Civil Engineers in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$70,067
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$19,593
21.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$69,301
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$89,660
Kept after tax
$70,067
Worth in national money
$69,301
State rank
48
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arizona is among the lower-paying states for civil engineers. The middle earner takes $89,660, ranking 48 of 51 states — about 11.09% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Arizona. It ranks 90 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $89,660 the take-home is $70,067, which is worth about $69,301 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $97,130, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Arizona ranks 48 of 51 for civil engineers, with a median of $89,660 — about 11.09% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Within Arizona, civil engineers ranks 90 of 491 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Arizona's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for civil engineers on its $89,660 median: $70,067 retained after tax becomes $69,301 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $97,130 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Civil Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,740 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $89,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $138,030 |
| This salary | $89,660 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Arizona | $70,067 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $71,906 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,695 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $87,046 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,485 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $89,660 as a midpoint for Arizona, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $63,740 and the ninetieth is $138,030 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Arizona's $70,067, worked from $89,660. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 90 of 491.
- Two cautions on $69,301, the adjusted value of that $89,660 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Arizona. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 90 of 491 locally.
- The Arizona median of $89,660 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $63,740 to $138,030. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Arizona take-home of $70,067, on $89,660 for work ranking 90 of 491 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 90 of 491 in the state.
- This $69,301 adjusted figure, worked from $89,660, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 90 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 90 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $97,130, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $63,740 and the top tenth $138,030 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Arizona costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $69,301 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Arizona's own levy, $70,067 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Arizona is $97,130. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($63,740) and the ninetieth ($138,030) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $69,301 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $70,067 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.