US CAD salary in 2025 is a ladder of occupations measured in May 2025, not a single national average. Drafters, the people who turn engineering and architectural designs into drawings, had a median of $68,090. The median for all jobs in the economy was $50,980. The median for engineers as a group was $108,620. Architectural and engineering managers had a median of $171,270. Anyone who collapses that ladder into one CAD wage is averaging a drafter with a department director.
This page is the U.S. walk through the ladder. The map of the whole section, including Britain, Canada, and Australia, is CAD salary guide 2025. Specialty pages go further into each rung. Nothing here is a remote premium, a software premium, or a city index. The national survey does not publish those cuts for these jobs.
Drafters, the production rung
| May 2025 | Median | Mean |
|---|---|---|
| Drafters, all | $68,090 | $72,590 |
| Architectural and civil drafters | $66,150 | $70,740 |
| Mechanical drafters | $71,550 | $75,060 |
| Electrical and electronics drafters | $76,870 | $81,280 |
| Drafters, all other | $63,520 | $68,250 |
The lowest 10 percent of all drafters earned less than $46,700. The highest 10 percent earned more than $102,590. About 180,200 drafters were counted in the handbook. About 49 percent work in architectural and engineering services, where the all drafter median was $68,090. Manufacturing was $65,370. Construction was $70,640. Administrative and support services were $61,360.
Means sit above medians because high wages pull an average up. Quote the median when you mean typical. Quote the mean when you mean the average, and say so. CAD drafter salary 2025 is the long version. Architectural and civil drafters share one code, so a civil only national median does not exist.
Employment of drafters is projected to grow 1 percent from 2025 to 2035. About 14,400 openings a year are still expected, mostly from replacement. Architectural and civil drafters are projected to grow 5 percent. Mechanical drafters are projected to fall 6 percent. Electrical and electronics drafters are projected to fall 3 percent.
Technicians, when the week is not only drawings
Engineering technologists and technicians, excluding drafters, had a median hourly wage of $35.32 and a mean annual wage of $75,710, on about 390,860 jobs. Mechanical engineering technicians had a mean of $76,380. Civil engineering technicians had a mean of $68,990. Electrical and electronic engineering technicians had a mean of $80,680. Aerospace engineering technicians, a small group, had a mean of $91,310. There is no occupation named CAD technician. CAD technician salary 2025 tells you which code matches the week.
Engineers and architects, the professional rung
Mechanical engineers had a median of $104,110, with the lowest 10 percent under $73,990 and the highest 10 percent over $164,340. Civil engineers had a median of $100,840. Electrical engineers had a median of $120,630. Electronics engineers, except computer, had a median of $130,220. Aerospace engineers had a median of $134,960. Architects, except landscape and naval, had a median of $99,280. These jobs typically ask for a bachelor degree. Drafters typically ask for an associate degree. Design engineer salary 2025 sorts postings that use engineer language. CAD designer salary 2025 is the missing rung between drafter and engineer.
Industry moves engineer pay inside one profession. Mechanical engineers in research and development had a median of $132,040. In machinery manufacturing they had $98,620. Civil engineers in the federal government had $117,790. In nonresidential building construction they had $82,400. A national engineer median is the wrong precision once you know the industry.
Managers, the rung that gets misquoted
Architectural and engineering managers had a median of $171,270. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $120,810. The highest 10 percent earned more than $262,760. In architectural and engineering services the median was $168,410. In research and development it was $211,450. That occupation directs professional work. It is a poor stand in for a CAD manager or a BIM manager who runs standards and software. CAD manager salary 2025 says this at more length. The top tenth of drafters, over $102,590, is the high end of drawing pay and still far from the manager median.
What the U.S. figures will not tell you
They will not tell you the AutoCAD wage, the SolidWorks wage, or the Revit wage. They will not tell you entry pay by years of experience. They will not tell you a remote differential. They will not convert into pounds or Canadian dollars. They will tell you, with a date and an occupation, what the middle worker earned. For production CAD work in the United States in May 2025, that middle was $68,090, and the specialty medians around it are the numbers worth memorizing.