Roadway Design Engineer Salary in the United States

How much does a Roadway Design Engineer make in the United States?

As of October 01, 2026, the average salary for a Roadway Design Engineer in the United States is $80,772 per year, which breaks down to an hourly rate of $39.

However, a Roadway Design Engineer's salary can vary significantly. Here’s a look at the typical salary range:

  • Top Earners (90th percentile): $94,255
  • Majority Range (25th-75th percentile): $74,353 to $87,830
  • Entry-Level (10th percentile): $68,508

Key Factors That Influence Roadway Design Engineer Salaries

A Roadway Design Engineer's salary isn't a fixed number. It's shaped by several important factors. Below, we'll explore how your years of experience, geographic location and company size can directly affect your earning potential.

How Experience Level Affects Roadway Design Engineer Salaries?

Experience is a primary driver of a Roadway Design Engineer's salary. As you build your skills and take on more complex tasks, your compensation generally increases. Here's how the average salary grows at different career stages:

  • Entry-Level (less than 1 year): $81,218
  • Early Career (1-2 years): $103,223
  • Mid-Level (2-4 years): $116,015
  • Senior-Level (5-8 years): $143,117
  • Expert (over 8 years): $157,872
Levels Salary
Roadway D... Level Roadway Design Engineer$81,218
UI/Usabil... Level Roadway Design Engineer$103,223
UI/Usabil... Level Roadway Design Engineer$116,015
UI/Usabil... Level Roadway Design Engineer$143,117
UI/Usabil... Level Roadway Design Engineer$157,872

Top Paying Cities for Roadway Design Engineers

Salaries can also vary between different cities. Major metropolitan areas or cities with a high demand for technicians often offer more competitive pay. Here are a few examples of average annual salaries in different U.S. cities:

  • San Jose: $101,878
  • San Francisco: $100,763
  • Oakland: $98,639

What Skills Can Increase a Roadway Design Engineer's Salary?

Demanded Skills for the Role:

  • Insight (Mentioned in 3.51% Job Postings): Insight is the understanding cause and effect based on the identification of relationships and behaviors within a model, context, or scenario.
  • Typography (Mentioned in 3.38% Job Postings): Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable, and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing (leading), and letter-spacing (tracking), and adjusting the space between pairs of letters (kerning). The term typography is also applied to the style, arrangement, and appearance of the letters, numbers, and symbols created by the process. Type design is a closely related craft, sometimes considered part of typography; most typographers do not design typefaces, and some type designers do not consider themselves typographers. Typography also may be used as a decorative device, unrelated to communication of information. Typography is the work of typesetters (also known as compositors), typographers, graphic designers, art directors, manga artists, comic book artists, graffiti artists, and, now, anyone who arranges words, letters, numbers, and symbols for publication, display, or distribution, from clerical workers and newsletter writers to anyone self-publishing materials. Until the Digital Age, typography was a specialized occupation. Digitization opened up typography to new generations of previously unrelated designers and lay users. As the capability to create typography has become ubiquitous, the application of principles and best practices developed over generations of skilled workers and professionals has diminished. So at a time when scientific techniques can support the proven traditions (e.g., greater legibility with the use of serifs, upper and lower case, contrast, etc.) through understanding the limitations of human vision, typography as often encountered may fail to achieve its principal objective: effective communication.
  • Product Design (Mentioned in 2.41% Job Postings): Product design as a verb is to create a new product to be sold by a business to its customers. A very broad coefficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products. Thus, it is a major aspect of new product development. Due to the absence of a consensually accepted definition that reflects the breadth of the topic sufficiently, two discrete, yet interdependent, definitions are needed: one that explicitly defines product design in reference to the artifact, the other that defines the product design process in relation to this artifact. Product design as a noun: the set of properties of an artifact, consisting of the discrete properties of the form (i.e., the aesthetics of the tangible good and/or service) and the function (i.e. its capabilities) together with the holistic properties of the integrated form and function.
Skills Demand Percentage
Insight 3.51%
Typography 3.38%
Product Design 2.41%

What skills can make your compensation higher?

Mastering certain specialized skills can lead to a significant increase in pay. Here are examples of skills and the potential impact they can have on a Roadway Design Engineer's salary.

  • Prioritization: Can increase your salary by up to 36%.
  • Storytelling: Can increase your salary by up to 30%.
  • Commitment: Can increase your salary by up to 20%.
Skill Salary Salary % Increase
Prioritization $109,850
36%
Storytelling $105,004
30%
Commitment $96,927
20%

Roadway Design Engineer Salary by Industry: Top Paying Sectors

For Roadway Design Engineer roles, the industry you choose can affect earning potential by as much as 45% (the gap between the highest and lowest paying industries). Data shows that the Financial Services and Software & Networking sectors offer the strongest compensation, at 25% above the average. In contrast, Roadway Design Engineer positions in Edu., Gov't. & Nonprofit or Hospitality & Leisure typically offer lower base pay, as these industries often view Roadway Design Engineer as a support function rather than a direct revenue driver.

The top paying industries for a Roadway Design Engineer

Industry Sector Average Annual Salary Average Hourly Rate Pay vs.Avg
Financial Services$100,965$49.025%
Software & Networking$96,927$47.020%
Pharmaceuticals$92,888$45.015%
Internet$88,850$43.010%
Aerospace & Defense$84,811$41.05%

Roadway Design Engineer Salary: Hourly Rate, Weekly Pay, and Monthly Pay

Understanding how a Roadway Design Engineer's annual salary breaks down can help with budgeting. Below, you can see the average hourly rate, weekly pay, and monthly pay for this role. Use the buttons to switch between different pay periods.

Last Updated on October 01, 2026
$74,353
Average $80,772/year
$87,830
$6,196
Average $6,731/month
$7,319
$1,430
Average $1,553/week
$1,689
$36
Average $39/hour
$42
Annual Salary Monthly Pay Weekly Pay Hourly Wage
75th Percentile $87,830 $7,319 $1,689 $42
Average $80,772 $6,731 $1,553 $39
25th Percentile $74,353 $6,196 $1,430 $36

Most common benefits for Roadway Design Engineer

  • Social Security
  • 401 (k)
  • Disability
  • Healthcare
  • Pension
  • Time Off (days)

Common company salaries for Roadway Design Engineer

Here are companies hiring for Roadway Design Engineer and their salaries, click below for more details.

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FAQ about Roadway Design Engineer

1. What industry pays the highest salary for Roadway Design Engineer?

The Financial Services industry offers the highest average compensation for Roadway Design Engineer roles, with salaries approximately 25% above the market median.

Where Does Our Salary Data Come From?

Salary.com provides salary estimates, histograms, trends, and comparisons using data from employer job postings and third-party sources.

We offer detailed salary information across multiple percentiles for your reference. (Click here to learn Why the Salary Midpoint Formula Is Crucial for Achieving Pay Equity.)

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