01 — MethodologyHow to read these numbersThere is no federal occupation code for “RF engineer” or “radar engineer,” so an rf engineer salary benchmark starts with the two BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics series the work is coded under. 17-2072, electronics engineers, except computer, is the closer fit: BLS defines it as designing electronic circuits and components for telecommunications, aerospace guidance, and instruments and controls, and it counted 96,900 jobs at a $130,220 median in May 2025. 17-2071, electrical engineers, is the larger, more general series at 198,750 jobs and a $120,630 median; RF engineers whose title on the payroll survey reads “electrical engineer” land there. The May 2025 estimates were released May 15, 2026 and were extracted from the data.bls.gov OEWS profile and query system on September 15, 2026.The industry cuts matter more than the national number. OEWS publishes each series by NAICS industry, and we use three: 3364 aerospace product and parts manufacturing (radar, EW, and satellite primes), 3345 navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing (where radar and defense-electronics houses such as sensor and seeker builders are classified), and 3344 semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing (RFIC, MMIC, and front-end module work). State figures come from the same query system. Growth and openings come from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook entry for electrical and electronics engineers, 2025–35 projections.Above the federal spine sit three labeled layers. Employer-published base ranges were read from public Greenhouse job-board JSON on September 15, 2026 for a defense-tech manufacturer (California and Colorado), a radar and electronic-warfare startup (California and DC), a directed-energy manufacturer (Oklahoma), a launch and satellite manufacturer (California, Washington, Texas, New York), and a launch and space-systems manufacturer (California); they are cited by employer type and state, never by name. Posting aggregates from Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and Glassdoor were retrieved September 15, 2026 and carry their own update dates. The ClearanceJobs 2026 Security Clearance Compensation Report, released March 31, 2026 on 2025 survey data, prices the clearance premium.What these figures are — and are notFigures as of September 2026. These are public-market benchmarks, not iRecruit placement data and not an offer range. OEWS medians blend a first-year RF test engineer with a twenty-year phased-array architect inside one code and measure base pay only; employer-published ranges are the floor and ceiling of a level band, not a midpoint, and at defense-tech and space manufacturers exclude equity that the postings themselves describe as a material part of the package; Indeed and ZipRecruiter averages measure what is advertised, not what is accepted. Read all of it as a frame for a compensation conversation, then price your own frequency band, program, clearance requirement, and site.02 — At a glanceThe benchmarks at a glanceThe whole guide in one screen. Each row jumps to the full section.01Electronics engineer, national (BLS 17-2072)$130,220 median in May 2025; 25th–75th band $101,680–$167,670; 90th percentile $206,960$130K med02Electronics engineer in aerospace manufacturing (3364)$148,750 median across 5,500 jobs; 25th–75th $127,150–$177,900; 90th $212,220 (OEWS May 2025)$149K med03Electronics engineer in instruments manufacturing (3345)$132,440 median across 6,420 jobs; 25th–75th $105,720–$169,480 (OEWS May 2025)$132K med04RF engineer, defense-tech and space boardsLevel 1 $125,000–$160,000 at a launch and satellite manufacturer in California; $143,000–$191,000 at a defense-tech manufacturer in Colorado (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026)$125K-$191K05Staff and principal radar or RF engineer$191,000–$253,000 staff radar in California; $210,000–$300,000 principal RF at a launch and satellite manufacturer (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026)$191K-$300KAnchor numbers for 2026: the federal median for the electronics-engineer series is $130,220, aerospace manufacturing lifts it to $148,750, and the semiconductor cut where RFIC work sits pays $146,700 (all BLS OEWS May 2025). Employer-published entry bands at defense-tech and space manufacturers open at $125,000–$143,000, staff bands close near $253,000, and a TS/SCI adds roughly $31,800 of average total compensation over a Secret per the ClearanceJobs 2026 report. The 25th-to-90th spread inside 17-2072 alone is $105,280.
