Hiring a nuclear engineer in Seattle, WA

Employers in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area pay nuclear engineers a median of $161,050, with the middle half of the market between $128,790 and $166,330. Seattle residents working in architecture and engineering occupations report a median of $108,670, which is 33% below what the metro pays for this role.

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What does a nuclear engineer earn here?

Place of work

What employers pay

Annual wages paid by employers in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
25th percentile	$128,790
Median	$161,050
75th percentile	$166,330

Half of nuclear engineers in this area earn between $128,790 and $166,330. A band set below $128,790 competes for the bottom quarter of the market.

Place of residence

What Seattle residents earn

$108,670

Median earnings of Seattle residents working in architecture and engineering occupations, 19,377 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 33% 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.

The role pays well above the local residential norm, which usually means you can hire from inside Seattle rather than competing for commuters.

What does the role actually involve?

Core tasks

Design or develop nuclear equipment, such as reactor cores, radiation shielding, or associated instrumentation or control mechanisms.
Monitor nuclear facility operations to identify any design, construction, or operation practices that violate safety regulations and laws or could jeopardize safe operations.
Initiate corrective actions or order plant shutdowns in emergency situations.
Examine accidents to obtain data for use in design of preventive measures.
Direct operating or maintenance activities of nuclear power plants to ensure efficiency and conformity to safety standards.

O*NET 29.1, task statements for SOC 17-2161.

Tools and technologies in demand

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office software, Microsoft PowerPoint, Python, C++, Linux, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Word.

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 Seattle?

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 67.5% of Seattle 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 Seattle commute runs 26.6 minutes, which is roughly how far your catchment reaches before candidates start saying no. 31.3% already work from home, so a fully onsite requirement here is competing against that.

How often do these jobs turn over?

In King County, architectural, engineering and related services employs 20,402 and turns over 5.4% a quarter, with 1,311 hires against 1,318 separations. Average earnings in that industry run $9,797 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 nuclear engineers. 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 $32,210 to $48,315 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.