Below is the ASCE's breakdown of the average starting salaries for civil engineers with B.S. degrees by types of firms. Although the ASCE does not have similar entry level data for civil engineers with masters degrees, the society estimates that starting salaries tend to be about $5,000 higher in each of the categories for engineers with advanced degrees.
Obviously you must take these numbers with a grain of salt. For instance, although the average starting salary for engineers employed by construction is the lowest of the categories, the average salaries for the most experienced engineers is higher in the construction firm category ($105,667) than in any other category. In fact, salaries for engineers of varying experience throughout the construction firm category are somewhat skewed because the ASCE does not account for incentive bonuses (extra pay for completing projects ahead of time or under budget), a mainstay of the construction industry.
Likewise, although starting salaries for engineers employed by local and state government departments and agencies average higher than those of private sector engineers, salary increases in the public sector tend to be lower than in the private sector. According to the ASCE salary survey, the most experienced engineers in the public sector make an average salary of about $82,000, compared to those in the private sector, who earn average salaries ranging from $92,000 to $105,000.
Many private engineering firms base salaries on the professional grade descriptions developed by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the National Society of Professional Engineers. These grades range from Level I, for entry level engineers with little or no experience, to Level X, for the most skilled and experienced engineers. The firms using this grade level emphasize expertise or level of responsibility rather than longevity in promoting engineers to higher grades (and higher salaries).
For instance, an engineer at grade level IX would be either in charge of programs that require a sizable number of resources or would be an individual recognized as a national or international authority in an area of engineering or scientific interest or investigation.
The ASCE's grade levels also roughly correspond to the federal government's General Schedule grade levels. Civil engineers hired by the federal government or at the state level generally start at GS level 5 or 6, with salaries in the $33,000 to $40,000 range.
Of the respondent firms in the ASCE salary survey, nearly 95 percent said they provide health insurance for employees. About 83 percent pay part or all of employees' professional dues, license fees, and costs for attending professional meetings. About 81 percent provide retirement income or deferred profit sharing.
To give you a sense of how starting salaries for civil engineers stack up against starting salaries for other engineers, scientists, and accountants, highlights of a survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers appear below.
Future Outlook
Your decision to become a civil engineer should be driven primarily by your interest in the profession, and your belief that you have the personal and intellectual qualities to succeed as an engineer. Nonetheless, you probably have concerns about whether the demand for civil engineers is expected to grow or decline over the coming years; what the competition for job openings will be; and what type of salary you can expect. Likewise, in a marketplace characterized by almost daily breakthroughs in technology and changes in the roles of many professionals, you have good cause for concern as to whether the responsibilities and expectations of civil engineers will be radically different than what they are today.
Let's approach this last concern first. Because crystal ball gazing is an imperfect science, the only accurate prediction is that the scope of civil engineering and the role of the civil engineer will never remain static. For instance, civil engineers worked for centuries without the aid of computers. Now the computer, along with hundreds of software programs, plays a key role in almost every facet of the civil engineer's work. However, two things will not change.
First, the importance of civil engineers to society will never diminish. Second, technology whether it's computer aided design software or construction robots programmed with artificial intelligence will continue to be no more and no less than tools, just like hammers and T squares, whose function is to aid civil engineers in doing their jobs most efficiently. In other words, the qualities possessed by good civil engineers today, such as experience, resourcefulness, attention to detail, and an ongoing eagerness to learn, are the same qualities that will spell success for civil engineers five years from now or a hundred years from now.
