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Boston Career Explorer

Architecture and Engineering

Civil Engineers

Perform engineering duties in planning, designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance of building structures and facilities, such as roads, railroads, airports, bridges, harbors, channels, dams, irrigation projects, pipelines, power plants, and water and sewage systems.

Also called: City Engineer, Civil Engineer, County Engineer, Design Engineer, Engineer, Geotechnical Engineer

Median pay in Greater Boston
$107,670
$51.77/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
7,970
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+2.0%
580 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
Bachelor's degree

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$79,580$85,690$107,670$135,290$167,360

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • 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.
  • Provide technical advice to industrial or managerial personnel regarding design, construction, program modifications, or structural repairs.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Higher exposure77 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 85
  • Language-model AIOE 72
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 73

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

Civil engineering has higher AI exposure, which means AI tools can help with or change parts of the work. Design tasks like computing loads, grades, and water flow, and drafting plans in design software, are the kinds of tasks AI tools can touch. Observed AI use is little or none so far, and the work of inspecting sites, directing crews, and meeting safety rules still depends on people on the ground.

Likely to change

  • Load, grade, and water flow calculations
  • Drafting plans in design software

Still relies on people

  • Inspecting project sites in person
  • Directing crews and meeting safety rules

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

Next steps from here

Related jobs that build on what you already do.

  • Construction Managers

    Site inspection, code compliance, and project oversight carry over directly, and this move offers higher pay and faster projected growth in Massachusetts.

    Pay difference
    +$48,800 median
    AI exposure
    Higher
    MA growth
    +10.9%
    To get started
    Bachelor's degree

  • Architectural and Engineering Managers

    Your design knowledge and experience coordinating technical work carry over, and this move offers management duties and much higher pay.

    Pay difference
    +$97,460 median
    AI exposure
    Moderate
    MA growth
    +0.1%
    To get started
    Bachelor's degree

  • Facilities Managers

    Skills in checking that buildings and systems are safe and well maintained carry over, with a path into managing facilities.

    Pay difference
    +$19,730 median
    AI exposure
    Moderate
    MA growth
    +4.2%
    To get started
    Bachelor's degree

Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

7 programs near Boston (plus 15 graduate)

Related occupations

Talk to a career coach

A coach at the Office of Workforce Development can help you plan your next step, and connect you with training, apprenticeships and City partner programs that are not listed here.

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