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The differences between traffic engineers and civil engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a traffic engineer has an average salary of $87,079, which is higher than the $70,950 average annual salary of a civil engineer.
The top three skills for a traffic engineer include HCS, traffic operations and signal timing. The most important skills for a civil engineer are civil 3d, engineering design, and cost estimates.
| Traffic Engineer | Civil Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $87,079 | $70,950 |
| Hourly rate | $41.86 | $34.11 |
| Growth rate | 7% | 7% |
| Number of jobs | 5,561 | 26,803 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 77% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | - | 6 |
The Traffic Engineer is responsible for the design of roadways that provide free traffic flow. In city planning, congested roads are one of the crucial problems that need solving. The Traffic Engineer works with various agencies to gather information to develop and design a customized road network that will decongest roads and prevent bottlenecks. Traffic Engineers are essential personnel, even in building suburban subdivisions and housing projects. A Traffic Engineer's tasks are to conduct assessments of existing road networks and provide suggestions for improving traffic flow and recommend design modifications and alterations
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.
Traffic engineers and civil engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Traffic Engineer | Civil Engineer | |
| Average salary | $87,079 | $70,950 |
| Salary range | Between $54,000 And $138,000 | Between $51,000 And $97,000 |
| Highest paying City | Los Angeles, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Apple | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Retail | Construction |
There are a few differences between a traffic engineer and a civil engineer in terms of educational background:
| Traffic Engineer | Civil Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 77% |
| Most common major | Civil Engineering | Civil Engineering |
| Most common college | University of Southern California | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor |
Here are the differences between traffic engineers' and civil engineers' demographics:
| Traffic Engineer | Civil Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 81.2% Female, 18.8% | Male, 83.6% Female, 16.4% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.6% Asian, 14.6% White, 64.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | 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 Percentage | 5% | 5% |