Materials engineers job market in Rhode Island
Industry trends, wages and hiring signals.
The headline
Industry employment fell while average weekly industry wages rose
A data-driven view of the industries that employ Materials engineers in Rhode Island.
Occupation pay
What Materials engineers earn in Rhode Island
BLS OEWS occupation-level pay estimates for this role — separate from the industry wage trends used elsewhere in this report.
Median annual wage
$87,180Rhode Island- Middle 50% of published wages
- $80,660 – $113,060
- U.S. median annual wage
- $112,860
- Reference period
- May 2025
The middle 50% is the 25th-to-75th percentile wage range, not an experience-level band. Suppressed or unavailable BLS values remain unpublished rather than being estimated.
Pay around Rhode Island
How median pay varies by metro area
Published BLS OEWS metro estimates for Materials engineers, compared with the Rhode Island median of $87,180.
Providence-Warwick, RI-MA$101,670+16.6% vs. state
Areas are ordered by published median wage for readability, not as an overall job-market ranking. The vertical marker is the Rhode Island median. Some BLS metropolitan areas cross state lines, so a metro estimate can cover workers in more than one state.
Verified snapshot
Market at a Glance
Key changes in Rhode Island’s weighted industry mix.
Percentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Published coverage: 14,855 represented establishments, 83.77% of the published industry mix.
Local research
What the data shows for materials engineers in Rhode Island
Findings describe the published observation periods shown below. Research published Oct 11, 2026.
This occupation is less concentrated in the state
OEWS May 2025 places Rhode Island's share of employment in materials engineers at 0.66 times the corresponding national share. The published location quotient expresses that comparison. The state estimate is 50 jobs, 0.2% of the national employment estimate for this occupation. It represents 0.10 jobs per thousand jobs in the state's OEWS employment universe. Employment concentration does not establish future growth; it describes employment share, not current hiring.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSOEWS employment estimates describe covered wage-and-salary jobs and exclude self-employed workers; location quotients do not measure vacancies or worker demand.
Published median pay is below the U.S. median
Rhode Island's published median annual wage for materials engineers is 22.8% below the national median in OEWS May 2025. The state estimate is $87,180, compared with $112,860 across the U.S. These medians are not adjusted for living costs and do not describe every worker.
OEWS May 2025 · BLS OEWSIndustry groups are pulling in opposite directions
A single industry employment figure combines an increase and a decrease in Rhode Island in January to March 2026. Among the leading industry groups for this occupation, Private education and health services changed +0.7% year over year and Federal changed -8.8%. The groups examined cover 95.6% of the occupation's national industry mix.
January to March 2026 · BLS QCEWIndustry measures describe the industries associated with this occupation. They are not direct occupation employment, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. Findings describe published data and do not establish causes. Methodology
Employment trends
Rhode Island industry employment over time
Year-over-year change in the weighted industries. The U.S. line is the latest-quarter benchmark because a comparable national quarterly history is not published here.
- Rhode Island · 2026 Q1-1.1%
- U.S. · latest-quarter benchmark-1.3%
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View every published value
| Quarter | Rhode Island | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 Q2 | -0.7% | 100% |
| 2024 Q3 | 0.0% | 98.25% |
| 2024 Q4 | -0.7% | 98.25% |
| 2025 Q1 | -0.8% | 97.81% |
| 2025 Q2 | -1.1% | 97.81% |
| 2025 Q3 | -1.5% | 97.81% |
| 2025 Q4 | -1.3% | 97.81% |
| 2026 Q1 | -1.1% | 97.81% |
How to read this chart
State trend and national reference
The solid line follows Rhode Island’s published year-over-year industry employment changes by quarter. The dashed U.S. line is a latest-quarter reference, not a second time series.
- Published quarters
- 8
- Earliest quarter
- 2024 Q2
- Latest quarter
- 2026 Q1
- U.S. benchmark
- -1.3%
Quarters with no published value are omitted rather than interpolated.
