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Hiring an industrial engineering technologist in Oakland, CA

Employers in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA area pay industrial engineering technologists and technicians a median of $80,180, with the middle half of the market between $76,390 and $96,220. Oakland residents working in architecture and engineering occupations report a median of $116,711, which is 46% above what the metro pays for this role.

What does an industrial engineering technologist earn here?

Place of work

What employers pay

Annual wages paid by employers in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA area. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
25th percentile$76,390
Median$80,180
75th percentile$96,220

Half of industrial engineering technologists and technicians in this area earn between $76,390 and $96,220. A band set below $76,390 competes for the bottom quarter of the market.

Place of residence

What Oakland residents earn

$116,711

Median earnings of Oakland residents working in architecture and engineering occupations, 6,617 people. Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011. Where people live, not where they work, so it is not the same measurement as the wages beside it.

The 46% figure is not a pay gap. ACS counts the civilian employed population 16 and over, part-time and part-year work included; OEWS counts wage-and-salary jobs only. The two populations differ, so read this number against other cities rather than as a shortfall: the same definitional difference applies to every city equally, which is what makes a city-to-city reading sound.

Residents here already earn more than this role pays, so your offer is competing with whatever they currently commute to.

What does the role actually involve?

Core tasks

  • Test selected products at specified stages in the production process for performance characteristics or adherence to specifications.
  • Compile and evaluate statistical data to determine and maintain quality and reliability of products.
  • Study time, motion, methods, or speed involved in maintenance, production, or other operations to establish standard production rate or improve efficiency.
  • Read worker logs, product processing sheets, or specification sheets to verify that records adhere to quality assurance specifications.
  • Verify that equipment is being operated and maintained according to quality assurance standards by observing worker performance.

O*NET 29.1, task statements for SOC 17-3026.

Tools and technologies in demand

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Autodesk AutoCAD, Bentley MicroStation, C, C++, Dassault Systemes SolidWorks, Extensible markup language XML.

O*NET 29.1, flagged in demand or hot for this occupation. Useful as a screen, not as a checklist.

Is the talent actually in Oakland?

This is a job zone four: considerable preparation needed occupation. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

That matters here, because 47.9% of Oakland adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. That is a deep local pool for a degree-requiring role. Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501.

The average Oakland commute runs 30.5 minutes, which is roughly how far your catchment reaches before candidates start saying no. 23.4% already work from home, so a fully onsite requirement here is competing against that.

How often do these jobs turn over?

In Alameda County, architectural, engineering and related services employs 11,689 and turns over 5.6% a quarter, with 813 hires against 816 separations. Average earnings in that industry run $10,147 a month. Census LEHD Quarterly Workforce Indicators, 2024 Q1, NAICS 5413.

That figure covers every occupation in the industry, not this role alone, so read it as the local churn rate rather than as a number about industrial engineering technologists and technicians. It still tells you what you are hiring into: a low-churn market, where people do not move often and passive candidates are the whole game.

What does the search cost?

The fee is set by the seniority of the role, never by salary and never by location. Across all six tiers it runs $6,240 to $54,340 per search. A contingency firm hiring at this role's median would bill roughly $16,036 to $24,054 on the first year salary alone.

One owner runs the search from market map to signed offer. Searches typically fill in 23 to 35 days, which is a typical window rather than a promise, and the replacement guarantee runs 45 days at 50% off.

Price this search

Eight questions about the role. Your tier range appears on screen.

Hiring an industrial engineering technologist somewhere else?

Same role, different market. The wage band moves with the metro.

Other architecture and engineering roles in Oakland

Related

Oakland is the 8th largest of 21 California cities in this dataset.