Best States for Electrical Engineers in 2026

Across the top 10 states for electrical engineers in 2026, CareerGPS Pro’s data shows that no single metric explains the rankings. California leads the list, but it does not have the highest median salary; New Mexico pays more on a median basis yet ranks third overall. Texas and Washington both share the same projected growth rate as every other state in this top 10, but their rankings differ, underscoring that CareerGPS Geography Scores capture more than a single statistic. Compared with the national picture, many of these states stand out on at least one dimension. Several have median salaries above the national median of $120,630, and California’s employment count of 24,230 is larger than any other state in this top group. At the same time, some states with smaller employment counts—such as New Mexico and New Hampshire—still rank in the top 10, reflecting how CareerGPS Pro’s rankings incorporate multiple labor-market factors rather than just scale. Because all 10 states share the same growth rate in the supplied data, the distinctions come from salary levels, employment size, and each state’s CareerGPS Geography Score. This allows electrical engineers to see which markets stand out for higher pay, which have larger supplied employment counts, and how CareerGPS Pro’s overall scoring orders these trade-offs.

For electrical engineers nationally, the median annual salary is $120,630 and total national employment is 198,750 in 2026. Every state in the top 10 is evaluated against these national figures in the CareerGPS Pro framework. Several of the top-ranked states have median salaries above the national figure. California’s median salary of $144,040, Texas at $129,450, Washington at $132,710, New Mexico at $158,520, Massachusetts at $127,720, New Hampshire at $135,710, Maryland at $125,150, and New York at $119,010 can all be directly compared to the national median salary of $120,630. On employment, California’s 24,230 electrical engineering jobs represent the largest single-state employment count in this top 10 list and are part of the 198,750 positions counted nationally. The other states in the top 10 vary substantially in size, from New Mexico’s 2,560 to Texas’s 20,870 and New York’s 8,770, illustrating that the CareerGPS Pro rankings consider both relatively large and relatively small state employment counts.

California ranks #1 in CareerGPS Pro’s state list for electrical engineers with a Geography Score of 79.74. It also has the highest employment count among these top 10 states at 24,230, and the highest median salary among the large-employment states listed, at $144,040. Texas ranks #2 with a Geography Score of 65.16. Texas has a median salary of $129,450 and an employment count of 20,870, both of which are below California’s corresponding values but still substantial within this group. Both California and Texas share the same projected growth rate of 7.2% that applies to all 10 states in the ranking. When compared with the national figures, California’s median salary of $144,040 and Texas’s $129,450 both exceed the national median salary of $120,630. Their employment counts of 24,230 for California and 20,870 for Texas are each a fraction of the 198,750 roles counted nationally, underscoring that national totals aggregate many additional states beyond this top 10 list.

New Mexico is ranked #3 for electrical engineers with a CareerGPS Geography Score of 54.77. Its median salary of $158,520 is higher than the median salaries reported for California, Texas, Washington, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland, and Virginia in this dataset. This makes New Mexico the state with the highest median salary among the top 10 listed here. Despite this highest median salary, New Mexico’s ranking still trails California and Texas in the CareerGPS Pro order. New Mexico’s employment count is 2,560, which is smaller than the employment counts reported for California, Texas, Washington, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, and Georgia. Its growth rate of 7.2% matches the uniform growth rate supplied for every state in the top 10. Compared with the national benchmark, New Mexico’s median salary of $158,520 is above the national median salary of $120,630. Its employment count of 2,560 represents a modest share of the 198,750 jobs counted nationally, indicating that CareerGPS Pro’s rankings can place a state with a relatively smaller employment count but strong salary performance in a high overall position.

Washington holds the #4 position with a CareerGPS Geography Score of 50.99, a median salary of $132,710, and employment of 7,610. New York follows at #5 with a Geography Score of 47.45, a median salary of $119,010, and employment of 8,770. Washington’s median salary is higher than New York’s, while New York’s employment count is larger than Washington’s. Massachusetts ranks #6 with a Geography Score of 46.89, a median salary of $127,720, and 5,040 electrical engineering jobs. New Hampshire is #7 with a Geography Score of 43.03, a median salary of $135,710, and 1,600 jobs. New Hampshire’s median salary is higher than the median salaries in New York and Massachusetts, but its employment count is lower than both. Relative to the national salary benchmark of $120,630, Washington’s median salary of $132,710, Massachusetts’s $127,720, and New Hampshire’s $135,710 are all above the national median. New York’s median salary of $119,010 is slightly below the national median, even though New York ranks higher than several states with fewer jobs or lower Geography Scores in this top 10 group.

Maryland is ranked #8 with a CareerGPS Geography Score of 42.81, a median salary of $125,150, and employment of 4,650. Virginia sits at #9 with a Geography Score of 42.68, a median salary of $119,030, and employment of 7,260. Georgia completes the top 10 at #10 with a Geography Score of 42.12, an employment count of 5,950, and no median salary value supplied in this dataset. Among these three, Virginia has a larger employment count than Maryland and Georgia, while Maryland’s median salary of $125,150 is higher than Virginia’s median salary of $119,030. Because Georgia’s median salary is not supplied, it cannot be compared on that dimension, though its employment count of 5,950 can be directly contrasted with the employment counts in the other states. Using the national benchmark of $120,630, Maryland’s median salary of $125,150 is above the national median, while Virginia’s median salary of $119,030 is slightly below it. All three states share the same projected 7.2% growth rate as the rest of the top 10, illustrating that growth does not differentiate among the ranked states given the current dataset.

The CareerGPS Geography Scores show a spread from 79.74 for California at #1 down to 42.12 for Georgia at #10 among these leading states. Texas’s score of 65.16, New Mexico’s 54.77, Washington’s 50.99, and New York’s 47.45 fall between those endpoints, ordering the top half of the list. In the lower half of the top 10, Massachusetts has a Geography Score of 46.89, New Hampshire 43.03, Maryland 42.81, and Virginia 42.68, all just above Georgia’s 42.12. These scores are distinct from one another, even when states share the same 7.2% growth rate or have salaries close to national levels, emphasizing that Geography Scores synthesize multiple labor-market metrics. Because the dataset does not specify the internal weighting behind the Geography Scores, the safest interpretation is comparative: California holds the highest Geography Score in this group, while Georgia has the lowest, with the remaining states distributed between them based on CareerGPS Pro’s standardized scoring of salary, employment, growth, and any additional incorporated factors.

CareerGPS Pro builds these state rankings for electrical engineers using authoritative labor-market data combined with its CareerGPS Geography Score methodology. For each state, the data include a median annual salary, an employment count, a projected growth rate, and an overall Geography Score that determines the ranking positions shown here. The Geography Score reflects CareerGPS Pro’s internal scoring approach applied consistently across states. The precise weighting of salary, employment, growth, and any other factors is not disclosed in this dataset, so this article focuses only on relationships that can be directly observed: the supplied salaries, employment counts, growth rates, and the resulting rankings and scores. These rankings are intended as a structured starting point, not a prescription. Electrical engineers should interpret them alongside their own priorities—such as preferred locations, industries, or non-work factors—which are not captured in the CareerGPS Pro evidence used here.