Design the machines and implants that keep people alive, then prove they are safe.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $109,370 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $71,850 at the lower end to about $168,180 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
4 to 6 years after high school, on the usual route.
$34,000 to $260,000 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no license to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Very high demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$109,370
Bottom tenth
$71,850
Top tenth
$168,180
The national median is $109,370 a year. The bottom tenth earn $71,850 or less and the top tenth $168,180 or more, in 2025 figures. Pay also varies by state and city: O*NET OnLine (the Department of Labor's occupation database) has a local wage tool that shows the figures for your area.
$71,850 to $86,980
What the bottom tenth to bottom quarter of bioengineers and biomedical engineers earn, 2025
First engineering jobs at device and diagnostics companies usually start in this part of the range. Graduates who did co-op terms or internships during the degree usually find it easier to get hired.
$141,230 a year
The median in Arizona, the highest of any state
Idaho ($133,750) and California ($128,310) come next. Arkansas is the lowest, at $67,850. Some engineers move sideways from design into regulatory affairs or clinical trials, where the company cannot sell anything without them.
Roughly, all in
$34,000 to $260,000
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is two years at a community college on a transfer agreement, then two years at the state engineering school, plus the Fundamentals of Engineering exam at $225. The high end is four years at a private or out of state engineering school at up to $65,000 a year for the same degree and the same career. The cheap route is not a lesser qualification, it is the same diploma from the same university. File the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) every year, because Pell Grants do not have to be paid back.
Two years at a community college on a transfer agreement, then two years at the state engineering school, is the cheapest honest route to the same degree.
Health insurance and retirement matching
Standard at device companies.
Bonuses and stock
Common at large device and diagnostics companies.
Tuition help
Many employers pay for a part-time master's degree while you work.
Paid co-op terms during school
Engineering co-op placements are paid and count as experience.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A four year engineering degree, with internships doing the real hiring work.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
Calculus, physics, chemistry and biology. Any coding course you can get.
Bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering
4 years
Pick a program accredited by ABET (the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology). Some people instead take mechanical or electrical engineering with biology electives, which keeps more job doors open.
Internships or co-op terms
During the degree
Two or three paid terms at a device company or hospital. This is the step that decides whether you get hired.
Fundamentals of Engineering exam
1 day
Taken in your final year. Optional in this field, but it is the first step if you ever want a professional license.
First engineering job, or a master's degree
0 to 2 years
A master's degree is common for research, imaging and neural engineering roles, and many companies pay for it later.
Calculus
Engineering degrees start at calculus and never look back.
Physics
Mechanics and electricity underpin every device.
Biology and anatomy
What makes this branch different from other engineering.
Computer science
Most modern devices are mostly software.
Shop or robotics club
Making things with your hands shows up in design classes.
Most biomedical engineers never hold a license, because they work for companies under what is called the industrial exemption. If you do want the Professional Engineer license, the route is the same in every state: an accredited degree, the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, about four years working under a licensed engineer, then a Principles and Practice of Engineering exam in a related discipline, since there is no separate biomedical one. States license engineers individually, so the details differ from Texas to New York.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Regulatory affairs
Getting a device cleared by the Food and Drug Administration.
Quality engineering
Every device maker is legally required to have it, so the jobs never vanish.
Embedded software
Firmware for pumps, monitors and implants.
Clinical engineering in hospitals
Keeping imaging and life support equipment running. Very steady work.
Student chapter of the Biomedical Engineering Society
Many campuses have one, and it is the easiest way to meet people already working in devices.
A design competition project
A real built prototype beats a long list of coursework in an interview.
Statistics
Clinical evidence is a statistics argument.
Hospital volunteering
Seeing how equipment is actually used changes how you design it.
Biomedical engineering is a popular pre-medical degree, because it covers the biology and chemistry requirements while leaving you employable if you change your mind. It is also a hard degree to keep a high GPA in, and medical school admissions care about that number. Go in with your eyes open about the trade.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Design reviews, test rigs and paperwork. Morning might be modeling a part or debugging why a sensor drifts. Afternoon is bench testing a prototype to destruction and writing up exactly what you did, because every test in this industry has to be documented well enough for a regulator to follow. Some weeks you are in a hospital watching a surgeon use your device and taking notes on everything that annoys them.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Earl Bakken, an electrical repairman in Minneapolis, built a battery powered wearable pacemaker in 1957, after a power cut showed how dangerous plug-in units could be. His company, Medtronic, turned Minnesota into the center of the American device industry.
The usual route to market in the United States is to show the Food and Drug Administration that a new device is substantially equivalent to one already sold. Only the highest risk devices, like implanted heart valves, go through the full approval process.
O*NET OnLine (the Department of Labor's occupation database) counted about 23,800 bioengineers and biomedical engineers in 2025. It projects growth of 7 percent or more by 2035, much faster than average, with about 1,200 openings a year.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Engineers first, then the rest of the field. See every career in engineering.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in United States dollars, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data and published pay scales. They vary by state, employer and experience. Tuition is for in-state students at public schools unless the card says otherwise. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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