Structural Engineer Salary, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 3,900 US job postings by 786 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for structural engineers: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 3,900 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for structural engineers in US job postings is $115,000 a year (1,147 postings from 260 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $95,000 to $140,000.
- The skills that most set structural engineer postings apart are structural analysis, autocad, risa.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 5 years of experience.
Structural Engineer job postings in the US, October 2026
- $115,000
- Median advertised pay (1,147 postings)
- $95,000–$140,000
- Middle 50% of postings
- 3,900
- US job postings from 786 employers
- 5 years
- Median experience asked
How much does a structural engineer make?
The median advertised pay is $115,000 a year, from 1,147 US job postings by 260 employers that state pay. One in ten postings offers $160,000 or more.
Advertised pay in 1,147 US structural engineer job postings: median $115,000 a year, middle half $95,000 to $140,000.
- Median: $115,000
- 25th percentile: $95,000
- 75th percentile: $140,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $30K–$40K | 0.1% |
| $40K–$50K | 3.5% |
| $50K–$60K | 4.1% |
| $60K–$70K | 2.6% |
| $70K–$80K | 3.1% |
| $80K–$90K | 8.8% |
| $90K–$100K | 7.6% |
| $100K–$110K | 12.3% |
| $110K–$120K | 10.9% |
| $120K–$130K | 10.7% |
| $130K–$140K | 9.4% |
| $140K–$150K | 8.6% |
| $150K–$160K | 6.8% |
| $160K–$170K | 4.0% |
| $170K–$180K | 3.1% |
| $180K–$190K | 2.0% |
| $190K–$200K | 0.5% |
| $200K–$210K | 0.7% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an annual salary | $120,000 | $102K–$142K | 896 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $115,000 | $95K–$140K | 1,147 |
What is the starting salary for a structural engineer?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Structural engineer levels and pay
Levels as they appear in job titles, ordered by the median experience asked. Senior structural engineers have a median advertised pay of $134,000 a year.
| Level in title | Share of postings | Median experience asked | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| No level in title | 77.0% | 5 years | $108,000 |
| Senior | 15.8% | 10 years | $134,000 |
Highest-paying structural engineer jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Structural Engineer (general) | $118,000 | 843 | 236 |
Structural engineer pay by state
Single-location US postings; states with at least 100 postings that state pay. States with pay-transparency laws (such as California, Colorado, New York and Washington) are over-represented among postings that state pay.
| State | Median pay | Middle 50% | Postings with pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $118,000 | $85,000–$160,000 | 120 | 9.6% |
Skills employers ask for in structural engineer job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 50% |
| Autocad | 25% |
| Revit | 18% |
| Structural analysis | 16% |
| Microsoft Office | 15% |
| Excel | 15% |
| Problem-solving | 14% |
| Risa | 13% |
| Organizational skills | 12% |
| Attention to detail | 11% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set structural engineers apart
- Structural analysis236× as often as in all postings · 16%
- Autocad25.5× as often as in all postings · 25%
- Risa360.5× as often as in all postings · 13%
- Revit43.7× as often as in all postings · 18%
- Ram327× as often as in all postings · 10%
- Etabs380.2× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Sap2000366.1× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Structural engineering308.9× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Aisc267× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Staad348.4× as often as in all postings · 8%
- Mathcad208.8× as often as in all postings · 8%
- Ibc170.8× as often as in all postings · 8%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a structural engineer job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a structural engineer do?
Employers post these jobs as Senior Structural Engineer, Civil/Structural Engineer, Structural Project Engineer, Bridge Engineer, Structural Design Engineer and other titles. The largest specializations are Bridge Engineer (14%).
The closest official occupation is Civil Engineers (17-2051.00). Its most important tasks:
- Direct engineering activities, ensuring compliance with environmental, safety, or other governmental regulations.
- Manage and direct the construction, operations, or maintenance activities at project site.
- Inspect project sites to monitor progress and ensure conformance to design specifications and safety or sanitation standards.
- Compute load and grade requirements, water flow rates, or material stress factors to determine design specifications.
- Plan and design transportation or hydraulic systems or structures, using computer-assisted design or drawing tools.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be a structural engineer?
Among 1,999 postings that state a minimum, the median is 5 years. 6% say 0 years and 9% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 1,999 US structural engineer job postings: median 5 years, and 9% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 6% |
| 1 yr | 4% |
| 2 yrs | 10% |
| 3-4 yrs | 20% |
| 5-7 yrs | 31% |
| 8-9 yrs | 8% |
| 10+ yrs | 21% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Full-time 97%, Part-time 3% of the 380 postings that state working hours.
Other names for a structural engineer: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Structural Engineer | 385 (49.0%) |
| Senior Structural Engineer | 156 (19.9%) |
| Civil/Structural Engineer | 70 (8.9%) |
| Structural Project Engineer | 59 (7.5%) |
| Bridge Engineer | 56 (7.1%) |
| Structural Design Engineer | 47 (6.0%) |
| Structural Engineering Intern | 40 (5.1%) |
| Structural Project Manager | 31 (3.9%) |
| Senior Bridge Engineer | 30 (3.8%) |
| Bridge Inspection Team Leader | 23 (2.9%) |
| Principal Structural Engineer | 21 (2.7%) |
| Bridge Project Manager | 21 (2.7%) |
| Lead Structural Engineer | 20 (2.5%) |
| Structural Engineer II | 20 (2.5%) |
| Entry Level Structural Engineer | 16 (2.0%) |
| Structural Engineer Intern | 16 (2.0%) |
| Structural Engineer III | 15 (1.9%) |
| Structural Bridge Engineer | 15 (1.9%) |
| Structural Intern | 14 (1.8%) |
| Staff Structural Engineer | 14 (1.8%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Structural Engineer compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structural Engineer | $115K | 5 years | 3,900 | – |
| CAD Designer | $84K | 3 years | 3,380 | 19 |
| Architect | $110K | 6 years | 1,804 | 16 |
| Civil Engineer | $105K | 5 years | 11,987 | 20 |
| Interior Designer | $80K | 3 years | 3,409 | 14 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| CAD Designer | 19 | $84K |
| Architect | 16 | $110K |
| Civil Engineer | 20 | $105K |
| Interior Designer | 14 | $80K |
| Mechanical Engineer | 15 | $122K |
| Electrical Engineer | 16 | $132K |
Applying for structural engineer jobs?
- Structural engineer resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find structural engineer jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does a structural engineer make?
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 82 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 75 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.