Civil Engineer Salary in Texas 2026,
$96,860 Median | BLS Data by City

The published Texas figure is $96,860 a year, or $46.57 an hour, per BLS OEWS May 2025, with a band from $63,240 at the 10th percentile to $164,330 at the 90th and quartiles at $77,200 and $127,340. That is 3.9% below the national median of $100,840 in gross terms — but Texas levies no personal income tax, which more than closes the gap in take-home. The row is SOC 17-2051, an exact match.

Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands at $100,950, then Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos $100,470, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington $96,920, Beaumont-Port Arthur $95,510 and Midland $95,480. The whole spread is under six percent, which is unusually tight. Civil engineering demand in Texas is distributed — highways, water, land development and industrial infrastructure all generate it — so no metro carries a scarcity premium.

For most of the branch, yes. The Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors licenses professional engineers, and engineering work sealed for a public agency or offered to the public requires a licensed engineer. Texas also regulates the use of the engineering title, which is stricter than many states. The route is an accredited degree, the Fundamentals of Engineering examination, four years of qualifying experience under a licensed engineer, and then the Principles and Practice examination.

Substantially, because the gross differences here are so small. Virginia at $97,120, Kansas at $96,880, Utah at $96,830, Iowa at $96,430 and Ohio at $96,220 are all within a percent of Texas's $96,860, and every one of them applies a state income tax that Texas does not. At the $127,340 seventy-fifth percentile the difference is larger still. The offset is Texas property tax, which is among the highest in the country, so the net advantage depends on whether and where you buy.

Licensure first, then responsible charge. The $63,240-to-$77,200 lower quartile is the engineer-in-training period before the professional engineer licence; the median at $96,860 is a licensed engineer doing design work; the $127,340 seventy-fifth percentile is leading teams and holding responsible charge for larger projects. The $164,330 ninetieth is practice leadership or senior public agency responsibility. Because the licence gates the middle of that ladder, the four years of qualifying experience are not optional career time — they are the mechanism.

Because civil engineering demand here has four largely independent sources spread across the state. Population growth generates land development, water supply and municipal infrastructure work in every metro. The state highway programme is among the largest in the country and distributes work by district. Industrial and energy infrastructure concentrates on the Gulf coast and in the Permian, which is why Beaumont-Port Arthur at $95,510 and Midland at $95,480 appear at all. And flood control and drainage work, particularly in the Houston region, is a continuing programme in its own right. With demand that broad, no single metro can develop the scarcity that produces a wage premium — the published spread from $100,950 down to $95,480 is under six percent.

More binding here than in most engineering branches and most states. Civil engineering output is largely sealed drawings for public agencies and for works that affect public safety, so the licence is not an optional credential the way it often is in industrial engineering settings. Texas additionally regulates the use of the engineering title, which narrows the space for unlicensed people to hold engineering job titles. The practical effect is a well-defined career gate: an accredited degree and the Fundamentals of Engineering examination get someone in, four years of qualifying experience under a licensed engineer follow, and the Principles and Practice examination opens the middle and upper half of this band.

On the numbers, yes — better than the gross figure implies. The published $96,860 sits below the national median, but Texas has no personal income tax while the five closest peer states all do, and Texas's demand base is diversified across highways, water, development and industrial infrastructure in a way that reduces cyclical exposure. The qualifications are the Texas Board's rather than a national body's but transfer readily by comity to and from other states. The main caveat is property tax, which is high enough to matter in the housing decision, and the fact that at $164,330 the top of this band is lower than in the highest-cost coastal markets.