Where to find reliable salary averages for Engineers?

[Saladsamurai]

So it's time to get out there and get a job. All throughout school they feed you a line about how much you should be making, but it's time to get real now. I am looking for good resources on where I can learn what I should expect to be making with my qualifications, experience, and in my location. I have found some websites, but there is quite a bit of variation in the numbers. That probably has a lot to do with the fact that I am looking at Mechanical Engineering salaries and ME is a very diverse field. In particular, I am looking for salaries for Thermo Fluids Engineers (in Massachsetts, USA) with an M.S. in their field.

Does anyone have any good resources for this? I would like to be well-armed for negotiation.

 

[Saladsamurai]

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics is somewhat helpful, however, they do not make any distinction between 'entry-level' and 'all the rest' (probably due to imprecise definitions). So when you take the median of (all entry level) + (all non entry level) you need to know something about the proportion of those categories in order to make any assumptions as to who is being paid what...

 

[gravenewworld]

Many people in HR departments use payscale.com.