Salario de Ingeniero Civil en Colorado (2026)
El salario promedio de un Ingeniero Civil en Colorado es de $102,000/año. Después de impuestos, tu sueldo neto estimado es de $76,807/año ($6,401/mes).
Desglose del Sueldo Neto
| Categoría | Cantidad |
|---|---|
Sueldo Neto Anual | $76,807 |
Sueldo Neto Mensual | $6,401 |
Sueldo Neto Quincenal | $2,954 |
Sueldo Neto por Hora basado en 2,080 hrs/año | $37/hr |
Impuesto Federal | $13,610 |
Impuesto Estatal | $3,780 |
Impuestos FICA | $7,803 |
Tasa Efectiva de Impuesto impuestos totales ÷ salario bruto | 24.7% |
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Rangos de Salario de Ingeniero Civil en Colorado
No todas las Ingeniero Civils ganan lo mismo — ni de cerca
CO civil engineering splits across four specialty areas. Transportation (CDOT corridor projects, RTD light-rail, US 36 BRT, I-70 mountain corridor expansion). Water resources (Denver Water + Aurora Water + Northern Water, plus the water rights bar). Energy (DJ Basin oil + gas midstream, NREL + NCAR campus infrastructure). Land development / private (Front Range residential + commercial subdivision growth). Major design firms — Jacobs, Stantec, AECOM, HDR, Burns & McDonnell, HNTB, Olsson Associates — all maintain Denver offices.
Senior Principal / Office Lead
$250,000–$385,000 TC
Jacobs / Stantec / AECOM / HDR Denver office leadership · 15-20 yr track · client + project portfolio
Principal Engineer / Group Lead
$195,000–$285,000 TC
PE + 10-12 yrs · oversees 8-15 project engineers · client-facing principal
Senior PE / Project Manager
$155,000–$220,000
PE + 8-10 yrs · running $5-50M project portfolios · project execution lead
Senior Engineer (PE, 5-8 yrs)
$135,000–$185,000
PE-licensed · technical specialist · structural / transportation / water specialty
Water Resources Specialist (Senior PE)
$155,000–$235,000
Denver Water / Aurora Water / Northern Water / 7-state Colorado River Compact work — CO-unique
Transportation Engineer (CDOT / RTD)
$145,000–$210,000
CDOT prime + sub-consultant · RTD light-rail · cross-state Mountain West DOT work
Project Engineer (post-PE, 3-5 yrs)
$110,000–$150,000
Just-licensed PE · running smaller projects + supporting senior PEs · technical depth
Staff Engineer / EIT (1-3 yrs)
$78,000–$115,000
EIT (Engineer-in-Training) · pre-PE · supervised work · often non-exempt FLSA
New Grad EIT (Year 1)
$72,000–$90,000
CU Boulder / CSU / CO School of Mines pipeline · Jacobs / Stantec / AECOM new-grad programs
Construction Manager / Field Engineer
$95,000–$155,000
CDOT prime + GC construction inspection · often non-exempt FLSA + COMPS daily-12 OT applies
Vale la pena saber: Colorado water rights civil engineering is the specialty depth no other state has. The 1876 Colorado Constitution Article XVI § 5 first-in-time prior-appropriation doctrine allocates water by date of beneficial use. Denver Water (Front Range's largest utility, serves 1.5M+ people), Aurora Water, Colorado Springs Utilities, plus Northern Water (manages the Colorado-Big Thompson Project — 12 reservoirs delivering 230,000 acre-feet/year from Western Slope to Front Range across the Continental Divide) carry the country's deepest water-resources civil engineering practice. Senior water-resources PEs at Jacobs, Stantec, or HDR Denver clear $185-280K total comp. The specialty requires 5-10 years of beneficial-use modeling, hydrology + hydraulics certification, plus familiarity with the 1922 Colorado River Compact + 1948 Upper Basin Compact. Water rights PE roles cluster in Denver, Loveland (Northern Water HQ), Pueblo, and Glenwood Springs.
