How Much Do Pilots and Flight Engineers Make in 2021 (including Starting Salary)

Stan T.Career, SalaryLeave a Comment

Annual Salary, Salary Range, and Highest Paying States and Industries

Airline Pilots

Airline Pilots pilot and navigate the flight of fixed-wing aircraft, usually on scheduled air carrier routes, for the transport of passengers and cargo. Requires Federal Air Transport certificate and rating for specific aircraft type used. Includes regional, national, and international airline pilots and flight instructors of airline pilots.

Salary
$186870
Becoming One
Hard
Education
Bachelor's degree
Job Satisfaction
Job Growth

Personality
Interest Match



Table of contents
  1. Average salary
  2. Starting salary
  3. Salary rank
  4. Salary range
  5. Highest paying states
  6. Highest paying industries

Average salary

Annual salary
$186870 per year

Starting salary

Entry-level annual salary
$80,920 to $106,530 per year

Entry-level Airline Pilots, Copilots and Flight Engineers with little to no experience can expect to make anywhere between $80,920 to $106,530 per year. Similar to any other job, their salary will increase as they gain experience.

Salary rank

Salary rank
A

We wanted to make it easy for our readers to compare the salary of Airline Pilots, Copilots and Flight Engineers to all the other careers out there. So we created Salary Rank. We compared the salary of all careers then we gave them a rank of A, B, C, or D depending on where their average salary sit in comparison to other careers.

Salary range

Level Hourly Annual
Highest (Top 10%) $* $208,000+
Senior (Top 25%) $* $208,000+
Middle (Mid 50%) $* $160,970
Junior (Bottom 25%) $* $106,530
No experience (Bottom 10%) $* $80,920

Highest paying states

State Hourly Annual
MI $* $248,770
NV $* $236,260
FL $* $229,730
CA $* $229,110
WA $* $221,570
IL $* $200,840
CO $* $200,040
TX $* $194,100
AK $* $180,100
NY $* $177,680

* Airline Pilots, Copilots and Flight Engineers are generally paid on an annual basis not hourly.

Another simple way to increase your salary as an Airline Pilot, Copilot and Flight Engineer is to move to a higher paying state. However moving to a higher paying state like MI doesn’t guarantee that you will make more because the expenses at MI might be much higher than where you are currently living at right now.

According to BLS, the highest paid Pilots and Flight Engineers are in the states of MI, NV, FL, CA and WA.

Highest paying industries

Salary by industry Annual Hourly
Scheduled Air Transportation $191340 $*
Management of Companies and Enterprises $161080 $*
Nonscheduled Air Transportation $131420 $*
Technical and Trade Schools $116830 $*
Support Activities for Air Transportation $115760 $*
Federal Executive Branch $113030 $*
Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services $101290 $*
Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools $93990 $*
Other Ambulatory Health Care Services $ $*

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