Career Explorer Engineering and architecture
Grows with AI
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.
In the middle of the pack: more resilient than 44% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it high), and US jobs are projected to change by +6.4% by 2035, faster than average. The work leans on creative vision and ethical judgement.
AI can help with many of the tasks, and demand is still growing. Being fluent with AI is the edge here.
- Median pay (2025)
- $100,840
- Job growth to 2035
- +6.4%
- Openings a year
- 22,700
- People doing it (2025)
- 381,000
- Usual route in
- Bachelor's degree
Where people already use AI for this work
- Evaluate designs, specifications, or other technical data
- Advise others on business or operational matters
- Evaluate the characteristics, usefulness, or performance of products or technologies
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Design structures or facilities
- Investigate the environmental impact of industrial or development activities
- Inspect facilities or equipment
What the work looks like
- Direct engineering activities, ensuring compliance with environmental, safety, or other governmental regulations.
- Test soils or materials to determine the adequacy and strength of foundations, concrete, asphalt, or steel.
- 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.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
What the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects
- More of these jobs, as demand for new infrastructure projects will lead to more demand for civil engineers.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Chemical engineersGrows with AI, Index 54, +4.7%
- Electrical engineersGrows with AI, Index 59, +9.9%
- LogisticiansGrows with AI, Index 60, +17.6%
- Natural sciences managersGrows with AI, Index 55, +8.2%
Also known as: Civil Engineer, Design Engineer, Project Engineer, Structural Engineer, Engineer, Traffic Engineer, Transportation Engineer, Consulting Engineer.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.