STEM

Civil Engineer

Plan and oversee roads, bridges, water systems, and buildings so communities can travel and stay safe

Open interactive guide

What does a Civil Engineer do?

Civil engineers split time between offices and job sites for city agencies, consulting firms, and builders. They study the ground, draw plans, follow safety rules, and check that crews build what was drawn. People who like math and seeing their work standing in the real world fit well.

A day in the life

7:30 AMWalk a road project site in a hard hat and check progress
9:30 AMCompare the crew's work with the approved drawings
11:00 AMAnswer a contractor's question about drainage
1:00 PMRun traffic and water flow numbers in design software
3:00 PMMeet city staff about permits and deadlines
4:30 PMUpdate the plans after a change in the field

What's great

  • Build things communities use for decades
  • Split time between office and outdoors
  • Clear path to a professional license
  • Many areas to choose, like water and transit

The hard parts

  • License takes exams and years of experience
  • Projects move slowly through permits
  • Site visits in heat, cold, and mud
  • Deadlines and budgets add pressure

What is a Civil Engineer's salary and outlook?

$53k – $134k
Salary Range
Bachelor's degree
Typical Education
Growing

Typical pay in this guide runs from about $53,400 to $133,500 a year, with a midpoint around $89,000. These are planning figures for students, not a job offer or an official wage.

CareerLens rates the outlook as Growing.

For the official national outlook, see BLS Occupational Data.

How do you become a Civil Engineer?

A common path is Bachelor's degree in civil engineering, then a PE license. The ladder often runs from Engineer in Training to Professional Engineer (PE), then Senior Project Manager, and City Engineer or Chief Engineer. Other routes: Pass the FE exam, then work under a licensed engineer; Pass the PE exam after about four years of experience; Master's degree for a specialty; Construction management degree.

  • Pass the FE exam, then work under a licensed engineer
  • Pass the PE exam after about four years of experience
  • Master's degree for a specialty
  • Construction management degree

Career path

Entry level
Engineer in Training
Mid career
Professional Engineer (PE)
Senior
Senior Project Manager
Executive
City Engineer or Chief Engineer

Explore colleges

See College Scorecard facts for programs related to this path.

Will AI replace a Civil Engineer?

How much will AI change this job?

A lot

AI will change many everyday tasks in this job. The work shifts toward judgment, checking, and people.

AI reshapes design work, but engineers still build the real world.

Civil engineers plan roads, bridges, and buildings that keep people safe. AI can now speed up drawings, calculations, and checking codes. But engineers still make final decisions, visit real sites, and solve tricky problems no computer can fully predict.

AI can help with

  • Drafting building and bridge design drawings
  • Running quick structural safety calculations
  • Checking designs against building codes

What stays human

  • Inspecting real sites for hidden problems
  • Deciding tradeoffs between cost, safety, and design
  • Talking with clients, workers, and city officials

Skills to build now

  • Practice math and geometry through puzzles or building kits
  • Join a robotics, LEGO, or maker club
  • Learn basic drawing or design software like SketchUp

Based on public research from Anthropic and OpenAI, drafted with AI, checked automatically, and read by a person. How we know

This describes how the work may change. It is not a prediction that the job will disappear.