03 — BenchmarksRF and radar engineer pay bands in 2026The federal series set the floor and the distribution; employer-published bands show where radar, EW, and satellite programs actually post. Each card names its source and vintage, because the gap between a national OEWS median and a Costa Mesa staff radar band is not noise, it is the market.$130,220Electronics engineer, national median (BLS 17-2072)BLS OEWS May 2025 median for electronics engineers, except computer, at $62.60/hr across 96,900 jobs; mean $137,280. The 10th percentile is $81,840, the 25th $101,680, the 75th $167,670, and the 90th $206,960. The broader electrical-engineer series (17-2071, 198,750 jobs) sits lower at a $120,630 median with a $184,300 90th percentile.$148,750Electronics engineer inside aerospace manufacturing (NAICS 3364)BLS OEWS May 2025 median for 17-2072 in aerospace product and parts manufacturing, 5,500 jobs, mean $155,550; the 25th–75th band is $127,150–$177,900 and the 90th percentile $212,220. Electrical engineers (17-2071) in the same industry, 8,950 jobs, median $141,160 with a 90th of $209,480. This is the cut for radar, EW, and satellite-payload primes.$132,440Electronics engineer inside instruments manufacturing (NAICS 3345)BLS OEWS May 2025 median for 17-2072 in navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing, 6,420 jobs, mean $142,540; 25th–75th $105,720–$169,480, 90th $206,770. Radar, seeker, and defense-electronics houses that are not airframe primes are classified here, which is why it pays $16,310 less at the median than 3364 but nearly the same at the 90th.$146,700Electronics engineer inside semiconductor manufacturing (NAICS 3344)BLS OEWS May 2025 median for 17-2072 in semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing, 13,560 jobs, the largest four-digit NAICS industry for the code; 25th–75th $102,770–$200,380, 90th $220,720, the widest band of the three cuts. RFIC, MMIC, and front-end-module design lives here; a launch and satellite manufacturer posts RFIC design engineer in Redmond and Irvine at $125,000–$160,000 Level 1, and senior RFIC design (Level 3) at $165,000–$270,000 in Redmond, $165,000–$265,000 in Irvine, and $175,000–$280,000 in Palo Alto (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026).$125,000–$195,000RF engineer Level 1 and Level 2, employer-publishedA launch and satellite manufacturer in Hawthorne, California publishes RF Engineer at Level 1 $125,000–$160,000 and Level 2 $145,000–$195,000, and its Redmond, Washington RF/microwave engineer at $125,000–$165,000 and $145,000–$200,000; a defense-tech manufacturer publishes RF Engineer in Broomfield and Fort Collins, Colorado at $143,000–$191,000; a launch and space-systems manufacturer in Long Beach publishes RF Engineer I/II, Radar at $82,400–$126,000 base with equity taking total compensation to $89,350–$143,625 (all Greenhouse, September 15, 2026).$191,000–$300,000Staff, principal, and chief radar or RF engineer, employer-publishedThe defense-tech manufacturer publishes Staff Radar Engineer and Staff RF Antenna Engineer, EW in Costa Mesa at $191,000–$253,000, the same staff title in Colorado at $165,000–$218,000, Principal Radar Engineer, Space at $220,000–$293,000, and Chief Engineer, Radar at $253,000–$336,000 in California and $219,000–$290,000 in Colorado. The launch and satellite manufacturer publishes Principal RF Engineer at $210,000–$300,000 and the launch and space-systems manufacturer Principal RF Engineer at $173,300–$231,000 base, $223,025–$339,400 with equity (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026).Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025 (released May 15, 2026) via the data.bls.gov OEWS profile and query system, extracted September 15, 2026, for 17-2072, 17-2071 and NAICS 3364, 3345, 3344; employer job postings read via the Greenhouse public job board API on September 15, 2026 and cited by employer type and state; Indeed, ZipRecruiter and Glassdoor posting aggregates retrieved September 15, 2026.Why the numbers scatterThree things pull the sources apart. First, coding: a phased-array designer at an aerospace prime is a 17-2072 electronics engineer to BLS, an “RF engineer” to Indeed, and an “electrical engineer” on half the payroll surveys, so the federal median is an average of three populations. Second, level compression: OEWS has no levels, while a single employer publishes $125,000 for Level 1 and $300,000 for principal under the same RF title, and Glassdoor’s entry range of $53,234–$100,569 and 8-plus-year range of $87,915–$178,551 (retrieved September 15, 2026) do not overlap the employer bands at all. Third, the “radar engineer” title is nearly absent from aggregator data: ZipRecruiter’s radar engineer page shows a $80,500 average with a 25th–75th band of $79,000–$82,000 as of September 15, 2026, a sample so thin that the same page lists Renton, Washington at $152,038 and Maricopa County, Arizona at $132,537. Treat radar-titled aggregator figures as noise and price radar work off the 3364 and 3345 cuts and the employer bands instead. 04 — Cost driversWhat moves an RF engineer salarySix factors explain most of the spread between the $101,680 25th percentile and the $206,960 90th percentile inside the federal series, and between a Level 1 band and a chief-engineer band on the same board. Each is sourced.+$31,822Clearance levelClearanceJobs’ 2026 Security Clearance Compensation Report (March 31, 2026, 2025 data) puts average total compensation at $107,439 for DoD Secret, $126,839 for Top Secret, $139,261 for TS/SCI, and $165,063 for intelligence-agency work; a full-scope polygraph averages $149,875 against $118,680 with no polygraph. The defense-tech manufacturer publishes its Active Clearance RF communications engineer at $146,000–$194,000 in Costa Mesa, above its uncleared Colorado RF engineer band of $143,000–$191,000, but a launch and space-systems manufacturer posts its TS/SCI-pipeline RF systems engineer I/II at the same $82,400–$126,000 as its uncleared radar RF engineer I/II, so the premium is in the offer, not always in the band (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026).+14%Aerospace and defense industryOEWS May 2025 pays 17-2072 electronics engineers $148,750 at the median inside aerospace product and parts manufacturing (3364) against $130,220 nationally, a 14 percent premium, and the 90th percentile climbs from $206,960 to $212,220. Instruments manufacturing (3345), where non-prime radar houses sit, is a smaller 2 percent lift to $132,440 at the median.+$60,000Level: engineer to staff to principalOn the defense-tech manufacturer’s board the RF Engineer band in Colorado is $143,000–$191,000, Staff Radar Engineer in the same state is $165,000–$218,000, and Chief Engineer, Radar is $219,000–$290,000; in California Staff RF Antenna Engineer is $191,000–$253,000 and Principal Radar Engineer $220,000–$293,000. At the launch and satellite manufacturer the jump from Level 2 ($145,000–$195,000) to Principal ($210,000–$300,000) is worth $65,000 at the floor and $105,000 at the ceiling (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026).$16K–$30KEquity and additional payGlassdoor’s RF engineer profile (retrieved September 15, 2026) shows base pay of $91,000–$135,000 plus $16,000–$30,000 of additional pay for a $132,000 median total. The employer boards quantify it directly: the launch and space-systems manufacturer publishes RF Engineer I/II at $82,400–$126,000 base and $89,350–$143,625 total with equity, and its Principal RF Engineer at $173,300–$231,000 base against $223,025–$339,400 total, an 8 to 14 percent uplift on the I/II band and 29 to 47 percent on the principal band; the defense-tech manufacturer states that equity grants are included in the majority of full-time roles (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026).+23%State: California versus the national medianOEWS May 2025 puts the 17-2072 median at $160,520 in California (20,830 jobs) against $130,220 nationally, with a $202,730 75th percentile; Texas is $132,220, Washington $130,270, Colorado $127,010, Massachusetts $138,230, and Florida $116,860. The same employer pays the same staff radar title $191,000–$253,000 in Costa Mesa and $165,000–$218,000 in Colorado, a 14 percent geographic differential (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026).