanical Manufacturing Assembly Technician
Robotics Assembly Technician
Master Manufacturing Technician, Autoinjector Assembly
Electronics Assembler B - 1st or 2nd shift
Highest-paying jobs
Research Engineer, Production Model Post-Training
Manufacturing Engineer III (Controls Technician)
Software Engineer, Manufacturing Infrastructure
Risk and Pnl Production Support Engineer
Production Support Engineer - Trading Systems
Manufacturing Engineer - Data Center Hardware
Product Engineer - Manufacturing Operations
Manufacturing Quality Engineer, Data Center Power & Cooling
Member of Technical Staff, Production Site Reliability Engineer
Internal Acceleration, Research Engineer (Production)
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Teledyne FLIR
|
$45,500 | 38 |
| UL US LBM | $42,224 | 29 |
RTX
|
$44,720 | 25 |
Novanta
|
$44,318 | 20 |
Regal Rexnord
|
$36,213 | 20 |
|
Northrop Grumman
|
$61,200 | 18 |
Curtiss-Wright
|
$49,161 | 18 |
Jabil
|
$47,601 | 18 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$167,000 | 191 |
|
Northrop Grumman
|
$110,650 | 82 |
Blue Origin
|
$110,222 | 42 |
Relativity Space
|
$130,000 | 40 |
SpaceX
|
$115,000 | 37 |
Applied Materials
|
$93,250 | 28 |
| GV GE Vernova | $109,200 | 21 |
Abbott
|
$106,700 | 20 |
Manufacturing Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $204,000 | 45 |
| New York | $174,000 | 44 |
| Los Angeles | $152,500 | 53 |
| Atlanta | $142,750 | 10 |
| Denver | $140,000 | 5 |
| Seattle | $134,471 | 51 |
| Chicago | $130,000 | 8 |
| Singapore | $124,800 | 5 |
| Austin | $114,000 | 29 |
| Toronto | $108,300 | 3 |
Assembler vs Manufacturing Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Assembler is $22.50/hr per year (typically $20.21/hr–$25.78/hr), versus $125,000 for Manufacturing Engineer ($100,000–$157,504). That puts Manufacturing Engineer about 167% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Assembler and Manufacturing Engineer are compared on equal terms regardless of the currency each role was originally posted in. Only roles that publish a salary range feed the medians; numbers refresh every few hours as new roles post and older ones close, so this comparison reflects the market right now rather than a fixed survey. Use it as a directional benchmark when weighing one path against the other.