The CO civil engineering market — CDOT capital program, RTD transit, water rights, plus OBBBA OT for non-exempt EITs
$1.85B
CDOT annual capital program — 23K lane-miles + 8,750 bridges
$12,500
OBBBA OT cap (single, 2025-2028) — applies to non-exempt EITs
4.40%
CO flat + federal-AGI conformity — OBBBA OT flows through cleanly
$25B+
Federal IIJA infrastructure funding to CO over 5 years through 2027
Licensed PEs and senior project managers are exempt under the Learned Professional exemption (29 CFR §541.301). The PE credential — 4-year ABET-accredited degree + EIT + 4 years progressive responsibility + state PE exam — qualifies under the test by definition. Once licensed, exempt classification applies. Salaried only with project-completion bonus + profit-share at senior tiers.
EITs and new-grad staff engineers are commonly non-exempt during the 4-year pre-PE period. Construction field engineers (CDOT prime contracting + GC inspection roles) are often non-exempt regardless of education level. The COMPS Order (Colorado Overtime and Minimum Pay Standards Order) covers construction-related work — OT triggers at 1.5× regular rate after 12 hours in a workday OR 40 hours/week, whichever produces more OT pay.
The 2025 No-Tax-on-Overtime federal deduction applies to non-exempt OT premium (the 'half' of time-and-a-half) for tax years 2025-2028. Cap $12,500 single / $25,000 above-the-line, phased out $100 per $1,000 of above $150K / $300K. For a non-exempt EIT at $85K working 50 hours/week × 48 weeks of busy construction season, OT premium runs roughly $4,800/year — federal savings $1,056 at 22% bracket + CO 4.40% adds $211 = $1,267 combined annual savings through 2028.
CDOT's $1.85B/year capital program drives sustained civil engineering demand. Major projects: Central 70 reconstruction Denver ($1.2B, 2018-2022 completion), I-70 mountain corridor expansion (Floyd Hill + Vail Pass), US 36 BRT, I-25 South Gap, RTD light-rail Q line + R line maintenance + future extension. CDOT prime + sub-consultant work concentrates at the major engineering firms. Federal IIJA infrastructure ($25B+ to CO over 5 years through 2027) sustains demand through 2030.
Water resources is the CO civil specialty no other state matches at depth. Denver Water Front Range capital projects (Gross Reservoir expansion, Moffat Collection System upgrade), Aurora Water Prairie Waters Project, Northern Water Colorado-Big Thompson + Windy Gap Firming Project, plus 7-state Colorado River Compact delivery work all run through Denver-based civil engineering teams. Drought planning (post-2000 historic megadrought) plus 1922 Colorado River Compact reallocation discussions drive ongoing senior PE demand.
Mountain town civil work is its own micro-economy. Aspen, Vail, Telluride, Steamboat Springs, Crested Butte, Breckenridge each carry resort municipal infrastructure plus federal land-use work (BLM, USFS, NPS). Smaller firms — Centennial Engineering, Ditesco, Aleris, OnTrack — anchor regional work. Premium 25-35% over Denver for Aspen / Vail / Telluride positions driven by housing-cost labor shortage.
Colorado as a civil engineer — CDOT corridor, water rights specialty, mountain infrastructure
Denver Front Range is CO's civil engineering capital. Major design firms — Jacobs (post-CH2M Hill merger), Stantec, AECOM, HDR, Burns & McDonnell, HNTB, Olsson Associates — all maintain Denver offices in Denver Tech Center (DTC) and Greenwood Village. CDOT HQ in Lakewood drives the prime-consultant work. RTD HQ at Union Station carries the transit-civil demand. CU Boulder Engineering and Colorado School of Mines Golden feed ~600 new EITs per year between the two programs.
Water resources civil engineering anchors a distinct Denver Water + Aurora Water + Colorado Springs Utilities + Northern Water cluster. Denver Water HQ (1600 W 12th Ave) carries the largest Front Range water utility civil engineering team. Northern Water HQ in Berthoud (~1 hr north of Denver) runs the Colorado-Big Thompson Project — 12 reservoirs + Adams Tunnel transmountain diversion delivering Western Slope water to the Front Range. The 7-state Colorado River Compact obligations plus drought planning drive senior water-resources PE depth no other state matches.
