Transportation 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.
BLS does not publish pay for transportation engineers separately. Every pay figure on this page is for the BLS occupation “Civil Engineers” (SOC 17-2051), which includes transportation engineers and other jobs; it is not a figure for transportation engineers alone.
10% of workers in the BLS occupation “Civil Engineers” earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $68,240
- Hourly
- $32.81
- Source
- BLS May 2025
25% of workers in the BLS occupation “Civil Engineers” earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $79,930
- Hourly
- $38.43
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Half of workers in the BLS occupation “Civil Engineers” earn more than this and half earn less.
- Annual
- $100,840
- Hourly
- $48.48
- Source
- BLS May 2025
75% of workers in the BLS occupation “Civil Engineers” earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $129,680
- Hourly
- $62.34
- Source
- BLS May 2025
90% of workers in the BLS occupation “Civil Engineers” earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $163,220
- Hourly
- $78.47
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Transportation Engineers develop plans for surface transportation projects, according to established engineering standards and state or federal construction policy. 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 (77% 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
- 77% of workers
Transportation Engineers at a glance
Workers in the BLS occupation “Civil Engineers” (which includes transportation engineers) in the United States earned a median annual wage of $100,840 in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025
In its 2025–35 employment projections, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education for transportation engineers in the United States.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
BLS projects employment of transportation engineers in the United States to grow 6.4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 22,700 openings a year on average, including replacement openings.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
BLS estimated that 367,840 people were employed as transportation engineers in the United States in May 2025, not counting the self-employed.
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025
Every page for Transportation Engineers
What transportation engineers do day to day
Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).
- Design or prepare plans for new transportation systems or parts of systems, such as airports, commuter trains, highways, streets, bridges, drainage structures, or roadway lighting.
- Check construction plans, design calculations, or cost estimations to ensure completeness, accuracy, or conformity to engineering standards or practices.
- Prepare administrative, technical, or statistical reports on traffic-operation matters, such as accidents, safety measures, or pedestrian volume or practices.
- Plan alteration or modification of existing transportation structures to improve safety or function.
- Confer with contractors, utility companies, or government agencies to discuss plans, specifications, or work schedules.
- Present data, maps, or other information at construction-related public hearings or meetings.
- Prepare final project layout drawings that include details such as stress calculations.
- Investigate traffic problems and recommend methods to improve traffic flow or safety.
What the job requires
Data BLS figures for civil engineers (SOC 17-2051), 2025 preliminary BLS Occupational Requirements Survey. This TryHired page covers a specialty within that occupation; the figures describe the whole occupation.
- Workday sitting
- 76.6%
- mean share of the day required to sit
- Can pause work
- more than 99.5%
- of workers could take short, unscheduled breaks
- Self-paced workload
- 46.0%
- of workers set their own workload
- Employer-changed schedules
- 25.0%
- of workers had schedules changed by the employer week to week
On TryHired lists: Desk jobs.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey. Estimates are preliminary; ranges are shown as published.
Industries that employ it
Data Share of all transportation engineer jobs in each industry, 2025 (BLS Employment Matrix). Figures cover all civil engineers (SOC 17-2051), the broader occupation.
- Professional, scientific, and technical services54.9% of all jobs in this occupation · +7.2% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $109,940
- Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals23.5% of all jobs in this occupation · +6.4% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $112,410
- Construction of buildings8.0% of all jobs in this occupation · +5.4% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $91,090
- Heavy and civil engineering construction3.1% of all jobs in this occupation · +4.2% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $98,580
- Specialty trade contractors1.8% of all jobs in this occupation · +5.2% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $97,550
- Administrative and support services0.9% of all jobs in this occupation · -0.3% projected change here 2025–35
Sources: BLS 2025–35 National Employment Matrix (share of the occupation's jobs, projected change) and BLS OEWS May 2025 industry estimates (mean wage). Different industry estimates are not a pay forecast for any person.
Ranked by importance to the job
Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.
Knowledge areas: Engineering and Technology, Design, Transportation, Building and Construction, Mathematics, English Language.
Software transportation 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
- Bentley MicroStationComputer aided design CAD softwareIn demand
- Cubic Synchro StudioAnalytical or scientific softwareIn demand
- OpenRoads DesignerComputer aided design CAD softwareIn demand
- PTV VissimAnalytical or scientific softwareIn demand
- ESRI ArcGIS softwareGeographic information systemHot technology
- Autodesk Land DesktopComputer aided design CAD software
- Bentley GEOPAK Civil Engineering SuiteComputer aided design CAD software
- Bentley InRoads SuiteComputer aided design CAD software
- Citilabs CubeAnalytical or scientific software
- Computer aided design and drafting software CADDComputer aided design CAD software
Also called: Engineer, Project Engineer, Rail Engineer, Roadway Designer, Roadway Engineer, State Roadway Design Engineer.
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 cosine similarity of the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level and subtract the average across all occupations, then compare the direction of the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 means unrelated or opposite (negative values are shown as 0). Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.
- How a specific employer defines the job.
- Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
- Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
- 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.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).
How TryHired builds this data: sources, methods and downloads. Spotted an error? Report a correction.