How To Become A Municipal Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a municipal engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted experts

Esber Andiroglu PhD, PE, LEED AP,

Dr. Hugh Jack Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a municipal engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $34.03 an hour? That's $70,787 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 7% and produce 22,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a municipal engineer?

Esber Andiroglu PhD, PE, LEED AP

Associate Professor of Practice, Dept. of Civil & Architectural Engineering, Director of Construction Management Programs, University of Miami

Interdisciplinary and transformative design and construction approaches; integration of emerging technological innovations into practice; integration of software tools into everyday problem solving; solid knowledge about smart systems and AI applications; good understanding and ability to use data analytics

ScoreMunicipal EngineerUS Average

Salary

5.5

Avg. Salary $70,787

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.3

Growth rate 7%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.31%

Asian 11.32%

Black or African American 3.95%

Hispanic or Latino 11.57%

Unknown 4.68%

White 68.18%

Gender

female 13.56%

male 86.44%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

7.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a municipal engineer

Explore municipal engineer education requirements

Most common municipal engineer degrees

Bachelor's

82.7 %

Master's

11.5 %

Diploma

1.9 %

Start to develop specific municipal engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Autocad	20.09%
Project Management	16.01%
Conveyance	14.03%
Site Development	8.67%
Technical Reports	6.43%

Complete relevant municipal engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New municipal engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a municipal engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real municipal engineer resumes.

Research municipal engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage Jenkins security by providing specific access to authorize developers/testers using project base matrix authorization strategy.
Perform geotechnical instrumentation monitoring and data collection
Perform geotechnical instrumentation monitoring and data collection

Apply for municipal engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a municipal engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do municipal engineers rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Municipal engineer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2019

Pros

The salary and the benefits that come with a job.