DJ Basin oil and gas midstream civil is the second CO specialty. Civitas Resources, PDC Energy / Crestone Peak legacy, Anadarko-then-Occidental Petroleum footprint all need gathering-system + processing-plant + pipeline civil engineering. Suncor refinery (Commerce City) plus mining + minerals work (Newmont HQ Denver, Coeur Mining) round out the energy civil tier. Federal regulatory practice on BLM lease sites plus EPA Superfund cleanup adds compliance civil work.
Mountain town civil is its own market. Aspen, Vail, Telluride, Steamboat, Breckenridge, Crested Butte carry resort municipal infrastructure (water, sewer, stormwater, roads). USFS / BLM federal land-use civil work anchors Glenwood Springs, Durango, Grand Junction Western Slope offices. Smaller firms — Centennial Engineering, Aleris, Ditesco — handle regional work. Premium 25-35% over Denver for Aspen / Vail / Telluride positions driven by housing-cost labor shortage.
How CO taxes work for civil engineers — 4.40% flat + TABOR + OBBBA OT + QBI for owner-PEs
CO charges flat 4.40% state income tax in 2026 — reduced from 4.55% in 2023 under HB 23-1006. At $135K senior staff engineer comp, that's roughly $5,940/year in CO tax versus $10,800 in California (8.0% blended) or $10,125 in New York (7.5%). Over a 25-year career, the CO-vs-CA delta compounds substantially. For a $250K senior principal, the CO-vs-CA delta runs $9K+/year.
TABOR refunds (Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Colorado Constitution Article X § 20, 1992) return state surplus revenue. In strong revenue years, TABOR refund typically runs $400-800 single / $800-1,600 . The 2024 fiscal year refunded $1.5B+ to CO residents. CO civil engineers at $135-250K comp receive full TABOR refund.
OT deduction flows through to CO state via federal- conformity. For a non-exempt EIT at $85K running busy construction season OT, total annual federal + state savings ~$1,267 through 2028. Across the 4-year OBBBA window, $5,068 cumulative. Material at EIT comp levels.
Section 199A applies to civil engineering owner / partner distributions — engineering is NOT Specified Service Trade or Business under federal §199A. At $200K S-corp passthrough, QBI saves 20% × $200K = $40K of federal taxable income = $8,800/year at 22% bracket. CO conforms to federal at the deduction level. Partnership-track civil PEs at smaller firms benefit substantially. Major-firm-employed PEs are typically and don't get QBI.
- →Capture employer match. Jacobs, Stantec, AECOM, HDR, Burns & McDonnell all match 4-6% on $95-200K civil PE comp — $3,800-$12,000/year of free money.
- →Max ($24,500 in 2026). At CO's 4.40% flat plus federal 22-32% brackets, every $1,000 deferred saves $264-$364.
- → OT strategy for non-exempt EITs and field engineers: track qualifying OT hours and carefully through 2028. Box 1 / Box 12 reporting starts 2026.
- →Section 199A for engineer-owner partnership distributions: engineering is non-. $200K passthrough at 20% QBI = $8,800/year savings at 22%. Major lever for small-firm partner / owner track.
- →CDOT prime contractor experience as career accelerator: 3-5 years of CDOT prime work at Jacobs / Stantec / AECOM / HDR opens senior PE roles at smaller firms with substantial salary jumps. Portable across Mountain West.
Three CO metros for civil engineers — Denver Front Range, Colorado Springs federal, mountain-town premium
CO civil engineering splits sharply by region. Denver Front Range carries transportation + water + corporate civil. Colorado Springs is federal facility civil + USAFA + Cheyenne Mountain SFB. Mountain towns command 25-35% premium driven by housing-cost labor shortage.
