Civil Engineer

Also known as: Structural Engineer, Geotechnical Engineer, Transportation Engineer

Science & ResearchBachelor's DegreeModerate Growth

Design and supervise construction of roads, bridges, dams, and the infrastructure that keeps society running.

Salary Range

Entry Level

$66K

Starting salary

→

Top Level

$245K

Top salary

SVP Civil Engineering

The highest-paid specialization or seniority level for civil engineers.

About 1 in 667 reaches this level

Of ~380,600 civil engineers (BLS Employment Projections, SOC 17-2051, 2025), SVP at $245K means the top engineering firms; likely around 550 hold SVP titles at that pay — about 0.15% of the field.

Salary data based on 2025 BLS, Glassdoor, and industry reports. Actual compensation varies by location, experience, and employer.

How to Become One

This career typically requires a bachelor's degree. Here are the top colleges for it:

UC BerkeleyCivil Engineering

UT AustinCivil Engineering

CornellCivil Engineering

UCLACivil Engineering

MITCivil Engineering

Explore all colleges →

Cost to Qualify

Bachelor's degree (4 years)

4 years after school

$56,454

Tuition and required fees. Living costs are not included

Four years of tuition and required fees runs about $56K at a typical public college in our list (in-state) and about $288K at a typical private one. Both are pricier than the US national averages (about $48K public in-state, $180K private nonprofit, College Board 2025-26) because our 161-college dataset only includes nationally-ranked schools, not every US college. This excludes room and board, which we show separately on each college's page.

↗College Board, Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid 2025 (PDF) - 2025-26 average published tuition and fees: public four-year in-state $11,950, private nonprofit four-year $45,000 (the national averages our note quotes as about $48K and $180K over four years)

Sticker price, not what most people pay — scholarships, aid and in-state status all move it. Room and board is shown separately on each college's page.

AI Risk Assessment

Moderate Risk (Level 3/5)How we score ›

AI is starting to take on parts of a civil engineer's desk work. Design software can now generate and compare thousands of possible structural layouts, and AI can help engineers account for building codes as they design. STRUCTURE magazine (August 2025) notes that these design tools are still mostly used in early design and by only a few firms, but that they are spreading.

Demand for the work is strong. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects civil engineering jobs to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, faster than the 3% average, with about 22,700 openings a year as the country repairs bridges, roads and water systems. In a February 2025 study of how AI affects its projections, BLS said engineers must still review and approve any work done with these tools, and that strong demand for civil engineering is expected to offset the time AI saves. The job also has parts AI cannot take over: a state license (the PE) is needed to sign off on designs for the public, and much of the work happens on construction sites.

We keep this at 3 (Moderate) because of the entry level. The calculations, models and drawings that AI tools are starting to speed up are the work new graduates learn on. A December 2024 article in the American Society of Civil Engineers' magazine predicted that the number of 'junior engineers' will likely decline in favor of engineers who can manage AI tools. That is a forecast, not a measured drop in hiring, so the evidence on its own reads between 2 and 3.

What would change the score: if graduate hiring holds steady as these tools spread, this should drop to 2. If firms start hiring fewer junior engineers per project, or BLS lowers its projection because of AI, it goes up.