+$32,000Signal processing and RFIC specializationA radar and electronic-warfare startup publishes Radar Signal Processing Engineer and Staff Radar Systems Development Engineer in El Segundo at $110,000–$240,000 and Senior and Staff RF Signal Processing Engineers in Washington, DC at $180,000–$230,000, while its radar manufacturing engineer is $110,000–$160,000. The launch and satellite manufacturer publishes senior RFIC design at $165,000–$270,000 in Redmond and $175,000–$280,000 in Palo Alto, above its $165,000–$230,000 senior RF engineer band in Hawthorne (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026).Stack the drivers and the scatter resolves: a Level 1 RF engineer at a launch and satellite manufacturer sits inside the federal 25th-to-median band, a cleared senior EW designer in Costa Mesa sits at the 3364 90th percentile, and a principal with equity at a space-systems manufacturer clears $300,000 on a base the OEWS series would never show. If you are hiring an RF engineer or a hardware engineer for a radar or EW line, write the level, clearance requirement, and equity into the req before you argue about the base. 05 — VariationRF engineer pay by state and program typeOEWS May 2025 publishes 17-2072 by state; employer boards publish by site. The six cells below pair the federal median for the state with what a radar, EW, satellite, or launch employer there actually posts, so you can see where the employer band sits against the local distribution.California: radar, EW, and satellite primes$160,520 median; $125,000–$336,000 employer bandsOEWS May 2025 median for 17-2072 in California is $160,520 across 20,830 jobs, the largest state population and the highest state median; 25th–75th $125,040–$202,730, 90th $225,400. Electrical engineers (17-2071) in California are $144,040. A defense-tech manufacturer in Costa Mesa publishes senior RF design (EW) at $166,000–$220,000, staff radar and staff RF antenna at $191,000–$253,000, and chief engineer radar at $253,000–$336,000; a launch and satellite manufacturer in Hawthorne publishes RF engineer at $125,000–$195,000 across two levels and senior at $165,000–$230,000 (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026).Colorado: defense-tech radar and space$127,010 median; $143,000–$290,000 employer bandsOEWS May 2025 median for 17-2072 in Colorado is $127,010 across 6,080 jobs, 25th–75th $100,580–$159,940, 90th $191,140; Colorado has the highest location quotient of any state at 3.4 times the national concentration (2.1 electronics engineers per 1,000 jobs). A defense-tech manufacturer publishes RF Engineer in Broomfield and Fort Collins at $143,000–$191,000, Staff Radar Engineer at $165,000–$218,000, and Chief Engineer, Radar at $219,000–$290,000, the staff and chief bands roughly 14 percent under its California bands for the same titles (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026). ClearanceJobs puts Colorado cleared average total compensation at $138,256 (2026 report).Washington: satellite RF, antenna, and RFIC$130,270 median; $125,000–$270,000 employer bandsOEWS May 2025 median for 17-2072 in Washington is $130,270 across 1,950 jobs, 25th–75th $102,150–$168,280, 90th $208,130; the state’s electrical-engineer series (17-2071) is larger at 7,610 jobs and $132,710. A launch and satellite manufacturer in Redmond publishes RF/microwave engineer at Level 1 $125,000–$165,000 and Level 2 $145,000–$200,000, senior antenna engineer at $160,000–$225,000, and senior RFIC and MMIC design at $165,000–$270,000 (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026). ZipRecruiter ranks Washington first of 50 states for RF engineer pay, showing $126,380 for Tacoma, Washington against a $117,680 national average (September 15, 2026).Texas: launch-site and satellite ground RF$132,220 median; posting data $138,978–$152,431OEWS May 2025 median for 17-2072 in Texas is $132,220 across 9,520 jobs, the second-largest state population; 25th–75th $101,110–$168,400, 90th $205,710. Electrical engineers in Texas are $129,450. A launch and satellite manufacturer posts RF engineer, senior RF engineer, antenna engineer, and RF and wireless compliance engineer in Bastrop without a published range (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026). Indeed lists Dallas at $152,431 for RF engineer and ZipRecruiter lists Justin, Texas at $138,978 (both retrieved September 15, 2026).Massachusetts and Virginia/DC: radar and cleared RF$138,230 and $119,990 medians; $180,000–$230,000 in