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The differences between traffic engineers and structures 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 $73,391 average annual salary of a structures engineer.
The top three skills for a traffic engineer include HCS, traffic operations and signal timing. The most important skills for a structures engineer are structural analysis, revit, and RISA.
| Traffic Engineer | Structures Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $87,079 | $73,391 |
| Hourly rate | $41.86 | $35.28 |
| Growth rate | 7% | 7% |
| Number of jobs | 5,561 | 20,778 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| 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 structures engineer works in designing, planning, and overseeing the development of the latest buildings and bridges or modifications and extensions to an existing property or other structures. They are mainly concerned with the safety and capability of the structure to withstand the elements to which they will be exposed--also improving the existing building structural integrity. Part of the task is inspecting properties regarding the conditions/foundation and checking work undertaken by contractors. The job is very similarly related to a civil engineer.
Traffic engineers and structures engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Traffic Engineer | Structures Engineer | |
| Average salary | $87,079 | $73,391 |
| Salary range | Between $54,000 And $138,000 | Between $54,000 And $98,000 |
| Highest paying City | Los Angeles, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Apple | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Retail | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a traffic engineer and a structures engineer in terms of educational background:
| Traffic Engineer | Structures Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Most common major | Civil Engineering | Civil Engineering |
| Most common college | University of Southern California | Carnegie Mellon University |
Here are the differences between traffic engineers' and structures engineers' demographics:
| Traffic Engineer | Structures Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 81.2% Female, 18.8% | Male, 84.9% Female, 15.1% |
| 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, 3.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 10.3% Asian, 17.3% White, 64.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |