Civil Engineers in Connecticut
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$76,457
after federal, FICA and Connecticut tax
Tax takes
$26,693
25.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$73,737
Connecticut costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Connecticut — 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
$103,150
Kept after tax
$76,457
Worth in national money
$73,737
State rank
12
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Connecticut pays civil engineers a middle wage of $103,150, ranking 12 of 51 states and sitting about 2.29% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Connecticut. It ranks 78 out of 482 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $103,150, tax leaves $76,457 — and because Connecticut is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $73,737 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $110,920, since top earners drag the number up.
- Connecticut's median for civil engineers is $103,150, about 2.29% above the national figure and 12 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Connecticut, civil engineers ranks 78 of 482 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.
- After tax, $76,457 remains from the Connecticut median of $103,150 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $73,737 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $110,920 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Civil Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $76,350 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $103,150 |
| Top tenth earn over | $161,670 |
| This salary | $103,150 |
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 Connecticut | $76,457 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $81,396 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,025 |
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 | $96,129 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$13,848 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Connecticut earn less than $103,150. The published range is $76,350 up to $161,670, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $76,457 take-home in Connecticut comes from $103,150. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 78 of 482.
- Two cautions on $73,737, the adjusted value of that $103,150 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Connecticut. 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 78 of 482 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for civil engineers in Connecticut the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $76,350 to $161,670. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $76,457, from $103,150, assumes a single Connecticut filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 78 of 482 locally, and the state ranks 12 of 51 for it.
- This $73,737 adjusted figure, worked from $103,150, 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 78 of 482 in the state. The occupation ranks 78 of 482 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $110,920, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $76,350, the highest tenth $161,670, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Connecticut run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $73,737 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Connecticut then takes its own share, leaving $76,457.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 Connecticut is $110,920. 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 ($76,350) and the ninetieth ($161,670) 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?
Connecticut's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $73,737 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 $76,457 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Connecticut 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.