<p>Is it possible to make 100k-150k as a chemical engineer in 10-15 years after you graduate.</p>
<p>it is possible, chemical process engineers with enough experience working with petrochemicals for the petroleum industry can make that much money.</p>
<p>it is very possible, especially if you account for inflation.</p>
<p>You can make 100K as a ChemE within 5 years.</p>
<p>i would think you are doing something wrong not to make that much after 10-15 years</p>
<p>Ok, well is it possible to make 200k in 10-15 years, especially if you live in a big city like New York or Chicago.</p>
<p>I think at that point usually you are not even an "engineer" so much as you are like a supervisor or manager or whatnot</p>
<p>I don't think its reasonable to think that an engineer could make over $150k as an engineer... They probably aren't worth THAT much to a company. As an EE undergrad, I know we top out around $100k in general. If you're good and with a lot of experience you have a shot at jobs between $100k and $150k but I've never seen anything above that. ChemEs earn around the same except for those working with petroleum, I believe.</p>
<p>121314, you have no concept of real income and status.</p>
<p>first of all, if you live in new york you have to make 200k just to get by comfortably. you take home 100k of that, given fed state city tax, and then rent food etc are through the roof!</p>
<p>second of all, the costs of living in new york and chicago don't really compare. chicago is much, much cheaper overall. if you made 200k in chicago you'd be loaded.</p>
<p>check out a cost of living comparator online, they are easy to find.</p>
<p>what's with people measuring their success by the amount of money they earn annually without even taking cost-of-living, lifestyle choices, or any other factors into account.</p>
<p>do you just wanna impress your friends by telling them how much you earn in a dollar amount? if you're doing engineering just to earn a lot of money. first of all you're probably not going to be successful because very few engineers make 200K/year, but if you are then second, you are probably going to be miserable at your job.</p>
<p>Major in something that you think you will enjoy because you will be working in that field for decades.</p>
<p>
[quote]
first of all, if you live in new york you have to make 200k just to get by comfortably.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I suppose it depends on what you mean by 'comfortably'. However, I think the data clearly shows that the vast majority of New Yorkers do not make 200k, in fact, not even close. So does that mean that most New Yorkers don't live comfortably? That would then beg the question: why do they stay?</p>
<p>The average weekly wage in New York County, more commonly known as
the borough of Manhattan, climbed 16.7 percent over the year to $2,821 in
the first quarter of 2007.</p>
<p>Not sure where you get your information from. I don't personally know anyone that makes $200k a year, but I wouldn't say all of them are struggling to get by. A friend of mine got an offer of just under $60k and he considers himself very well off. And yes, he does rent an apartment in Manhattan.</p>
<p>Yes, I agree New York is expensive, probably one of the most expensive places to live, next to San Francisco, but it's not that expensive. You don't need $200k, even if you're raising a family.</p>
<p>average and median are totally different things. I'm pretty sure people working on Wall Street are skewing the averages. I mean $2.8k per week is a lot of bank.</p>
<p>
[quote]
average and median are totally different things. I'm pretty sure people working on Wall Street are skewing the averages. I mean $2.8k per week is a lot of bank.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Sure indeed.</p>
<p>*Within Manhattan, the financial activities supersector had the
highest average weekly wage, $10,156. *</p>
<p>AVERAGE</a> WEEKLY WAGES IN NEW YORK CITY</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the point is, even $2.8k a week is still less than $150k a year, which obviously indicates that the vast majority of Manhattanites don't make anywhere near $200k. Hence, according to hkapoo, that would mean that the vast majority of Manhattanites are not living comfortably, which, like I said, then begs the question of why do they stay? </p>
<p>Let's also keep in mind that the above figures are for Manhattan specifically. NYC has 4 other boroughs/counties where people make far less.</p>
<p>Average [weekly] wages in Queens, Bronx, Kings, and Richmond Counties
were $831, $788, $742, and $733</p>
<p>The average chemical engineers make around 60k. It's possible to make 100-150k, but that's probably only 5% of all chemical engineers that makes that much.</p>
<p>I don't imagine the "average" chemical engineer makes $60k when that's what most will make straight out of college.</p>
<p>[url=<a href="http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm#earnings%5DEngineers%5B/url">http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm#earnings]Engineers[/url</a>]</p>
<p>BLS says the median salary is $78k and the highest 25% make at least $98k. That's not starting salary... it's overall.</p>
<p>Well, I knew it was around 60k, but thanks for the link! If you want you make more than 100k, your best bet is to choose another profession. The top 10% are highly specialized chemical engineers, most likely with a phD too.</p>
<p>From my school's 2006-2007 database.</p>
<p>Major
Offers
Low
High
University Mean
University Median
National Mean**</p>
<p>Chemical - BS
137
50000
75000
62789
63500
59361</p>
<p>Chemical - MS
7
55000
71526
63504
65000
68561</p>
<p>Chemical - PhD
13
60000
106000
88769
89000
73667</p>
<p>Is that MIT?</p>