What Civil Engineers earn in Denver County, CO
According to the latest federal wage data for the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO metropolitan area, the median pay for Civil Engineers in Denver County, CO is $104,710 a year, or $50.34 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $78,267 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Denver County, CO.
The mean wage is $116,830, which is 11.6% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 9,130 people working in this occupation across the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Denver County, CO has roughly 718,877 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Civil Engineers in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $78,930 a year ($37.95 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $167,090 or more ($80.33 an hour). That is a gap of $88,160 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $84,410 at the 25th percentile and $135,030 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.1 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Civil Engineers in Denver County, CO is $50.34. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $104,710, and the same salary is $8,726 a month before taxes or about $4,027 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $37.63 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Civil Engineers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Civil Engineers this way: "Perform engineering duties in planning, designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance of building structures and facilities, such as roads, railroads, airports, bridges, harbors, channels, dams, irrigation projects, pipelines, power plants, and water and sewage systems."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Compute load and grade requirements, water flow rates, or material stress factors to determine design specifications"; "Inspect project sites to monitor progress and ensure conformance to design specifications and safety or sanitation standards"; "Direct or participate in surveying to lay out installations or establish reference points, grades, or elevations to guide construction"; "Estimate quantities and cost of materials, equipment, or labor to determine project feasibility".
Job outlook for Civil Engineers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 380,600 jobs in 2025 to 405,100 in 2035, a change of +6.4%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 22,700 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 6.0% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: bachelor's degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $100,840 for this occupation; the Denver County, CO median of $104,710 is 3.8% above it.
How pay in Denver County, CO compares
Compared with the Colorado average
Denver County, CO pays above the state benchmark. The Colorado employment-weighted average for Civil Engineers is $102,507; the local median of $104,710 beats it by $2,203, or 2.1%. Within Colorado, Denver County, CO already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Civil Engineers is $101,671 across the contiguous United States. At $104,710, Denver County, CO pays $3,039 more, which is 3.0% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Denver County, CO
Among the 554 occupations with published wages in Denver County, CO, Civil Engineers ranks number 92 by median pay, ahead of about 84% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Lawyers at $177,380 a year, which is $72,670 more than the median for Civil Engineers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $104,710 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $26,443 a year, which leaves $78,267, or $6,522 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $25 goes to taxes and $75 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 25.3%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $88,960. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 22% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $14,485, an effective 13.8% of gross pay, well below the 22% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $6,492 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,518. FICA totals $8,010, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Colorado
Colorado income tax on this salary is $3,947 a year, or 3.8% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 27% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $329 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Denver County, CO
IRS Statistics of Income data for Denver County, CO show an average adjusted gross income of $114,627 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 17.4% across all filers. Filers in the $100,000 to under $200,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 13.4%, compared with the 13.8% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Denver County, CO
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Denver County, CO: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $78,267 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Denver County, CO is $1,831 a month, or $21,972 a year. A two-bedroom costs $2,169 a month. For Civil Engineers, a one-bedroom absorbs 28.1% of take-home pay and 21.0% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 3.3% of gross pay for Civil Engineers in Denver County, CO. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Colorado residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,576 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $411, for $1,987 in total. Gasoline in Colorado averages $3.14 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,451.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $28,846 a year, 37% of take-home pay. That leaves $49,421 a year, or $4,118 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 47.2% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Denver County, CO
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Denver County, CO: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Denver County, CO, set beside the Colorado and national medians.
Property taxes in Denver County, CO
Homeowners in Denver County, CO pay a median of $2,751 a year in real estate taxes, 6% above the Colorado median of $2,602 and 12% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $616,000, the median tax bill is 0.45% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Civil Engineers median of $104,710, a tax bill of that size would equal 2.6% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Denver County, CO
Renters in Denver County, CO pay a median gross rent of $1,831 a month in the Census survey, 4% above the Colorado median of $1,761. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,831 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $616,000, 14% above the Colorado median of $539,400. Median household income is $94,718, in line with the Colorado median of $95,470, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 23.2% of that income.
Commuting in Denver County, CO
Workers in Denver County, CO who travel to a workplace spend an average of 24.9 minutes each way, 1% below the Colorado average of 25.2. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.2 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 27.3% of workers in Denver County, CO work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Civil Engineers afford to live in Denver County, CO?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $104,710 that ceiling is $2,618 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,831 is $787 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $35.21 an hour; the median for Civil Engineers is $50.34, which is 43% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $37.63 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 11.2 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,169 a month means $1,085 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $8,958 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $58,379.
How fast you can save
At $4,118 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 3 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 6 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Civil Engineers pay in Denver County, CO
What is the hourly wage for Civil Engineers in Denver County, CO?
The median is $50.34 per hour, based on $104,710 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $37.95 at the 10th percentile to $80.33 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Civil Engineers in Denver County, CO?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $104,710 becomes $78,267 a year. That is $6,522 a month, $3,010 every two weeks or $1,505 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Civil Engineers in Denver County, CO?
Total taxes are $26,443 a year, an effective rate of 25.3%: $14,485 federal income tax, $8,010 FICA and $3,947 Colorado income tax.
Is pay for Civil Engineers in Denver County, CO above the Colorado average?
Yes. The local median of $104,710 is +2.1% versus the Colorado average of $102,507, a difference of $2,203 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Civil Engineers salary in Denver County, CO?
A one-bedroom costs $1,831 a month against take-home pay of $6,522, which is 28.1% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $2,618 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Civil Engineers in Denver County, CO?
About $4,118 a month ($49,421 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $28,846 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Denver County, CO at the 30% guideline?
$35.21 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $21,972 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Civil Engineers is $50.34.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Colorado rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.