Industry context
Where Materials engineers Work
The occupation mix determines which Rhode Island industries are weighted into this view.
| Industry group | Occupation mix | Employment change | Establishments | Avg. weekly industry wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing | 49.8% | -0.4% | 1,335 | $1,543 |
| Professional and business services | 33.6% | -1.0% | 13,520 | $2,159 |
| Federal | 6.1% | -8.8% | 201 | $2,368 |
| Trade, transportation, and utilities | 3.5% | -0.6% | 8,291 | $1,185 |
| Private education and health services | 2.6% | +0.7% | 7,083 | $1,253 |
| Mining and logging | 1.8% | Not published | Not published | Not published |
Which industries are growing?
One weighted industry is growing
Only weighted industries with a published positive Rhode Island employment change are listed.
- Private education and health services+0.7%
The remaining weighted industries published a flat or negative change in January to March 2026.
Current Rhode Island context
Current Rhode Island Market Signals
Statewide indicators for all occupations in Rhode Island. They are not Materials engineers demand and are not part of the Job Market Health score.
Statewide job postings
Indeed job postings · Rhode Island
Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score
Total postings index (seasonally adjusted) by observation date · baseline 100
The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.
View values: Indeed postings index
| Observation date | Index (Feb 2020 = 100) |
|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | 106.38 |
| Jul 31, 2026 | 106.30 |
| Aug 7, 2026 | 108.66 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | 107.78 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | 107.55 |
| Aug 28, 2026 | 109.70 |
| Sep 4, 2026 | 108.87 |
| Sep 11, 2026 | 108.85 |
| Sep 18, 2026 | 110.60 |
| Sep 25, 2026 | 110.29 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | 110.23 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | 111.08 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | 110.40 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | 110.75 |
This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.
Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.
Career context
Related occupations
Related roles from the occupation’s published O*NET profile.
Questions answered by this release
Materials engineers in Rhode Island FAQs
Each answer is limited to what QCEW 2026 Q1 actually publishes for this state.
Is employment growing for Materials engineers in Rhode Island?
The available QCEW measure is not direct occupation employment. Employment across the Rhode Island industries weighted to Materials engineers changed -1.1% year over year in January to March 2026, compared with -1.3% nationwide.
Are wages for Materials engineers rising in Rhode Island?
QCEW does not publish pay for Materials engineers in this view. Average weekly wages across the weighted industries changed +7.4% year over year; that must not be read as an occupation salary change.
How complete is this Rhode Island industry view?
The three core state trends each meet the site’s coverage floor; the minimum published coverage is 97.81% of the occupation’s industry mix.
Does this page show current Materials engineers openings?
No. QCEW measures industry employment, establishments and wages. Any postings, news or WARN figures shown here are statewide context and are not occupation-specific openings.
Methodology & sourcesQCEW 2026 Q1 · coverage 97.81% · full evidence record
Methodology & Sources
Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.
- Occupation
- Materials engineers
- SOC code
- 17-2131
- State
- Rhode Island
- QCEW release label
- QCEW 2026 Q1
- Data period
- 2026 Q1
- State industry employment, year over year
- -1.1%State data coverage 97.81%
- U.S. benchmark, year over year
- -1.3%
- Difference from U.S. benchmark
- +0.2 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
- Establishments, year over year
- -4.6%State data coverage 97.81%
- Average weekly industry wage, year over year
- +7.4%State data coverage 97.81%
- Industry mix vintage
- EP-2025-2035
- BLS publication date
- Aug 28, 2026
- Source verification
- Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
- Canonical record URL
- https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/materials-engineers/rhode-island#evidence-record
- Derived by
- JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix
MethodologyBLS QCEWHow to citeQCEW state context release, 2026 Q1
Weighted industry conditions are not direct occupation employment, occupation wages, current openings or a state-level Job Market Health score. No causal explanation is inferred.