It’s widely known that engineers typically earn a good income in Canada, especially compared to other occupations. The average engineer’s salary in Canada is approximately $94,000 per year, with salaries averaging between $70,000 and $150,000 for entry-level and senior positions, respectively (Talent.com). However, engineering is a diverse field with many specializations, so salaries can vary widely depending on the specific job, years of experience, and industry. Regardless, chemical engineers consistently remain the highest-paid engineers in North America.
Salaries can be 10%-20% more than those of other engineering disciplines
According to Forbes’ article Highest Paying Engineering Jobs in 2023, petroleum engineers – a subset of chemical engineering – are the highest-paid engineers in the US, earning on average 10% to 20% more than those in other engineering disciplines.
In Canada, the latest salary statistics from Randstad, a leading recruiting and HR organization, show that among the major engineering disciplines of chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, civil engineering, and mining engineering, chemical engineers, on average, continue to be the highest-paid.
This salary disparity is particularly pronounced in Western Canada. Chemical engineers are, on average, the highest paid in all five disciplines across all regions of Alberta and BC, including Metro Vancouver. In Western Canada, a chemical engineer earns approximately 15% more than a mechanical engineer or 20% more than a mining engineer. Over a typical professional career, this can amount to a difference of over one million dollars of income.
Figure 1 – Average Engineering Salaries in (a) BC, (b) Alberta
What’s driving the demand for chemical engineers?
These higher salaries are driven by significant technological changes occurring in the resource and manufacturing industries, as well as their continued strength as key drivers of our economy. Companies in the pharmaceuticals, energy, and manufacturing sectors are actively seeking chemical and biological engineers to reimagine their production processes and help them be more efficient, lower emissions, and reach sustainability and environmental stewardship goals. The design, development, construction, and operation of sustainable and environmental processes are core to the discipline of chemical engineering. This expertise and its demand continue to drive chemical engineers’ salaries to the top.
In BC, the demand for chemical engineers is particularly strong due to the province’s robust environmental policies and thriving natural resources sector, while in Alberta, demand is driven by a strong oil and gas sector. These factors ensure that chemical engineering salaries will remain strong well into the future across Western Canada.
Table 1 – Engineering Salaries in All Major Regions of BC and Alberta (source: Randstad, 2024, Salary Guide)