---
title: "Transportation Engineer"
description: "Develop plans for surface transportation projects, according to established engineering standards and state or federal construction policy. Prepare…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/transportation-engineer"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Transportation Engineer

**Category:** Architecture and Engineering · **SOC code:** 17-2051 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 17-2051.01

Develop plans for surface transportation projects, according to established engineering standards and state or federal construction policy. Prepare designs, specifications, or estimates for transportation facilities. Plan modifications of existing streets, highways, or freeways to improve traffic flow.

Also advertised as: Engineer; Project Engineer; Rail Engineer; Roadway Designer; Roadway Engineer; State Roadway Design Engineer; Traffic Engineer; Traffic Operations Engineer.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $100,840 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $48.48/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $68,240 to $163,220, with the middle half between $79,930 and $129,680
- **Total US employment:** 367,840
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +5.0% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 23,600 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 35/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 367,840 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $68,240 |
| 25th | $79,930 |
| 50th (median) | $100,840 |
| 75th | $129,680 |
| 90th | $163,220 |
| Mean (average) | $108,670 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CA | $122,500 | $110,639 | 55,180 |
| AK | $114,730 | $112,086 | 1,670 |
| WA | $110,000 | $102,791 | 12,590 |
| MA | $106,730 | $100,920 | 9,450 |
| LA | $105,380 | $119,469 | 3,780 |
| OR | $105,250 | $101,828 | 4,890 |
| NJ | $104,660 | $96,190 | 6,900 |
| NV | $104,310 | $104,332 | 3,560 |
| NM | $103,900 | $112,675 | 1,350 |
| DC | $103,880 | $94,521 | 1,650 |
| NY | $103,760 | $96,144 | 17,500 |
| CT | $103,150 | $99,556 | 4,370 |
| NE | $103,150 | $114,480 | 2,360 |
| SC | $101,600 | $108,374 | 7,180 |
| MN | $101,480 | $102,899 | 4,710 |

38 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 53 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/transportation-engineer/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/transportation-engineer.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 368,900 in the 2024–2034 base year to 387,500 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 18,500 jobs, or +5.0%. Faster than average: 5.0% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 23,600 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Bachelor's Degree | 77.3% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 9.1% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 9.1% |
| Master's Degree | 4.6% |

## What the work involves

- Design or prepare plans for new transportation systems or parts of systems, such as airports, commuter trains, highways, streets, bridges, drainage structures, or roadway lighting.
- Check construction plans, design calculations, or cost estimations to ensure completeness, accuracy, or conformity to engineering standards or practices.
- Plan alteration or modification of existing transportation structures to improve safety or function.
- Confer with contractors, utility companies, or government agencies to discuss plans, specifications, or work schedules.
- Present data, maps, or other information at construction-related public hearings or meetings.
- Investigate traffic problems and recommend methods to improve traffic flow or safety.
- Estimate transportation project costs.
- Model transportation scenarios to evaluate the impacts of activities such as new development or to identify possible solutions to transportation problems.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Operations Analysis — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Management of Personnel Resources — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Engineering and Technology — importance 4.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Design — importance 4.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Transportation — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Building and Construction — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 4.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Investigative (I), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 5.37 |
| I — Investigative | 5.08 |
| C — Conventional | 4.41 |
| E — Enterprising | 3.09 |
| A — Artistic | 2.13 |
| S — Social | 1.97 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 93.2 |
| ISTP | 83.4 |
| INTJ | 81.8 |
| ESTJ | 71.9 |
| ISFJ | 65.2 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Civil Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/civil-engineer) — median $100,840
- [Transportation Planner](https://nuecareer.com/careers/transportation-planner) — median $101,110
- [Civil Engineering Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/civil-engineering-technologist-and-technician) — median $64,950
- [Traffic Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/traffic-technician) — median $59,090
- [Highway Maintenance Worker](https://nuecareer.com/careers/highway-maintenance-worker) — median $50,260
- [Construction and Building Inspector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/construction-and-building-inspector) — median $74,690
- [Construction Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/construction-manager) — median $114,990
- [Environmental Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-engineer) — median $107,110
- [Water/Wastewater Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/water-wastewater-engineer) — median $100,840
- [Industrial Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-engineer) — median $102,440

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/transportation-engineer