Civil Engineers

Minimal Risk
15%

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Vote Comments (47)
AUTOMATION RISK
CALCULATED
0.0%
(Minimal Risk)
POLLING
30%
(Low Risk, Based on 1,864 votes)
Average: 15%
LABOR DEMAND
GROWTH
6.5%
by year 2033
WAGES
$95,890
or $46.10 per hour
Volume
327,950
as of 2023
SUMMARY
What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
8.2/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

People also viewed

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Calculated automation risk

0.0% (Minimal Risk)

Minimal Risk (0-20%): Occupations in this category have a low probability of being automated, as they typically demand complex problem-solving, creativity, strong interpersonal skills, and a high degree of manual dexterity. These jobs often involve intricate hand movements and precise coordination, making it difficult for machines to replicate the required tasks.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Some quite important qualities of the job are difficult to automate:

  • Originality

  • Social Perceptiveness

  • Persuasion

  • Negotiation

User poll

30% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted there's a low chance this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 0.0% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Civil Engineers will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

Sentiment

The following graph is shown where there are enough votes to produce meaningful data. It displays user poll results over time, providing a clear indication of sentiment trends.

Sentiment over time (quarterly)

Sentiment over time (yearly)

Growth

Fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Civil Engineers' job openings is expected to rise 6.5% by 2033

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Wages

Very high paid relative to other professions

In 2023, the median annual wage for 'Civil Engineers' was $95,890, or $46 per hour

'Civil Engineers' were paid 99.5% higher than the national median wage, which stood at $48,060

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Volume

Significantly greater range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2023 there were 327,950 people employed as 'Civil Engineers' within the United States.

This represents around 0.22% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 463 people are employed as 'Civil Engineers'.

Job description

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.

SOC Code: 17-2051.00

Comments (47)

Leave a comment
Tyler Johnson
04 Jun 2019 19:14
That's cool that being a civil engineer would be a very safe job. I would think that there would always be a demand for their services, and it couldn't be done easily by a computer. I'll have to consider that as a career path since I would want a secure job.
Nennn
13 Aug 2021 09:17
Can a civil engineer earn a high amount of money without changing his track or without starting a business?
Gala
13 Apr 2023 13:24
No. He cannot. Go into tech or finance.
Pasquale Tsingos (Low)
01 Jun 2020 22:02
Although we work constantly immersed in tech, there's much of subjectivity at our tasks and routine.
Prajwol (No chance)
30 Apr 2021 09:20
It needs creativity.
Galang (Moderate)
16 Jul 2020 14:32
I vote "likely" because of the advanced technology we have today, and I think after 2 decades it is possible to develop and enhance it more. In that case, robots might replace some duties of a Civil Engineer but still, it is needed to be controlled by a professional. So I vote "likely"
Tammy
22 Jun 2021 06:02
Yes, I agree with your idea. Even with consulting part, Engineering Community also develops a heap of Software environment to create and enhance an automatic optimise design process for structure and geotechnical firm.
RPM (Moderate)
30 Dec 2019 15:29
Civil engineers apply the same set of rules to each site/project they work on. These rules could be universally standardized, and then replicated and applied to sites/projects by AI using well-defined algorithms that account for all scenarios. One day civil engineering design (and likely all other engineering design) will be heavily automated with little input by the designer.
sethberto (Uncertain)
29 May 2025 22:34
AI is rapidly growing but its more likely to replace jobs used on the internet more, i know civil engineers use the internet but i think that its got to be too complicated especially talking to the contratcors
DaBaby (No chance)
11 Mar 2021 18:44
Automation will augment the field greatly but will not replace civil engineers at all
Jam Jamonir (Uncertain)
23 Feb 2021 05:32
Only construction engineers will be preserved. Designs can be performed by AI.
Tal
13 Apr 2023 13:22
Wrong. Most designs aren't cookie cutters and minor details can play a crucial part in making a design "feasible" or not.
You can optimize the heck out of something but as engineers we often make choices that have to account for cases where things may not be needed to be that way
Big Al (Uncertain)
02 Dec 2020 18:40
I'd also like to point out that the design aspect "may" be automated but in the field when problems occur which tends to be often in Construction...will still need individuals with experience and "know-how" to prevent a domino affect of problems to follow. So, I think Civil Engineers and Inspectors are safe from their jobs being automated.
Jainik Shah
28 Nov 2020 18:57
I think that just in a decade most of the civil engineers who design structural components, can loose their jobs easily. Just feed the structural layout and surrounding environmental conditions to computer, the quantity of material along with design, placement, cost and estimated time for structure to complete will be shared by computer. P.s. : I wish this doesn't happen.
Anonymous (Uncertain)
14 Apr 2020 23:45
Many calculations are based on design codes and standards which simply need to be converted to the logic of a program. Engineers will mostly be relegated to determining the inputs to the program.
T
05 Jul 2019 13:49
With regards to John's comment on data entry: the data entry can and should be automated. However, the design and management aspects, including field investigations, high level design, decisions made from years of engineering experience, liaising with a team of multi-disciplinary professionals, and dealing with highly variable conditions at every different site means that this job (for the foreseeable future) is not highly susceptible to automation.
John (Highly likely)
11 Apr 2019 23:12
As an engineer, I spend my days punching in repetitive numbers for various calculations. This seems that it could be easily automated.
Shekhar
28 Nov 2020 19:25
haha! I think you are still only solving the questions from books.... but in practical life every step of solution have a THE new question which is which is unique solution... therefore human brain he must...
Mike
25 Mar 2019 16:02
It is interesting that there is only 1.9% of automating civil works jobs. This makes the job pretty safe for now. I'll have to tell more people to pursue it for now.
Nerds
20 Jul 2024 00:06
Yeah no, civil engineers have to go to the job site and actually talk to the specific client and know what questions to ask so there isn’t really any possibility I see them getting replaced
Emerson Mauricio (Low)
26 Dec 2022 13:04
The commands will still be from the Engineer. Robots and AI will only make the work faster and more efficient.
Javed (Low)
10 Mar 2022 22:23
It depends on which particular divisions you are involved with. Engineering design, yes, we can already see some automation here. Construction, nah, not in this lifetime. Contract and Project Management, haha, good luck robots/AI's.
Glenn (Low)
14 Oct 2021 14:33
Civil engineers need high creativity and robots are just programmed to do a specific task again and again
Reily (Low)
06 Sep 2021 01:48
It is expected that this activity of reasoning, execution and visual and instant supervision will not be replaced by teams that do not manage immediate reactions or alternative solutions to current problems.
nah (Low)
02 May 2025 19:57
it requires originality and adapation
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