In 2004 engineers held 1.4 million jobs. The distribution of employment by engineering specialty is as follows:Total, all engineers 1,449,000100%   Civil 237,00016.4 mechanical 226,00015.6 industrial 177,00012.2 electrical 156,00010.8 electronics, except computer 143,0009.9 computer hardware 77,0005.3 aerospace 76,0005.2 environmental 49,0003.4 chemical 31,0002.1 health and safety, except mining safety 27,0001.8 materials 21,0001.5 nuclear 17,0001.2 petroleum 16,0001.1 biomedical 9,7000.7 marine engineers and naval architects 6,8000.5 mining and geological, including mining safety5,2000.4 agricultural 3,4000.2 all other engineers 172,00011.8 about 555,000 engineering jobs were found in manufacturing industries, and another 378,000 wage and salary jobs were in the professional, scientific, and technical services sector, primarily in architectural, engineering, and related services and in scientific research and development services.

Many engineers also worked in the construction and transportation, telecommunications, and utilities industries. Federal, State, and local governments employed about 194,000 engineers in 2004. About 91,000 of these were in the Federal Government, mainly in the U. S. Departments of Defense, Transportation, Agriculture, Interior, and Energy and in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Most engineers in State and local government agencies worked in highway and public works departments. In 2004, about 41,000 engineers were self-employed, many as consultants. Engineers are employed in every State, in small and large cities and in rural areas. Some branches of engineering are concentrated in particular industries and geographic areas, for example, petroleum engineering jobs tend to be located in areas with sizable petroleum deposits, such as Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Alaska, and California. Others, such as civil engineering, are widely dispersed, and engineers in these fields often move from place to place to work on different projects. Engineers are employed in every major industry. The industries employing the most engineers in each specialty are given in the table below, along with the percent of occupational employment in the industry. Table 1. Percent concentration of engineering specialty employment in key industries, 2004 specialtyIndustryPercent   AerospaceAerospace product and parts manufacturing 59.6 agriculturalState and local government 22.6 biomedicalScientific research and development services 18.7 Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing 15.6 chemicalChemical manufacturing 27.8 Architectural, engineering, and related services 16.3 civilArchitectural, engineering, and related services 46.0 computer hardwareComputer and electronic product manufacturing 43.2 Computer systems design and related services 15.0 electricalArchitectural, engineering, and related services 19.6 Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing 10.8 electronics, except computerTelecommunications 17.5 Federal government 14.4 environmentalArchitectural, engineering, and related services 28.9 State and local government 19.6 health and safety, except mining safetyState and local government 12.4 industrialMachinery manufacturing 7.8 Motor vehicle parts manufacturing 7.1 marine engineers and naval architectsArchitectural, engineering, and related services 34.5 materialsComputer and electronic product manufacturing 14.3 mechanicalArchitectural, engineering, and related services 18.1 Machinery manufacturing 13.4 mining and geological, including mining safetyMining 49.9 nuclearElectric power generation, transmission and distribution 36.1 petroleumOil and gas extraction 47.4