Bioengineers and Biomedical Engineers

Top scored High pay & lowrisk Lowest risk Trending
Minimal Risk
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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
8.1/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

9% (Minimal Risk)

Minimal Risk (0-20%): This occupation appears difficult to replace end-to-end with current or near-future automation, including AI software and robotics. Roles in this range usually depend on human judgement, creativity, care, leadership, specialist expertise, or adapting to messy real-world situations. AI and machines may still change parts of the work, but the occupation is likely to remain a distinct human role.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Thinking creatively

Very important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
Jobs that also use this strength

Decision-making and problem solving

Very important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
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Social perceptiveness

Quite important
Why this matters
Noticing others’ emotions and reactions in the moment and adjusting what you say or do based on why they’re responding that way.
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Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
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Communicating with people outside the organization

Quite important
Why this matters
Represents the organization to customers, the public, or government—handling questions, concerns, and relationship-building through conversations, writing, calls, or email.
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Show 4 more strengths

Developing objectives and strategies

Quite important
Why this matters
Sets long-term goals and chooses strategies and actions to reach them, weighing tradeoffs and adapting plans as conditions change.
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Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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Operations analysis

Quite important
Why this matters
Figure out what people need and what a product must do, then translate those requirements into a workable design.
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Education and training expertise

Quite important
Why this matters
Designing and delivering instruction—adapting lessons to different learners and measuring whether training actually works.
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What users think

Based on 546 votes

19.2% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a minimal chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 9% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Bioengineers and Biomedical Engineers will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

Based on user votes over time

View sentiment trend

How opinions have changed over time

Pay & outlook

Wages

Very high paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Bioengineers and Biomedical Engineers was $106,950 ($51 per hour).

The median annual wage for Bioengineers and Biomedical Engineers was 116.1% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Bioengineers and Biomedical Engineers' job openings is expected to rise 5.2% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 21,860 people employed as 'Bioengineers and Biomedical Engineers' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 7 thousand people are employed as 'Bioengineers and Biomedical Engineers'.

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What people are saying (11)

Leave a comment
Jax (No chance)
23 Jun 2022 23:52
The complexity needed for biomedical engineering is off the charts. Not a chance in hell it's getting taken over in the next 20 years
Rimizak Kittinny (Low)
03 Jul 2024 12:39
There is a very small chance on automating this job, since chatgpt could get complex enough to think of cures for diseases
Devin Howe (No chance)
15 Jul 2023 02:26
Too much creativity and originality is required
kali
10 Jul 2022 09:55
Engineers are the ones who made AI and won't let it take their jobs :P
hopefulBME (Low)
14 Dec 2021 20:21
Biomedical engineers will be the ones to improve the technology in many areas of life. As technology increases, this job will only become more prevalent and still require human insight.
Jm (No chance)
13 Mar 2021 20:47
I believe jobs that require creativity (like engineering) will be off the last to ever be replaced by robots and automatization
Amine (Low)
02 Nov 2025 20:06
Well the truth is a part of biomedical engineering gonna be automated , and the other part that's gonna be involving the help of robots in certain tasks but not fully used in it .
Martin (No chance)
21 Jul 2020 03:22
Engineering is a creative activity and in this case it combines several areas of knowledge. So in the short term I don't see it likely
Quimy
24 Nov 2021 18:52
I don't think it will be automated because it's a job that seeks to create knowledge, and for that creativity is needed in the first place. Neural networks would not advance so fast in their evolution as to develop such a level of creativity in a few years.
Valentin Ninov (Uncertain)
12 Dec 2022 11:45
AI can become able to design biomedical devices and automate the process
Pabriel (Moderate)
22 Nov 2019 18:10
I voted "likely" because I think that artificial intelligence will soon be able to engineer bio-medicines in the near future.
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Job description

Apply knowledge of engineering, biology, chemistry, computer science, and biomechanical principles to the design, development, and evaluation of biological, agricultural, and health systems and products, such as artificial organs, prostheses, instrumentation, medical information systems, and health management and care delivery systems.

O*NET-SOC code: 17-2031.00