The Datum Report

Occupation 2121 · Professional occupations

Civil engineers

Half of full-time civil engineers in the UK earn more than £51,366 a year, and half earn less.

Civil engineers undertake research and design, direct construction and manage the operation and maintenance of civil and mining engineering structures.

How people enter it

Civil engineers usually possess an accredited three or four year degree in civil engineering or engineering science or an accredited Higher National Diploma or Certificate. The status of ‘incorporated engineer’ is obtained upon the completion of further training at work and associate membership of a chartered engineering institution. The status of ‘chartered engineer’ is achieved through the completion of postgraduate training and full membership of a chartered engineering institution.

What the work involves

• undertakes research and advises on soil mechanics, concrete technology, hydraulics, water and waste water treatment processes and other civil engineering matters
• determines and specifies construction methods, materials, quality and safety standards and ensures that equipment operation and maintenance comply with design specifications
• designs foundations and earthworks
• designs structures such as roads, dams, bridges, railways, hydraulic systems, sewerage systems, industrial and other buildings and plans the layout of tunnels, wells and construction shafts
• organises and plans projects, arranges work schedules, carries out inspection work and plans maintenance control
• organises and establishes control systems to monitor operational efficiency and performance of materials and systems

Also called

Building engineer · Civil engineer (professional) · Highways engineer · Petroleum engineer · Public health engineer · Site engineer (building construction) · Structural engineer

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for civil engineers, full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 10 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Aerospace engineers · Electrical engineers · Electronics engineers (professional) · Engineering professionals n.e.c. · Engineering project managers and project engineers · Mechanical engineers (professional) · Production and process engineers