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Role hub · Civil Engineers

Civil Engineer: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.

The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.

Maid DizdarevicCareer coach · 8x LinkedIn Top Voice
Updated Oct 24, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
Pay ladder · select a percentile
Median percentile pay

Half of civil engineers earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$100,840
Hourly
$48.48
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Civil Engineers perform engineering duties in planning, designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance of building structures and facilities, such as roads, railroads, airports, bridges, harbors, channels, dams, irrigation projects, pipelines, power plants, and water and sewage systems. The median pay is $100,840 a year ($48.48 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a bachelor's degree (86% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$100,840
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
367,840
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 4 of 5
considerable preparation
Most common education
Bachelor's Degree
86% of workers
Explore the role

Every page for Civil Engineers

SalaryCivil Engineer salary

Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.

Open →How to becomeCivil Engineer how to become

Education, training and the skills to build first.

Open →ResumeCivil Engineer resume

Keywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.

Open →Career changeCivil Engineer career change

Where these skills transfer, with skill match and pay change.

Open →Free toolCheck your resume

Parsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.

Open →
The work

What civil engineers do day to day

Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).

  1. Direct engineering activities, ensuring compliance with environmental, safety, or other governmental regulations.
  2. Manage and direct the construction, operations, or maintenance activities at project site.
  3. Inspect project sites to monitor progress and ensure conformance to design specifications and safety or sanitation standards.
  4. Compute load and grade requirements, water flow rates, or material stress factors to determine design specifications.
  5. Plan and design transportation or hydraulic systems or structures, using computer-assisted design or drawing tools.
  6. Provide technical advice to industrial or managerial personnel regarding design, construction, program modifications, or structural repairs.
  7. Analyze survey reports, maps, drawings, blueprints, aerial photography, or other topographical or geologic data.
  8. Direct or participate in surveying to lay out installations or establish reference points, grades, or elevations to guide construction.
Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.

Active ListeningcoreComplex Problem SolvingcoreReading ComprehensioncoreSpeakingMathematicsCritical ThinkingSystems AnalysisTime ManagementScience

Knowledge areas: Design, Engineering and Technology, Building and Construction, Mathematics, English Language, Physics.

Tools and technology

Software civil engineers use

Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.

  • Autodesk AutoCADComputer aided design CAD softwareIn demand
  • Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3DComputer aided design CAD softwareIn demand
  • Autodesk RevitComputer aided design CAD softwareIn demand
  • Bentley MicroStationComputer aided design CAD softwareIn demand
  • Apache Subversion SVNFile versioning softwareHot technology
  • Dassault Systemes SolidWorksComputer aided design CAD softwareHot technology
  • ESRI ArcGIS softwareGeographic information systemHot technology
  • Extensible markup language XMLEnterprise application integration softwareHot technology
  • Procore softwareAnalytical or scientific softwareHot technology
  • The MathWorks MATLABAnalytical or scientific softwareHot technology
  • Trimble SketchUp ProGraphics or photo imaging softwareHot technology
  • Autodesk Land DesktopComputer aided design CAD software

Also called: City Engineer, County Engineer, Design Engineer, Engineer, Geotechnical Engineer.

Method

How this page is built

Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the correlation between the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level, subtract the average across all occupations, and correlate the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 or below means unrelated. Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.

What this page can't tell you
  • How a specific employer defines the job.
  • Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
Sources
  1. O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).