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Petroleum Technologist Salary in the United States

How much does a Petroleum Technologist make in the United States?

As of September 01, 2026, the average salary for a Petroleum Technologist in the United States is $164,959 per year, which breaks down to an hourly rate of $79.

However, a Petroleum Technologist's salary can vary significantly. Here’s a look at the typical salary range:

  • Top Earners (90th percentile): $211,952
  • Majority Range (25th-75th percentile): $140,389 to $189,557
  • Entry-Level (10th percentile): $118,019
Salary Factors Salary-Boosting Skills Salary by Experience Related Job Salaries Top Paying Cities Explore Related Jobs

Key Factors That Influence Petroleum Technologist Salaries

A Petroleum Technologist's salary isn't a fixed number. It's shaped by several important factors. Below, we'll explore how your years of experience, geographic location, education and company size can directly affect your earning potential.

How Experience Level Affects Petroleum Technologist Salaries?

Experience is a primary driver of a Petroleum Technologist's salary. As you build your skills and take on more complex tasks, your compensation generally increases. Here's how the average salary grows at different career stages:

  • Entry-Level (less than 1 year): $124,472
  • Early Career (1-2 years): $148,920
  • Mid-Level (2-4 years): $170,077
  • Senior-Level (5-8 years): $216,870
  • Expert (over 8 years): $259,709
Levels Salary
Petroleum... Level Petroleum Technologist$124,472
Petroleum... Level Petroleum Technologist$148,920
Petroleum... Level Petroleum Technologist$170,077
Petroleum... Level Petroleum Technologist$216,870
Petroleum... Level Petroleum Technologist$259,709
View as Graph

How Do Petroleum Technologist Salaries Vary from State to State?

Your salary can change significantly depending on where you work. States with a higher cost of living and strong industrial sectors often pay more to attract Petroleum Technologists. For example, consider the average annual salaries in these key locations:
  • District of Columbia: $182,643.
  • California: $181,950.
  • Massachusetts: $179,525.

Top Paying Cities for Petroleum Technologists

Salaries can also vary between different cities. Major metropolitan areas or cities with a high demand for technicians often offer more competitive pay. Here are a few examples of average annual salaries in different U.S. cities:

  • San Jose: $208,063
  • San Francisco: $205,785
  • Oakland: $201,448

What Skills Can Increase a Petroleum Technologist's Salary?

Demanded Skills for the Role:

  • Analysis (Mentioned in 20% Job Postings): Analysis is the process of considering something carefully or using statistical methods in order to understand it or explain it.
  • Data Analysis (Mentioned in 5.71% Job Postings): Data analysis is a process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions, and supporting decision-making. Data analysis has multiple facets and approaches, encompassing diverse techniques under a variety of names, and is used in different business, science, and social science domains. In today's business world, data analysis plays a role in making decisions more scientific and helping businesses operate more effectively. Data mining is a particular data analysis technique that focuses on modeling and knowledge discovery for predictive rather than purely descriptive purposes, while business intelligence covers data analysis that relies heavily on aggregation, focusing mainly on business information. In statistical applications, data analysis can be divided into descriptive statistics, exploratory data analysis (EDA), and confirmatory data analysis (CDA). EDA focuses on discovering new features in the data while CDA focuses on confirming or falsifying existing hypotheses. Predictive analytics focuses on application of statistical models for predictive forecasting or classification, while text analytics applies statistical, linguistic, and structural techniques to extract and classify information from textual sources, a species of unstructured data. All of the above are varieties of data analysis.
  • Oil and Gas Exploration (Mentioned in 5.71% Job Postings): Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for deposits of hydrocarbons, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth using petroleum geology.
Skills Demand Percentage
Analysis 20%
Data Analysis 5.71%
Oil and Gas Exploration 5.71%
See More Skills

What skills can make your compensation higher?

Mastering certain specialized skills can lead to a significant increase in pay. Here are examples of skills and the potential impact they can have on a Petroleum Technologist's salary.

  • Accounting: Can increase your salary by up to 14%.
  • Geology: Can increase your salary by up to 7%.
  • Written Communication: Can increase your salary by up to 7%.
Skill Salary Salary % Increase
Accounting $188,053
14%
Geology $176,506
7%
Written Communication $176,506
7%
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How Education impacts a Petroleum Technologist's Salary?

Your level of education can impact your salary potential. While many Petroleum Technologists enter the field with a Bachelor's Degree degree, higher education can lead to more specialized and higher-paying roles.

According to our 100% employer-reported salary data, the median salary for a Petroleum Technologist with a Bachelor's Degree is between $156,435 and $166,075).

Petroleum Technologist Salaries by Degree Level

Typical Education for Petroleum Technologist
Degree Level % of user with this level of education
No Diploma 100.0%
High School 0.0%
Associates 0.0%
Bachelors 0.0%
Masters 100.0%
Doctorate 0.0%
View as Graph

Petroleum Technologist Salary: Hourly Rate, Weekly Pay, and Monthly Pay

Understanding how a Petroleum Technologist's annual salary breaks down can help with budgeting. Below, you can see the average hourly rate, weekly pay, and monthly pay for this role. Use the buttons to switch between different pay periods.

Last Updated on September 01, 2026
$140,389
Average $164,959/year
$189,557
$11,699
Average $13,747/month
$15,796
$2,700
Average $3,172/week
$3,645
$67
Average $79/hour
$91
Annual Salary Monthly Pay Weekly Pay Hourly Wage
75th Percentile $189,557 $15,796 $3,645 $91
Average $164,959 $13,747 $3,172 $79
25th Percentile $140,389 $11,699 $2,700 $67

Most common benefits for Petroleum Technologist

  • Social Security
  • 401 (k)
  • Disability
  • Healthcare
  • Pension
  • Time Off (days)

Common company salaries for Petroleum Technologist

Here are companies hiring for Petroleum Technologist and their salaries, click below for more details.

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Where Does Our Salary Data Come From?

Salary.com provides salary estimates, histograms, trends, and comparisons using data from employer job postings and third-party sources.

We offer detailed salary information across multiple percentiles for your reference. (Click here to learn Why the Salary Midpoint Formula Is Crucial for Achieving Pay Equity.)

With the most extensive online, real-time compensation data available, Salary.com helps you pinpoint your exact pay target.

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