Civil engineers design and oversee construction of infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and buildings. Based on 12,435 certified H-1B and PERM filings from U.S. Department of Labor disclosure data, the median sponsored salary for a Civil Engineer is $80,974 per year.
| Percentile | Annual salary |
|---|---|
| 10th (entry) | $60,590 |
| 25th | $69,309 |
| 50th (median) | $80,974 |
| 75th | $95,774 |
| 90th (senior) | $116,189 |
Every other salary site shows the LCA-posted wage — the wage for the position. Using USCIS I-129 petition data, we can compare that against the actual pay the sponsored worker received, and the prevailing-wage floor, across 4,042 matched Civil Engineers petitions.
The median worker is paid 0.9% above the posted LCA wage, but the mean actual pay runs 12.4% above the mean posted wage — so the upside is concentrated in the top earners. 17.2% are paid above their posted wage, 79.6% at it, and 3.2% below.
Actual-pay data covers FY2021–FY2024 cap-subject H-1B lottery petitions matched to certified LCAs (aggregates only). Base wage excludes equity and bonuses, so it is not total compensation. Source: I-129 petition data sourced from USCIS, obtained by Bloomberg.
Of 12,435 filings, 759 are H-1B (temporary work visa) and 11,676 are PERM (green-card labor certification, 94% of the total).
| # | Employer | Filings | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AECOM TECHNICAL SERVICES, INC. | 216 | $89,344 |
| 2 | WSP USA Inc. | 210 | $94,095 |
| 3 | JACOBS ENGINEERING | 153 | $104,587 |
| 4 | HDR Engineering, Inc. | 133 | $84,509 |
| 5 | Thornton Tomasetti | 101 | $87,232 |
| 6 | HNTB Corporation | 100 | $93,297 |
| 7 | TERRACON CONSULTANTS, INC. | 96 | $72,804 |
| 8 | PARSONS BRINCKERHOFF, INC. | 94 | $78,805 |
| 9 | UR INTERNATIONAL, INC. | 94 | $75,030 |
| 10 | Arcadis U.S., Inc. | 82 | $89,360 |
| 11 | STANTEC CONSULTING SERVICES INC. | 76 | $100,146 |
| 12 | Black & Veatch Management Consulting LLC | 74 | $84,247 |
| 13 | Parsons Transportation Group Inc. | 63 | $91,400 |
| 14 | CH2M HILL, INC. | 59 | $84,948 |
| 15 | Rummel, Klepper & Kahl, LLP | 55 | $81,155 |
| 16 | SIMPSON GUMPERTZ & HEGER INC. | 52 | $92,915 |
| 17 | DPR Construction, A General Partnership | 48 | $99,267 |
| 18 | EnTech Engineering, PC | 48 | $83,815 |
| 19 | WALTER P. MOORE & ASSOCIATES | 47 | $90,602 |
| 20 | Turner Construction Company | 44 | $85,558 |
| State | Filings | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|
| California | 1,902 | $89,640 |
| Texas | 1,420 | $89,559 |
| New York | 1,267 | $87,566 |
| Florida | 709 | $76,274 |
| New Jersey | 390 | $85,022 |
| Virginia | 389 | $82,580 |
| Illinois | 321 | $83,686 |
| Maryland | 319 | $75,569 |
| Georgia | 256 | $77,630 |
| Colorado | 254 | $87,423 |
| Pennsylvania | 225 | $83,381 |
| Massachusetts | 225 | $84,619 |
Specific titles employers file under this occupation. Click through for a per-title salary profile.
Salaries are the certified offered annual wage on public U.S. Department of Labor H-1B (LCA) and PERM disclosure filings, not a guarantee of pay. Occupation is the DOL-assigned Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code.