Transportation Engineer Salary Guide
Transportation engineering jobs cover a wide category of positions where the pay varies greatly, so it is always helpful to narrow down what you are looking for with a transportation engineer salary guide.
A transportation engineer is responsible for the development, planning and design of the infrastructure for railway, highway, bus, airport, and port and harbor facilities. This includes keeping the traffic on these various transportation systems flowing while ensuring the project is in compliance with local and national government regulations.
Experience and Education
If you’re planning a career as a transportation engineer, your pay grade will be dependent on a strong background in math and a certain level of computer literacy, as well as your level of experience.
The educational level usually requires a minimum of a Bachelor's degree in a field related to engineering, such as a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil or Transportation Engineering. You salary level will also depend (and grow) on the number of years of experience you have in the field or a related engineering area.
Depending on these two factors, the average salary for a typical transportation engineer in the United States can range from $48,000 up to over $100,000, which does not take into account bonuses that may be connected with certain projects, according to Salary.com.
Transportation Engineer Job Levels
Many transportation engineering jobs are, in one way or another, connected with a government agency, so it is likely the jobs will be advertised using a numerical scale. For example, an entry level transportation engineer position is likely to be described as “Transportation Engineer I.” In this position, which usually requires very little experience, you can expect to make an average salary of $48,543.
An “Intermediate Level Transportation Engineer II” usually requires 3 to 5 years of field experience for a median expected salary of $66,951, while for an “Intermediate Level Transportation Engineer III” you need 5 to 8 years of experience to average nearly $85,000 per year.
Transportation Engineer positions above the intermediate level get more specialized and the salaries can go as high as $100,000 plus contract bonuses.
Using Salary Websites
If you are unsure how much your particular engineering skills pay, you can choose to either browse engineering salaries or you can search engineering job levels at a number of websites.
According to Salary.com, their “basic market pricing report was prepared using our Certified Compensation Professionals' analysis of survey data collected from thousands of HR departments at employers of all sizes, industries and geographies.”
Payscale.com offers a “Salary Snapshot for Transportation Engineer Jobs” that lets you calculate if your current company is paying you fairly, evaluate job offers, find out what other positions pay and compare the current job market.
EngineerSalary.com offers an online “Engineering Salary Calculator” that enables you to compare the latest salary information of over 400 U.S. cities by job title, length of experience, skill level, education level, company size and industry sector.
These sites also have an updated list of jobs available around the country that can be searched by state, city or salary range.
