Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors vs Nuclear Engineers: $115K vs $134K Median Pay

Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors vs Nuclear Engineers: what changes?

Consider Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors if you want to promote worksite or product safety by applying knowledge of industrial processes, mechanics, chemistry, psychology, and industrial health and safety laws. Consider Nuclear Engineers if you would rather conduct research on nuclear engineering projects or apply principles and theory of nuclear science to problems concerned with release, control, and use of nuclear energy and nuclear waste disposal. Both list bachelor's degree; compare training and prior experience separately.

Try this next: Compare three local entry-level postings for Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors and Nuclear Engineers. List the duties, credentials, prior experience, and paid training each employer actually asks for. Try a supervised class or sample project from each field before choosing a program.

BLS 2025 wages and 2025–2035 projections. National medians are not starting offers. Occupation size is not a count of vacancies. View the BLS data.

Compare the practical differences

Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors

National median pay (2025): $115,160
Route into the job: Bachelor's degree
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: BLS does not list a separate on-the-job training requirement. Employers may still provide orientation and role-specific training.
Work to investigate: Investigate industrial accidents, injuries, or occupational diseases to determine causes and preventive measures.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 1,200

Know before you choose

This is a small national occupation (22,300 jobs in 2025), so location and employer concentration can matter more than the national median suggests.

See the full Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors brief

Nuclear Engineers

National median pay (2025): $133,970
Route into the job: Bachelor's degree
Prior related experience: No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
Training and licensing: BLS does not list a separate on-the-job training requirement. Employers may still provide orientation and role-specific training.
Work to investigate: Design or develop nuclear equipment, such as reactor cores, radiation shielding, or associated instrumentation or control mechanisms.
Annual openings (2025–2035): 800

Know before you choose

BLS projects essentially flat employment (0.4%) through 2035. Annual openings mostly reflect replacement, not a rapidly expanding field.

See the full Nuclear Engineers brief

How the national numbers differ

Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors has the edge on projected growth

Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors is at 5.4% projected growth, compared with 0.4% projected growth for Nuclear Engineers.

Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors has the edge on annual openings

Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors is at 1,200 annual openings, compared with 800 annual openings for Nuclear Engineers.

Nuclear Engineers has the edge on median pay

Nuclear Engineers is at $133,970, compared with $115,160 for Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors.

55.9/ 100

Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors

43.8/ 100

Nuclear Engineers

Each available metric is ranked from 0 to 100 against the careers on ChooseField. The weighted average uses this profile: pay 30%, growth 25%, openings 30%, preparation level 15%. Missing values are not scored as zero; their weights are redistributed across available metrics. Occupation size has zero weight: employment is not accessible vacancies. Preparation categories do not measure admission difficulty or years without earnings. The score summarizes national measures; local opportunities and personal fit still need separate consideration.

Detailed evidence

Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors vs Nuclear Engineers

Dimension	Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors	Nuclear Engineers
Median pay (2025)	$115,160	$133,970
Pay percentile	89 percentile	92.7 percentile
Projected growth (2025–2035)	5.4%	0.4%
Annual openings (2025–2035)	1,200	800
2025 employment	22,300	16,600
How you qualify	Bachelor's degree	Bachelor's degree
O*NET preparation group	Job Zone 4	Job Zone 4
Related work experience	No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.	No prior related occupation is typically required; employer requirements vary.
On-the-job training	BLS does not list a separate on-the-job training requirement. Employers may still provide orientation and role-specific training.	BLS does not list a separate on-the-job training requirement. Employers may still provide orientation and role-specific training.

The table reports national benchmarks and reviewed work descriptions. It does not rate personal suitability, job security, or physical safety.

Read Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors brief Read Nuclear Engineers brief

Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors vs Nuclear Engineers: what changes?

The facts most likely to affect your decision

Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors

Nuclear Engineers

How the national numbers differ

Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors has the edge on projected growth

Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors has the edge on annual openings

Nuclear Engineers has the edge on median pay

Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors vs Nuclear Engineers

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