DCOEWS May 2025 median for 17-2072 in Massachusetts is $138,230 across 5,910 jobs with a $215,290 90th percentile, the highest 90th outside California; Indeed’s top-paying RF engineer city is Chelmsford, Massachusetts at $187,625 (updated September 7, 2026). Virginia is $119,990 across 3,280 jobs and the District of Columbia is $157,040 at the median. A radar and EW startup publishes senior and staff RF signal processing and RF geolocation engineers in Washington, DC at $180,000–$230,000 (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026). ClearanceJobs puts Virginia cleared average total compensation at $138,748, Maryland at $139,303, and DC at $136,369 (2026 report).Florida, Arizona, and Oklahoma: test, HPM, and range work$116,860 and $118,120 medians; $88,800–$151,300 employer bandsOEWS May 2025 median for 17-2072 in Florida is $116,860 across 5,280 jobs and in Arizona $118,120 across 2,100 jobs, both 9 to 10 percent under the national median, with 75th percentiles of $137,510 and $159,740. A directed-energy manufacturer publishes Associate Test Engineer, Electromagnetic Laboratory in Lawton, Oklahoma at $88,800–$101,800 and Senior Test Engineer at $124,600–$151,300; a launch and satellite manufacturer publishes RF Test Engineer in Canandaigua, New York at $85,000–$115,000 and $100,000–$150,000 across two levels (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026). Test-titled RF work usually prices under design-titled work, but not uniformly: the defense-tech manufacturer’s senior RF test band ($146,000–$194,000) sits 12 percent under its senior RF design band while its staff RF test automation band matches staff design at $191,000–$253,000; see the test engineer profile.Read the state medians as the local distribution and the employer bands as where the reindustrialization employers sit inside it: in California the defense-tech and space bands open at the state 25th percentile and close above the state 90th; in Colorado and Washington they open at the state median. If you are building a radar or EW team in a lower-median state, the OEWS number is not your competition, the Costa Mesa and Hawthorne bands are. iRecruit tracks these employers on the defense-tech companies hiring guide. 06 — TrendWhere RF and radar pay is headingThe federal series is growing faster than engineering as a whole. The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook projects electrical and electronics engineers to grow 8 percent from 2025 to 2035, adding 23,400 jobs on a 2025 base of 297,900, with about 16,300 openings a year over the decade, most of them replacement demand as the cohort that designed the last generation of radars retires. The OOH 2025 median for the combined occupation is $125,040; the electronics-only series sits $5,180 above it.Cleared compensation set a record. The ClearanceJobs 2026 report puts average cleared total compensation at $126,125, up nearly 6 percent, with 70 percent of respondents reporting a base increase and 12 percent reporting a raise above 10 percent; DoD Secret rose 7 percent and TS/SCI 5 percent from the prior report. Every RF and radar band on the defense-tech and radar-startup boards read for this page either requires eligibility for a clearance or advertises an active-clearance variant of the same title.The posting aggregates are moving up faster than the federal median. Indeed’s RF engineer average is $132,995 across 1,400 postings in the past 36 months (updated September 7, 2026) and its senior RF engineer average is $149,021 across 860 postings (updated September 6, 2026), both above the OEWS national median for the series and both consistent with the 3364 aerospace cut rather than the all-industry figure. ZipRecruiter’s $117,680 average with a $97,500–$139,000 core band (September 15, 2026) sits below Indeed because it blends wireless-carrier and telecom RF titles, which OEWS shows employing 13,950 electronics engineers, more than aerospace manufacturing (5,500) and instruments manufacturing (6,420) combined. Defense, space, and semiconductor RF is the top of the distribution, not the middle. 