Denver Front Range (CDOT prime + major firms + water resources)
Comp: EIT $72-115K · Senior PE $135-220K · Principal $195-285K · Senior Principal $250-385KCO's civil engineering capital. Major design firms Jacobs (post-CH2M Hill HQ legacy), Stantec, AECOM, HDR, Burns & McDonnell, HNTB, Olsson Associates all maintain Denver offices in DTC + Greenwood Village + Cherry Creek. CDOT HQ Lakewood. RTD HQ Union Station. Denver Water (serves 1.5M+ population), Aurora Water, plus the water resources civil cluster anchor specialty depth. CU Boulder Engineering + CO School of Mines Golden feed ~600 new EITs/year combined.
Family suburbs: Centennial / Highlands Ranch ($525-825K SF, top Cherry Creek + Douglas County schools), Lone Tree / Castle Pines ($625K-$1.1M new construction), Lakewood / Wheat Ridge ($475-725K). Denver County property tax 0.55% effective. DTC light-rail Blue Line access keeps senior PE commute manageable from south suburbs.
Colorado Springs (Federal facility + USAFA + Cheyenne Mountain SFB)
Comp: EIT $70-105K · Senior PE $125-200K · Principal $175-260K · Senior Principal $225-340KDistinct federal-facility civil engineering market. United States Air Force Academy USAFA + Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Base + Peterson SFB + Schriever SFB + Fort Carson Army installation all maintain ongoing civil capital programs. Major design firm COS offices: Jacobs, AECOM, HDR, Matrix Design Group (founded Colorado Springs), JVA. Cleared work pays $15-30K TS/SCI premium. UCCS Engineering + Pikes Peak Community College pipeline. Strong PE community but smaller than Denver.
Family housing: Briargate / Old Colorado City / Black Forest $475-725K SF. Colorado Springs ~15% below Denver COL. Property tax 0.55% effective. USAFA proximity to north / east side of metro drives suburb residential patterns. Winter air quality (inversion + wood-burning) is a real local issue.
Mountain Towns (Aspen / Vail / Telluride / Steamboat) + Western Slope
Comp: Mountain senior PE $145-225K + per-diem · Western Slope senior PE $125-195K · Resort principal $185-285KResort municipal civil + USFS / BLM federal land-use work + Western Slope oil + gas + ranching civil. Smaller regional firms — Centennial Engineering, Ditesco, Aleris, OnTrack — handle the work. Premium 25-35% over Denver for Aspen / Vail / Telluride positions driven by housing-cost labor shortage. USFS / BLM cleared work plus Indian Health Service / BIA federal work in Durango add specialty depth. Grand Junction oil + gas + mining civil plus UMC Health expansion drives Western Slope demand.
Mountain housing is generally inaccessible at PE comp tier. Glenwood Springs ($475-825K), Carbondale ($425-725K), Rifle ($325-525K), Eagle ($475-825K), Steamboat Springs ($625K-$1.3M) more realistic. Grand Junction ($325-525K), Durango ($475-825K). I-70 mountain corridor commute risk in winter is genuine.
The CO civil engineer career arc — EIT through senior PE, principal, senior principal
CO civil careers typically start with CU Boulder Engineering or Colorado School of Mines Golden BS degrees (~600 graduates/year combined). New-grad EIT pay $72-90K at major design firms — Jacobs, Stantec, AECOM, HDR, Burns & McDonnell new-grad programs hire 80-120 EITs annually. CDOT prime + sub-consultant work + Denver Water + Aurora Water sub-consultant opportunities expose new grads to varied project types. EIT certification (passing FE / Fundamentals of Engineering exam) typically year 1-2.
Years 3-7 (Senior staff engineer / project engineer): comp $95-150K with PE license track. PE exam (NCEES + CO state-specific) typically year 5-6 after 4 years progressive responsibility under licensed PE supervision. Specialty fork at year 4-5 — transportation / water / structural / geotech / construction management. CDOT prime contractor experience opens senior PE roles at smaller firms with substantial salary jumps.
