Post job

Chemical engineer vs civil engineer

The differences between chemical engineers and civil engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a chemical engineer has an average salary of $89,449, which is higher than the $70,950 average annual salary of a civil engineer.

The top three skills for a chemical engineer include chemistry, technical support and co-op. The most important skills for a civil engineer are civil 3d, engineering design, and cost estimates.

Chemical engineer vs civil engineer overview

Chemical EngineerCivil Engineer
Yearly salary$89,449$70,950
Hourly rate$43.00$34.11
Growth rate14%7%
Number of jobs42,17626,803
Job satisfaction-5
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 78%Bachelor's Degree, 77%
Average age4141
Years of experience-6

What does a chemical engineer do?

A chemical engineer provides support for chemical operations and testing new processes. The processes they successfully come up with are used to make different products from gas, oil, food, and drink. It is their job to assist in designing new chemical processes and make improvements. They implement fresh ideas to improve standard quality and efficiency. They must be good planners and schedulers of project activities to help chemical technicians to achieve their project objectives and provide technical support to maintain safe, stable, and reliable operations.

What does a civil engineer do?

A civil engineer designs and supervises the construction of large-scale public works projects such as buildings, roads, tunnels, highways, airports, bridges, dams, and other substantial infrastructure. Most civil engineers work in the private industry, but some work for a government organization. Their output is almost everywhere. Many of them specialize in a specific project or practice a target profession such as in transportation, structural engineering, or geotechnical engineering. They oftentimes work at project sites, as they monitor the ongoing construction.

Chemical engineer vs civil engineer salary

Chemical engineers and civil engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Chemical EngineerCivil Engineer
Average salary$89,449$70,950
Salary rangeBetween $67,000 And $119,000Between $51,000 And $97,000
Highest paying CitySugar Land, TXSan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateTexasCalifornia
Best paying companyBP America IncThe Citadel
Best paying industryEnergyConstruction

Differences between chemical engineer and civil engineer education

There are a few differences between a chemical engineer and a civil engineer in terms of educational background:

Chemical EngineerCivil Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 78%Bachelor's Degree, 77%
Most common majorChemical EngineeringCivil Engineering
Most common collegeGeorgia Institute of TechnologyUniversity of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Chemical engineer vs civil engineer demographics

Here are the differences between chemical engineers' and civil engineers' demographics:

Chemical EngineerCivil Engineer
Average age4141
Gender ratioMale, 74.1% Female, 25.9%Male, 83.6% Female, 16.4%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 3.6% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.2% Asian, 21.3% White, 60.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%Black or African American, 3.8% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, 15.6% White, 64.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage9%5%

Differences between chemical engineer and civil engineer duties and responsibilities

Chemical engineer example responsibilities.

  • Manage and supervise projects on the production floor and QC department.
  • Lead small project teams of co-op students and interface effectively with plant operators.
  • Manage various cross functional teams to do the IQ, OQ, & PQ validation.
  • Accomplish extraction of heat and material balance data from HYSYS simulation and generating the relevant process flow diagram.
  • Work on windows server 2012 and SQL server 2008.
  • Modify FTIR optics for study of combusting flame.
  • Show more

Civil engineer example responsibilities.

  • Manage production of full sets of contract documents (grading, drainage, water, sewer, paving and SWPPP).
  • Manage project programming requirements and manage HVAC design activities.
  • Project manage the overall reorganizing and restructuring of the telecommunication department.
  • Design engineer and project manager for HVAC, plumbing, and fire protection systems.
  • Support and troubleshoot Hewlett Packard printers, servers, switches, thin clients, and Cisco phone systems.
  • Handle and continuously update project documentation as as-built records and construction record reports.
  • Show more

Chemical engineer vs civil engineer skills

Common chemical engineer skills
  • Chemistry, 10%
  • Technical Support, 5%
  • Co-Op, 4%
  • Chemical Process, 4%
  • Troubleshoot, 3%
  • Project Management, 3%
Common civil engineer skills
  • Civil 3D, 11%
  • Engineering Design, 7%
  • Cost Estimates, 7%
  • Project Management, 6%
  • Construction Projects, 4%
  • Engineering Projects, 4%

Browse architecture and engineering jobs