According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, mechanical engineers held about 220,750 jobs in 2005, and mechanical engineering technicians held an additional 46,580. More than half of those jobs were in manufacturing - mostly in machinery, transportation equipment such as automobiles and airplanes, computer and electronic products, and fabricated metal products. Most of the remaining jobs were with engineering consulting firms or the federal government. Many mechanical engineers are self-employed. Nationally, mechanical engineering has the second-highest number of employees, with civil engineering employing 229,700.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in May 2005 the average salary of a Mechanical Engineer was $70,000 and the average salary of a Mechanical Engineering Technician was $46,520.

About 20% of students who earn a degree in mechanical engineering go on to get non-engineering jobs in fields such as law and business management, natural resources, pharmaceuticals and the computer industry.

In an increasingly multidisciplinary world, the range of work settings for mechanical engineers is vastly expanding, although a large number of engineers still practice within a certain number of environments, including the following.