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Materials Engineers vs Industrial Engineers

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Materials Engineers and Industrial Engineers on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Materials Engineers Industrial Engineers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$108,310
$101,140
Employment · BLS OEWS
22,770
350,230
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
62nd pct
81st pct

At a glance

Dimension Materials Engineers Industrial Engineers
Median pay $108,310 $101,140
Employment 22,770 350,230
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+5.7%) Growing fast (+11.0%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 1,500 25,200
Typical education · O*NET Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Moderate · 62nd pct High · 81st pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 56th pct · 30% of tasks 68th pct · 37% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — —
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No No

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: Engineering and Technology, Production and Processing, Mathematics, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Complex Problem Solving, Oral Comprehension, Written Comprehension, Oral Expression, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Category Flexibility, Critical Thinking, Written Expression, Problem Sensitivity, English Language, Writing, Speaking, Mathematics, Information Ordering, Mathematical Reasoning, Near Vision, Design, Fluency of Ideas, Computers and Electronics, Originality, Active Learning, Judgment and Decision Making, Speech Recognition, Speech Clarity, Monitoring.

Specific to Materials Engineers

  • Chemistry
  • Physics
  • Science
  • Flexibility of Closure
  • Perceptual Speed
  • Visualization
  • Instructing
  • Service Orientation

Specific to Industrial Engineers

  • Mechanical
  • Administration and Management
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • Selective Attention
  • Education and Training
  • Systems Analysis
  • Systems Evaluation
  • Coordination

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Presentation software , Computer aided design CAD software , Object or component oriented development software , Data base user interface and query software , Document management software , Process mapping and design software , Development environment software , Word processing software , Enterprise resource planning ERP software , Analytical or scientific software .

Specific to Materials Engineers

Specific to Industrial Engineers

Full profiles

This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Materials Engineers or Industrial Engineers — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

More comparisons

Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

Cite this page
Plain

Singulariki. "Materials Engineers vs Industrial Engineers." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/materials-engineers-vs-industrial-engineers

APA

Singulariki. (2026). Materials Engineers vs Industrial Engineers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/materials-engineers-vs-industrial-engineers

BibTeX 
@misc{singulariki-materials-engineers-vs-industrial-engineers,
  title  = {Materials Engineers vs Industrial Engineers},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/materials-engineers-vs-industrial-engineers}
}

Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.