Human Factors Engineers and Ergonomists
Science, Technology, Engineering and MathematicsO*NET 17-2112.01United States
Design objects, facilities, and environments to optimize human well-being and overall system performance, applying theory, principles, and data regarding the relationship between humans and respective technology. Investigate and analyze characteristics of human behavior and performance as it relates to the use of technology.
- Median annual earnings
- $102,272
- Projected change
- +12.9%
- Typical education
- Bachelor's degree
- Employment
- 366.86K jobs
50th percentile, United States
2025 to 2035
50% of the workforce
Growing to 414.23K by 2035
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The work
What human factors engineers and ergonomists do
Tasks reported for this occupation, ordered by how often they come up in the role.
- Collect data through direct observation of work activities or witnessing the conduct of tests.
- Conduct interviews or surveys of users or customers to collect information on topics, such as requirements, needs, fatigue, ergonomics, or interfaces.
- Advocate for end users in collaboration with other professionals, including engineers, designers, managers, or customers.
- Inspect work sites to identify physical hazards.
- Prepare reports or presentations summarizing results or conclusions of human factors engineering or ergonomics activities, such as testing, investigation, or validation.
- Recommend workplace changes to improve health and safety, using knowledge of potentially harmful factors, such as heavy loads or repetitive motions.
- Perform functional, task, or anthropometric analysis, using tools, such as checklists, surveys, videotaping, or force measurement.
- Provide technical support to clients through activities, such as rearranging workplace fixtures to reduce physical hazards or discomfort or modifying task sequences to reduce cycle time.
- Assess the user-interface or usability characteristics of products.
- Integrate human factors requirements into operational hardware.
- Establish system operating or training requirements to ensure optimized human-machine interfaces.
- Design or evaluate human work systems, using human factors engineering and ergonomic principles to optimize usability, cost, quality, safety, or performance.
- Write, review, or comment on documents, such as proposals, test plans, or procedures.
- Review health, safety, accident, or worker compensation records to evaluate safety program effectiveness or to identify jobs with high incidence of injury.
- Train users in task techniques or ergonomic principles.
- Conduct research to evaluate potential solutions related to changes in equipment design, procedures, manpower, personnel, or training.
- Provide human factors technical expertise on topics, such as advanced user-interface technology development or the role of human users in automated or autonomous sub-systems in advanced vehicle systems.
- Develop or implement human performance research, investigation, or analysis protocols.
- Develop or implement research methodologies or statistical analysis plans to test and evaluate developmental prototypes used in new products or processes, such as cockpit designs, user workstations, or computerized human models.
- Estimate time or resource requirements for ergonomic or human factors research or development projects.
- Design cognitive aids, such as procedural storyboards or decision support systems.
- Analyze complex systems to determine potential for further development, production, interoperability, compatibility, or usefulness in a particular area, such as aviation.
- Investigate theoretical or conceptual issues, such as the human design considerations of lunar landers or habitats.
- Operate testing equipment, such as heat stress meters, octave band analyzers, motion analysis equipment, inclinometers, light meters, thermoanemometers, sling psychrometers, or colorimetric detection tubes.
- Perform statistical analyses, such as social network pattern analysis, network modeling, discrete event simulation, agent-based modeling, statistical natural language processing, computational sociology, mathematical optimization, or systems dynamics.
- Apply modeling or quantitative analysis to forecast events, such as human decisions or behaviors, the structure or processes of organizations, or the attitudes or actions of human groups.
Pay and outlook
What the job pays and where it is heading
Annual earnings range
Reported earnings by percentile, United States
- 10th percentile
- $74,054
- 25th percentile
- $83,336
- 50th percentile
- $102,272
- 75th percentile
- $129,454
- 90th percentile
- $160,763
The gold marker shows the median. Half earn more than $102,272 and half earn less.
Employment outlook
2025 to 2035 projection
+12.9%faster than average
2025366,862 jobs
2035 projected414,227 jobs
47,365 more positions over the decade, before replacement hiring.
Preparation
Education levels
What people currently working in the career hold. These are not entry requirements.
- Bachelor's degree
- 50%
- Master's or Professional degree
- 50%
Skills
Skills employers ask for
Technical skills appearing most often in job postings for this occupation.
How the work gets done
Core competencies
Broad capabilities associated with strong performance in this occupation.
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Technology Design
- Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
In the market
Job titles and employers
Recent job postings in United StatesCommon job titles
- 01Human Factors Engineers319 postings
- 02Injury Prevention Specialists273 postings
- 03Ergonomists79 postings
- 04Summer Interns79 postings
- 05Ergonomic Specialists54 postings
- 06Lead Designers53 postings
- 07Human Factors Managers46 postings
- 08Human Factors Researchers43 postings
- 09Human Factors Specialists37 postings
- 10Ergonomics Engineers34 postings
- 11Human Factors Design Engineers26 postings
- 12Usability Engineers24 postings
- 13Human Factors Scientists21 postings
- 14Human Factors Consultants19 postings
- 15Human Factors Engineering Managers16 postings
- 16Principal Engineers15 postings
- 17Sports Medicine Assistants13 postings
- 18Ergonomics Consultants11 postings
- 19Engineering Interns10 postings
- 20Engineering Fellows9 postings
Top employers
- 01Amazon88 postings
- 02HNTB65 postings
- 03Northrop Grumman56 postings
- 04GovCIO53 postings
- 05Workcare41 postings
- 06Dörn Gmbh31 postings
- 07Premise Health29 postings
- 08Apple25 postings
- 09Select Medical23 postings
- 10General Motors22 postings
- 11Novacare Rehabilitation20 postings
- 12RTX17 postings
- 13Noblis16 postings
- 14Select Physical Therapy15 postings
- 15Willow Laboratories15 postings
- 16Exponent13 postings
- 17Johnson & Johnson12 postings
- 18US Physical Therapy12 postings
- 19Boston Scientific11 postings
- 20Actalent10 postings
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