Years 7-15 (Senior PE / Project Manager / Principal): comp $135-285K. Senior PE running $5-50M project portfolios. Principal-track requires book of business + client relationships + project portfolio leadership. Group lead / sector lead at major firms (transportation, water, environmental) $185-260K. Federal facility cleared work (TS/SCI) adds $15-30K premium plus job security through contracting cycles.
Late career (15-25+): Senior principal / office lead / Sr VP / partner. Major firm Denver office leadership $250-385K base + profit-share + project portfolio bonus. Smaller-firm partner/owner $200-450K combined draw + distributions. The Section 199A deduction applies to passthrough income at owner-PE level. CO's 4.40% flat + 0.55% property tax + TABOR + mountain-lifestyle access make senior CO careers competitive with coastal markets at $250K+ comp.
Where CO civil engineers live — Front Range suburbs, Colorado Springs corridor, mountain commuter
CO civil engineers cluster in Front Range family-stage suburbs (Centennial, Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree, Lakewood) plus Colorado Springs corridor (Briargate, Old Colorado City) plus mountain commuter towns (Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, Eagle). Mountain towns themselves are largely inaccessible at PE comp tier.
Centennial / Highlands Ranch (Denver south)
25-35 min to DTC + downtown · top Cherry Creek + Douglas County schools · $525-825K SF · senior PE standard
Lone Tree / Castle Pines (Denver south)
20-30 min to DTC · new construction · $625K-$1.1M SF · favored by Jacobs / Stantec senior PE
Lakewood / Wheat Ridge (Denver west)
10-20 min to CDOT HQ + downtown · $475-725K SF · CDOT prime consultants favor west side
Aurora (Denver east)
Buckley SFB proximity · $425-650K SF · Anschutz Medical Campus + Buckley federal civil work base
Briargate (Colorado Springs north)
USAFA + Cheyenne Mountain SFB proximity · $475-725K SF · COS federal-facility PE standard
Old Colorado City (Colorado Springs west)
Historic district · $425-625K SF · walkable to Manitou Springs + Garden of the Gods
Glenwood Springs / Carbondale (mountain commuter)
~45 min to Aspen · $425-825K SF · most common mountain civil PE valley residence
Eagle / Gypsum (Vail commuter)
~30 min to Vail · $475-825K SF · Eagle County schools · primary Vail-area civil PE base
RTD light-rail Blue + R lines connect downtown Denver to DTC + south suburbs — useful for senior PE commute from Lone Tree / Centennial. Colorado Springs is car-only. Mountain commute via I-70 in winter is real avalanche + blizzard risk. CDOT HQ Lakewood is most convenient from west Denver suburbs.
¿Es la decisión correcta?
CO for civil engineers — who it actually works for
A tu favor
- +CO flat 4.40% plus TABOR plus 0.55% lowest-in-nation property tax — competitive with no-tax peers like TX or FL at PE comp tiers
- +CDOT $1.85B/yr capital program plus federal IIJA $25B+ over 5 years sustains civil engineering demand through 2030
- +Water rights civil engineering specialty (Denver Water, Aurora Water, Northern Water, 1922 Colorado River Compact) is CO-unique career depth
- +Major design firms (Jacobs, Stantec, AECOM, HDR, Burns & McDonnell, HNTB, Olsson Associates) all maintain robust Denver offices — career mobility within state is strong
- +OBBBA OT deduction flows through to CO state via federal-AGI conformity — material savings at EIT and non-exempt field engineer comp levels
Vale la pena saber antes de firmar
- −Top-end principal comp in CO ($385K senior principal) trails major coastal markets — career-cap analysis matters for senior PE weighing relocation
- −Mountain-town civil work commands 25-35% premium but housing in Aspen / Vail / Telluride is inaccessible at PE comp — long commutes via I-70 the norm
- −CDOT prime contracting is competitive — major firm Denver offices compete aggressively for prime + sub-consultant role allocation
- −CO winter is real — I-70 mountain corridor closures during blizzards affect mountain civil work cycles; field + construction observation roles face weather risk Oct-April
- −PE license maintenance (30 hours CE / 2 years through CO State Board) typically employer-covered at major firms but burdensome for small-firm partners
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