Civil Engineers salary

SOC 17-2051 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$100,840

per year, nationally

Middle half

$79,930–$129,680

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

367,840

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+5.0%

23,600 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$68,240$163,220

10th: $68,240
25th: $79,930
Median: $100,840
75th: $129,680
90th: $163,220

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where civil engineers earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	California	$122,500	110.7	55,180	1.28×
2	Alaska	$114,730	102.4	1,670	2.17×
3	Washington	$110,000	107.0	12,590	1.50×
4	Massachusetts	$106,730	105.8	9,450	1.10×
5	Louisiana	$105,380	88.2	3,780	0.82×
6	Oregon	$105,250	103.4	4,890	1.05×
7	New Jersey	$104,660	108.8	6,900	0.68×
8	Nevada	$104,310	100.0	3,560	0.97×
9	New Mexico	$103,900	92.2	1,350	0.66×
10	District of Columbia	$103,880	109.9	1,650	0.99×
11	New York	$103,760	107.9	17,500	0.76×
12	Connecticut	$103,150	103.6	4,370	1.09×
13	Nebraska	$103,150	90.1	2,360	0.97×
14	South Carolina	$101,600	93.7	7,180	1.32×
15	Minnesota	$101,480	98.6	4,710	0.68×
16	Colorado	$101,420	103.1	13,290	1.96×
17	Kentucky	$100,930	90.2	2,690	0.57×
18	North Carolina	$100,730	94.3	12,810	1.10×
19	Maryland	$100,680	105.0	5,240	0.80×
20	Delaware	$100,220	99.8	920	0.80×
21	Mississippi	$100,170	87.0	1,770	0.64×
22	Illinois	$99,760	100.0	13,910	0.96×
23	Rhode Island	$99,300	102.3	1,270	1.07×
24	Alabama	$99,010	88.8	5,370	1.07×
25	Oklahoma	$98,760	87.8	2,180	0.54×
26	New Hampshire	$98,710	104.2	1,620	1.00×
27	South Dakota	$98,700	88.6	1,440	1.33×
28	Florida	$98,570	103.4	23,750	1.01×
29	Indiana	$98,270	93.3	4,030	0.53×
30	North Dakota	$98,190	89.0	1,380	1.35×
31	Idaho	$98,030	95.5	2,630	1.30×
32	Pennsylvania	$97,850	97.6	15,870	1.11×
33	Maine	$97,820	97.0	1,240	0.82×
34	Virginia	$97,120	101.1	11,350	1.17×
35	Kansas	$96,880	90.1	2,880	0.85×
36	Texas	$96,860	97.1	34,870	1.05×
37	Utah	$96,830	98.9	5,670	1.38×
38	Iowa	$96,430	87.8	2,500	0.68×
39	Ohio	$96,220	92.8	10,560	0.80×
40	Tennessee	$95,910	91.9	5,790	0.75×
41	Vermont	$95,600	98.0	770	1.07×
42	Wisconsin	$94,600	94.1	7,410	1.07×
43	Hawaii	$94,280	110.0	2,640	1.78×
44	Montana	$93,070	94.6	1,870	1.55×
45	Missouri	$92,750	90.8	5,760	0.83×
46	Michigan	$92,100	96.2	7,760	0.74×
47	Wyoming	$90,590	92.7	990	1.48×
48	Arizona	$89,660	100.7	5,940	0.77×
49	West Virginia	$86,930	89.5	1,300	0.78×
50	Arkansas	$85,020	86.9	1,870	0.60×
51	Georgia	$84,240	96.3	9,400	0.81×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where civil engineers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for civil engineers

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$130,280	110.4	3,170	1.18×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$130,160	115.6	10,990	1.96×
3	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$130,150	106.7	5,590	2.19×
4	Mankato, MN	$128,220	91.0	50	0.39×
5	Redding, CA	$126,000	100.7	380	2.22×
6	Napa, CA	$123,440	112.6	180	1.00×
7	Walla Walla, WA	$123,030	98.5	190	3.18×
8	Vallejo, CA	$122,510	108.5	300	0.89×
9	Salinas, CA	$122,160	109.0	250	0.58×
10	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$121,370	100.1	630	2.06×
11	Yuba City, CA	$119,990	104.2	460	3.84×
12	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$119,980	108.8	610	1.28×
13	Fresno, CA	$119,720	102.2	1,250	1.11×
14	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$118,050	109.9	210	0.91×
15	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$116,990	105.1	610	0.88×
16	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$116,480	111.1	7,680	1.56×
17	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$116,210	105.6	300	1.34×
18	Salem, OR	$115,480	103.6	480	1.07×
19	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$115,120	106.4	3,510	0.87×
20	Anchorage, AK	$112,740	105.4	1,110	2.66×
21	Baton Rouge, LA	$112,430	90.8	1,140	1.18×
22	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$111,740	107.8	490	1.01×
23	Fairbanks-College, AK	$111,080	103.2	240	2.76×
24	Kingston, NY	$110,610	100.7	40	0.28×
25	Santa Fe, NM	$110,470	98.8	150	1.02×
26	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$110,210	108.6	720	2.50×
27	El Centro, CA	$109,490	95.2	120	0.75×
28	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$108,900	111.9	5,620	1.54×
29	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$108,820	110.5	790	1.03×
30	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$108,640	113.6	16,340	1.10×
31	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$108,240	92.6	1,070	1.02×
32	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$108,240	103.7	860	2.78×
33	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$107,870	106.9	560	0.59×
34	Mobile, AL	$107,810	88.1	790	1.93×
35	Bellingham, WA	$107,790	103.3	220	1.01×
36	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$107,670	108.3	7,970	1.25×
37	Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA	$107,400	85.1	130	0.64×
38	Chico, CA	$107,350	101.2	160	0.89×
39	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$107,330	112.6	15,590	0.69×
40	Jackson, MI	$107,320	91.8	80	0.60×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where civil engineers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Industrial Engineers$102,440
Mechanical Engineers$104,110
Electrical Engineers$120,630
Engineers, All Other$122,930
Electronics Engineers, Except Computer$130,220
Computer Hardware Engineers$161,740
Aerospace Engineers$134,960
Environmental Engineers$107,110