Civil Engineer

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Civil Engineer designs and supervises large construction projects such as public buildings, roads, and waterways. Designs projects that meet the needs of users and the public and are structurally sound. Addresses environmental and land use issues in project design. May specialize in a particular aspect of design and construction, or a particular type of construction, such as transportation systems.

Job Outlook

There were 2437 Civil Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 73765 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Civil Engineer industry, which includes the Civil Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:

Salary

Many new Civil Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $85,212.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $82,378.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Civil Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $71,147.

Education and Experience

Posted Civil Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education Level	Percentage
Associate's Degree	4.19%
Bachelor's Degree	72.39%
Master's Degree	21.28%
Doctoral Degree	3.6%
Other	5.14%

Posted Civil Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of Experience	Percentage
0 to 2 years	31.17%
3 to 5 years	40.42%
6 to 8 years	13.69%
9+ years	14.72%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Civil Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

Communication (35.61%)
Management (27.1%)
Planning (25.11%)
Coordinating (18.37%)
Microsoft Office (16.98%)
Writing (16.75%)
Leadership (16.45%)
Operations (14.96%)
Problem Solving (13.61%)
Research (12.4%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

Civil Engineering (60.5%)
Grading (Landscape) (16.47%)
MicroStation (CAD Design Software) (16.4%)
Project Management (42.35%)
AutoCAD Civil 3D (24.73%)
Geotechnical Engineering (12.84%)
Land Development (13.42%)
Stormwater Management (17.64%)
Structural Engineering (9.6%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

Engineering Design Process (13.45%)
Submittals (Construction) (8.96%)
Subcontracting (7.66%)
Construction (29.09%)
Project Engineering (17.23%)
Business Development (8.45%)
AutoCAD (26.96%)
Computer-Aided Design (12.15%)
Construction Management (14.76%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

Erosion Control (3.97%)
Sanitary Sewer (3.84%)
Engineering Calculations (4.64%)
Storm Drains (3.23%)
Roadway Design (5.27%)
Construction Inspection (3.4%)
Slope Stability (1.57%)
Civil Design (7.58%)
Civil Engineering Design (6.36%)
OpenRoads (Civil Design Software) (6%)
Municipal Or Urban Engineering (1.39%)
Site Planning (2.26%)
Hydrology (10.35%)
Erosions (5.42%)
Engineering Geology (1.65%)

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.

Construction Inspection (10.8%)
Roadway Design (16.71%)
Civil Engineering Design (20.17%)
Engineering Calculations (14.71%)
Municipal Or Urban Engineering (4.4%)
Stormwater Management (55.94%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Civil Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

Civil Project Engineer
Bridge Engineer
Project Engineer
Civil Engineering Intern
Lead Civil Engineer
Geotechnical Engineer
Land Development Civil Engineer
Civil Engineer-in-Training
Roadway Engineer

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Civil Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

GPAC (2734)
Actalent (1737)
AECOM (1285)
WSP Global (1209)
Kimley-Horn (966)
CDM Smith (953)
Stantec (831)
HNTB (761)
Jacobs Engineering Group (681)
Kiewit Corporation (654)

North Carolina

GPAC (126)
WSP Global (64)
State of North Carolina (56)
AECOM (54)
Timmons Group (47)
Kimley-Horn (38)
Ecs (38)
Black & Veatch (34)
CDM Smith (33)
Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson (32)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.

Engineering