07 — WorkforceWhat this means for hiring RF and radar engineersPrice the req against the right cut. An RF or radar engineer for a defense or space program should be benchmarked against the 3364 median of $148,750 and the employer bands, not the $130,220 all-industry figure and certainly not aggregator radar-engineer pages. Publish the level and the band: every employer on this page that competes for this talent posts a range, and a launch and satellite manufacturer posts two levels on a single req. Write the clearance requirement into the title if you have one, because the ClearanceJobs data shows the Secret-to-TS/SCI gap at $31,822 and candidates who hold one price it. Decide equity before the search; at the one space manufacturer that publishes it, equity adds 8 to 14 percent over base on the engineer I/II band and 29 to 47 percent on the principal band.Then decide who runs the search. Radar, EW, and satellite RF is a small population: 5,500 electronics engineers in all of aerospace manufacturing and 6,420 in instruments manufacturing, with a defense-tech manufacturer alone listing more than thirty radar, RF, and EW engineering reqs on a single day. For a standing radar or EW team, embedded recruiting support keeps a dedicated recruiter on the RF pipeline; for a plant or program ramp, RPO covers the full engineering ladder. Sector context is on the aerospace and defense manufacturing recruiters page and the best aerospace and defense recruiters guide.For the hiring side of this market, see the Defense Tech Recruiters practice. 08 — FAQFrequently asked questions What is the average RF engineer salary in 2026?+The closest federal figure is the BLS OEWS May 2025 median of $130,220 for electronics engineers, except computer (17-2072), with a 25th–75th band of $101,680–$167,670. Posting data retrieved September 15, 2026 runs from ZipRecruiter’s $117,680 average to Indeed’s $132,995, and defense-tech and space employers publish entry bands of $125,000–$191,000.How much does a radar engineer make?+BLS has no radar-engineer code; radar work is coded as 17-2072 and pays $148,750 at the median inside aerospace manufacturing and $132,440 inside instruments manufacturing (OEWS May 2025). A defense-tech manufacturer publishes Staff Radar Engineer at $191,000–$253,000 in California and $165,000–$218,000 in Colorado, and Chief Engineer, Radar at up to $336,000 (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026). Ignore aggregator radar-engineer pages; ZipRecruiter’s shows an $80,500 average on a sample that spans only $77,000–$83,000.How much does a security clearance add to an RF engineer salary?+The ClearanceJobs 2026 Security Clearance Compensation Report (2025 data) puts average total compensation at $107,439 for DoD Secret, $126,839 for Top Secret, and $139,261 for TS/SCI, a $31,822 gap from Secret to TS/SCI; a full-scope polygraph averages $149,875 against $118,680 with no polygraph. On employer boards the premium is uneven: one defense-tech manufacturer’s active-clearance RF band is $146,000–$194,000, while a space manufacturer posts its TS/SCI-pipeline RF band at the same $82,400–$126,000 as the uncleared title.What does a senior or principal RF engineer earn?+Indeed’s senior RF engineer average is $149,021 across 860 postings (updated September 6, 2026) and Glassdoor’s senior RF engineer total-pay range is $138,000–$212,000 (September 15, 2026). Employer-published senior bands are $165,000–$230,000 at a launch and satellite manufacturer in California and $166,000–$220,000 for senior RF design at a defense-tech manufacturer; principal bands are $210,000–$300,000 and $220,000–$293,000 respectively (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026).Which states pay RF engineers the most?+By OEWS May 2025 median for 17-2072, California leads at $160,520, followed by New Jersey $158,730, the District of Columbia $157,040, Maryland $155,650, and Massachusetts $138,230. Among the reindustrialization states, Texas is $132,220, Washington $130,270, Colorado $127,010, Arizona $118,120, and Florida $116,860. The same defense-tech employer pays the same staff radar title about 14 percent more in California than in Colorado (Greenhouse, September 15, 2026). Scope the array, then the offerHiring an RF, radar, antenna, or EW engineer for a defense-tech, satellite, or launch program? iRecruit is assembling candidate density across the RF and radar engineering ladder at reindustrialization employers ahead of demand. Tell us the frequency band, program, level, clearance requirement, and site and we’ll shortlist.Scope a search →Candidates — register with us →
