The starting salaries paid to recent engineering graduates have consistently been higher than starting salaries paid in many other occupational fields. The average salary paid to beginning civil engineering graduates in 1995 was approximately 86 percent of the overall average of beginning starting salaries of all engineers, just as it was in 1985. It is obvious that, on the average, beginning civil engineers are paid slightly lower salaries than the average for all beginning engineering employees. However, starting salaries do not reflect the entire picture. Not only do salaries increase very significantly with the experience an engineer gains, but in some fields, the salary increases very dramatically if he or she owns a company or is a partner in a consulting organization. This is particularly true in civil engineering.
Beginning salaries in 1995 were about $29,000 for civil engineers (an average figure in an ASCE survey) to $35,000 (Engineering Workforce Commission [EWC]), the average for all engineers in all sectors. The ASCE salary survey reported that the national average salary in 1995 for mid level engineers was $51,500 to $58,000, while senior level engineers earned $73,000 to $86,000. Overall, salary growth was slow, the survey concluded.
EWC found that the median salary for all engineers with 25 years of experience was $68,650. Among top civil engineers in their profession, most of whom have been in the field for their entire careers, salaries may reach six figures, according to ASCE, with construction engineers earning as much as $116,800; consulting engineers as much as $103,000; design/construction engineers $113,500; engineers for railroads, utilities, and industry as much as $111,300; and state agency engineers $101,900; while municipal, county, and regional maximum salaries reached $84,900. Ten percent of all engineers with ten or more years experience had salaries below $40,900 per year in 1995. Clearly, experience is an important influence. On average, all engineers' salaries have risen with experience, so that if you look at salaries of all engineers in the field today, new engineers are paid a $32,000 starting salary while veteran engineers are likely to earn $70,000 by the end of a 30 year career. That's good money anywhere. However, you will notice that the curve does tend to flatten out so that after 15 years, salaries may grow more slowly. And economic hard times can break growth in compensation, too.
It's useful to note that today, men's and women's salaries are almost equal in engineering to begin with, at least.
The starting salary paid to civil engineers (and all other engineers) varies with the specialty selected by the beginning engineer. The average starting salary for engineers employed with the federal government in 1995 was slightly above $40,000, as compared to the salary for all beginning engineers in all industries in the United States of approximately $35,500 in 1995, according to the Engineering Workforce Commission (EWC). Engineers employed with the federal government for 25 years had salaries of approximately $54,750, on the average. In comparison, the average salary for all engineers in the United States with 25 years of experience in 1995 was almost $63,000 per year. Private industry paid somewhat more; an engineer with 25 years of experience would earn a median salary of $68,650. This difference in public sector versus private sector salary becomes more pronounced over the course of a career.
Also there is a much greater range in salary for engineers employed by industries as compared to engineers employed by the federal government. Many civil engineers are employed by federal, state, and local governments. This is one reason the average salary for civil engineers is lower than the average salary for all engineers in the United States. However, a significant number of civil engineers are employed by private consulting firms. The salaries paid to consulting engineers are considerably higher than the salaries paid to engineers by the federal government, and there is a wide range in the salaries paid by consulting firms to engineers.
On average, an engineer who goes to work for a consulting firm will command a higher salary after about ten years with that consulting firm ($51,050) than if he or she worked for another industrial employer. The top ten percent of the consulting firm salaries ($63,100) is somewhat lower than the top ten percent of salaries paid to all engineers by all industries in the United States, $67,700. Construction engineers rank among the most highly paid engineers in the United States. An engineer at the top level of his profession in the construction industry in 1995 rated a salary of $105,000 to $115,000, the ASCE found. This is especially significant to civil engineers since most of the engineers employed in construction activities are civil engineers.
It is true that, on the average, civil engineering starting salaries are lower than the starting salaries paid to many other engineers. One reason for this is that many civil engineers begin their careers working for governmental agencies. A large number of civil engineers remain with such agencies throughout their entire careers, in many cases because of the challenging nature of the work and the close contact with the public, which is fundamental to the type of engineering activities associated with public works. A smaller number of civil engineers work for consulting firms at significantly higher salaries, on the average, than the salaries paid to government engineers or consulting engineers. In other words, a number of civil engineers work for salaries that are slightly below the average salaries paid to all engineers in the United States. However, another number of civil engineers work for salaries that are significantly higher than those paid to most all other engineers. This situation is exaggerated as the engineer gains more and more experience.
