CATIA designer salary in 2025 is an aerospace and automotive question that the wage tables answer only by occupation. CATIA is the modeling program those industries use for complex surfaces, structures, and large assemblies. It is not a code. Mechanical drafters had a May 2025 median of $71,550. Aerospace engineering and operations technicians had a mean wage of $91,310. Aerospace engineers had a median of $134,960. Which number you are allowed to use depends on whether you are documenting geometry or designing the vehicle.
The designer seat is not the engineer seat
A CATIA designer who builds parts, surfaces, and drawings under an engineer's direction is close to the mechanical drafter description. That median is $71,550, and the mean is $75,060. The work happens to be an aircraft fitting or a car body panel instead of a machine bracket. The survey does not pay extra for the drama of the product. It pays the occupation. Mechanical drafter salary 2025 is that occupation. Mechanical designer salary 2025 covers the untitled gap if the person makes more of the geometry decisions and still is not the engineer.
SolidWorks and NX show up in the same plants, sometimes on the same program. NX is common beside CATIA in large manufacturers. The brands are not separate wages. SolidWorks designer salary 2025 makes that point for product work. It applies here too. A CATIA premium that cannot be found in the occupational tables should not be treated as found.
Technicians are the middle official number
Aerospace engineering and operations technologists and technicians are a small group, about 11,280 people in the May 2025 wage release. Their mean annual wage was $91,310. Their median hourly wage was $39.85. Their mean hourly wage was $43.90. The release does not print an annual median. Do not turn $39.85 into a yearly salary and call it published. You can say the hourly middle of that occupation was $39.85 and the average annual wage was $91,310.
These technicians support aerospace engineering work. They are not a synonym for CATIA designers. Some designers in a build to print group will look more like drafters. Some people who live in the model and also support tests and manufacturing engineering will look more like this technician group. The mean of $91,310 is a real official average for a real occupation. It is the wrong souvenir to take home if your week is only surfacing parts.
The engineer median is for engineers
| May 2025 | Median or mean |
|---|---|
| Mechanical drafters, median | $71,550 |
| Aerospace engineering technicians, mean | $91,310 |
| Mechanical engineers, median | $104,110 |
| Aerospace engineers, median | $134,960 |
| Aerospace engineers in product manufacturing | $137,030 |
| Aerospace engineers in engineering services | $132,440 |
| Electrical engineers in aerospace manufacturing | $141,160 |
Aerospace engineers design, develop, and test aircraft, spacecraft, satellites, and missiles. The May 2025 median was $134,960. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $86,700. The highest 10 percent earned more than $205,890. About 68,700 jobs were counted, and employment is projected to grow 8 percent from 2025 to 2035. Research and development paid a median of $149,260. The federal government paid $142,630. Product manufacturing paid $137,030. Engineering services paid $132,440.
The lowest tenth of aerospace engineers, under $86,700, sits near the technician mean. A new engineer and an experienced technician can overlap. A CATIA designer without the engineering degree is not automatically in that overlap. The typical drafter education is an associate degree. The typical aerospace engineer education is a bachelor degree. Design engineer salary 2025 is the right page when the posting asks for the degree and the analysis.
Electrical engineers in aerospace product manufacturing had a median of $141,160. That figure gets pasted into design salary posts because the industry name sounds like CATIA. It is an electrical engineer wage in a high paying industry. It is not a surfaces wage.
Automotive is the same problem with less specific data
Transportation equipment manufacturing paid mechanical engineers a median of $105,560. That includes more than cars, and it is an engineer median. Mechanical drafters do not get an automotive cut. A CATIA designer in a car program who documents parts for release should start from $71,550 and then talk about the plant, the city, and the decisions they own. A designer who is really a mechanical engineer should start from $104,110 or from the transportation equipment cell if that is the employer.
There is no honest national CATIA average waiting in a table someone forgot to link. The spread from the drafter median to the aerospace engineer median is more than $60,000. Any single CATIA number inside that spread is a blend. Blends are comfortable and they describe nobody.
Sources
- Occupational Outlook Handbook, Drafters.
- Occupational Outlook Handbook, Aerospace Engineers. May 2025 median, tenths, and industry medians.
- Occupational Outlook Handbook, Mechanical Engineers.
- Occupational Outlook Handbook, Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Aerospace manufacturing median.
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Aerospace technician mean and median hourly wage.