Talent Maps / Houston / Industrial and Manufacturing Engineers

Houston Industrial and Manufacturing Engineer Talent Map (2026)

What industrial, manufacturing and chemical engineers earn in Houston, which plants employ them, where they work and the new factories and petrochemical projects competing for them.

Hiring manufacturing engineers in Houston?

A talent map shows where a group of professionals works, what they are paid and who else is trying to hire them. This one covers industrial, manufacturing and chemical engineers in the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro area, home to about 15% of US oil refining capacity and a dense cluster of chemical plants. Pay figures come from the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey (May 2025), and the demand picture uses company, BLS and port data published in 2025 and 2026. Our engineering recruiters update it as new data comes out. See also our Houston mechanical and controls talent maps.

$111,690Median industrial engineer pay in HoustonBLS, May 2025

$138,120Median chemical engineer pay in HoustonBLS, May 2025

240,400Manufacturing jobs in metro HoustonBLS, August 2026 (preliminary)

15.3%Share of US oil refining capacity in the Houston regionGreater Houston Partnership

$6.5BEli Lilly’s new manufacturing plant at Generation ParkGreater Houston Partnership, 2025

#1Port Houston’s US rank in foreign waterborne tonnagePort Houston

Industrial engineer salaries in Houston

The median industrial engineer in metro Houston earns $111,690 a year, about $7,100 more than the Texas median of $104,560 and $9,250 more than the national median of $102,440. The top quarter is especially well paid: Houston’s 75th percentile, $151,370, is about $22,000 above the national figure.

Annual pay percentile	Houston metro	Texas	United States
10th percentile	$73,840	$67,490	$74,370
25th percentile	$92,700	$86,410	$83,600
Median	$111,690	$104,560	$102,440
75th percentile	$151,370	$133,490	$129,250
90th percentile	$174,320	$168,670	$159,860

Industrial Engineers (SOC 17-2112), which includes most manufacturing engineers. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, May 2025, via O*NET OnLine.

Related roles in Houston: chemical engineers earn a median of $138,120, with the top 10% at $217,260 or more, and industrial production managers earn $133,870. Read our guide on how to hire a manufacturing engineer.

Where Houston’s industrial and manufacturing engineers work

Refining and petrochemicals

ExxonMobil’s Baytown complex covers 3,400 acres, employs about 1,900 people plus about 4,800 contractors and makes more than 8 billion pounds of petrochemicals a year. Chevron Phillips Chemical is based in The Woodlands. LyondellBasell began decommissioning its Houston refinery in 2025.

See our Houston refineries map.

Pharmaceuticals and life sciences

Eli Lilly is building a $6.5 billion, roughly 1 million square foot manufacturing plant on 236 acres at Generation Park in northeast Houston, with more than 600 jobs.

Electronics and AI servers

Apple’s Houston factory builds AI servers, and Apple opened a 20,000 square foot Advanced Manufacturing Center there in August 2026. Foxconn runs five campuses and 11 facilities in Houston, mainly building data servers.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is headquartered in Spring.

HVAC, equipment and logistics

Daikin’s Waller campus makes Goodman, Amana and Daikin HVAC equipment and held a hiring event for about 400 production roles in June 2026. Oilfield equipment makers such as NOV and Baker Hughes run Houston plants.

Port Houston handled a record 4.3 million container units at its public terminals in 2025.

Where the talent sits: Houston submarkets

Ship Channel, Pasadena and Baytown

RefiningChemicals

ExxonMobil Baytown and the refineries and chemical plants of east Harris County.

Northeast Houston

Pharmaceuticals

Eli Lilly’s new plant at Generation Park.

Waller and northwest Houston

HVACManufacturing

Daikin’s HVAC manufacturing campus in Waller County, the second fastest-growing county in the US by percentage.

The Woodlands and Spring

ChemicalsHeadquarters

Chevron Phillips Chemical, HPE and ExxonMobil’s campus.

Brazoria County

ChemicalsLNG

The chemical plants and LNG facilities around Freeport, inside the Houston metro.

What’s driving demand for industrial engineers in Houston

Pharmaceuticals. Eli Lilly’s $6.5 billion Generation Park plant will need process, quality and validation engineers.
AI hardware. Apple and Foxconn are building servers in Houston, and Mac mini production starts at Apple’s plant in 2026.
Petrochemicals. Gulf Coast projects such as the $8.5 billion Golden Triangle Polymers plant in Orange, due in 2027, keep demand high for process and reliability engineers.
A steady base. Houston’s manufacturing employment was roughly flat in August 2026, down 0.2% from a year earlier, while the metro’s unemployment rate was 5.0%.

The talent pipeline

University of Houston. UH offers ABET-accredited industrial, chemical, mechanical and petroleum engineering degrees.
Rice University. Rice’s chemical and mechanical engineering degrees are ABET accredited.
San Jacinto College. Its Center for Petrochemical, Energy and Technology, more than 151,000 square feet, calls itself the largest petrochemical training facility in the Gulf Coast region. Its process technology associate degree trains plant operators.
Growth. Texas is projected to grow from 28,510 industrial engineers in 2024 to 34,290 in 2034, a 20% increase, with about 2,390 openings a year.

What this means if you’re hiring

Houston’s top quarter pays well above national rates. Senior industrial and process engineers expect $150,000 or more.
Plant experience is the scarce skill. Engineers who know process safety, turnarounds and reliability are in demand across refining, chemicals and pharma.
New sectors are opening up. Pharma and electronics plants want lean, quality and validation engineers, and some will come from petrochemicals.
Recruit near the plant. Baytown, Waller and northeast Houston are far apart, and commutes decide many offers.

Need manufacturing engineers in Houston?

Apollo Technical has recruited engineers since 2010. Our recruiting teams place industrial, manufacturing, process and quality engineers on a contract, contract-to-hire and direct hire basis.

Call 832.519.1704 or see our Houston engineering recruiters page.

Hire manufacturing engineers

Frequently asked questions

How much do industrial engineers make in Houston?

The median industrial engineer salary in metro Houston is $111,690 a year, according to May 2025 BLS data. The middle half earn between $92,700 and $151,370, and the top 10% earn $174,320 or more.

How many manufacturing jobs are there in Houston?

Metro Houston had about 240,400 manufacturing jobs in August 2026, according to preliminary BLS data.

Which new plants are hiring in Houston?

The largest include Eli Lilly at Generation Park, Apple’s AI server factory and Foxconn’s server facilities, alongside the established refineries and chemical plants.

Sources (13)