Is a Civil Engineering degree worth it?
Across 220 schools, graduates of Civil Engineering earn a median $85,555 five years out on $22,609 of debt — most often working as Civil Engineers. Every figure is a real, published federal number.
Median 5-yr pay
$85,555
Median debt
$22,609
Years to pay off
2.7
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
48%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
+4.1%
BLS 2024–2034
Gender pay gap
0.2%
$89,999 vs $89,795
Net price
$17,608/yr
Debt-test failures
0%
of programs
'Real' premium
+$20,568
vs avg, adjusted
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Civil Engineering in full →Data: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, O*NET, AI-exposure measures (Eloundou/AIOE), Zillow. Earnings reflect federally-aided graduates; see the full story for methodology and limitations.