What Civil Engineers earn in Hunt County, TX
According to the latest federal wage data for the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metropolitan area, the median pay for Civil Engineers in Hunt County, TX is $96,920 a year, or $46.60 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare (and no state income tax), the paycheck shrinks to $76,734 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Hunt County, TX.
The mean wage is $102,080, which is 5.3% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 8,010 people working in this occupation across the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Hunt County, TX has roughly 108,972 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 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $61,720 a year ($29.67 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $158,170 or more ($76.04 an hour). That is a gap of $96,450 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $77,710 at the 25th percentile and $124,870 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.6 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $46.60 an hour or $96,920 a year at the median for Hunt County, TX. Before any deductions, that is $8,077 a month, $3,728 every two weeks and $1,864 each week. After taxes the same job pays $36.89 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 Hunt County, TX median of $96,920 is 3.9% below it.
How pay in Hunt County, TX compares
Compared with the Texas average
A worker in this occupation in Hunt County, TX earns $1,102 more than the Texas average of $95,818, a premium of 1.1%. Over a year that premium is worth $1,102 before tax and roughly $873 after tax. Within Texas, the highest median we track for this job is $100,950 in Harris County, TX.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Civil Engineers is $101,671 across the contiguous United States. At $96,920, Hunt County, TX pays $4,751 less, which is 4.7% below 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 Hunt County, TX
Among the 627 occupations with published wages in Hunt County, TX, Civil Engineers ranks number 118 by median pay, ahead of about 81% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $173,810 a year, which is $76,890 more than the median for Civil Engineers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Civil Engineers earning the Hunt County, TX median of $96,920, they add up to $20,186. The result is $76,734 of take-home pay a year ($6,395 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $21 goes to taxes and $79 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 20.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $81,170. 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 $12,771, an effective 13.2% 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 $6,009 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,405. FICA totals $7,414, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Texas
Texas does not tax wage income, so the state income tax line for Civil Engineers in Hunt County, TX is $0. That alone leaves more in the paycheck than the same salary would in a state with an income tax. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $4,846 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $404 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Hunt County, TX
IRS Statistics of Income data for Hunt County, TX show an average adjusted gross income of $73,516 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 10.9% across all filers. Filers in the $75,000 to under $100,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 7.9%, compared with the 13.2% 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 Hunt County, TX
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Hunt County, TX: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $76,734 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Hunt County, TX, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,536 a month ($18,432 a year), and at $1,807 for two bedrooms. For Civil Engineers, a one-bedroom absorbs 24.0% of take-home pay and 19.0% 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 3.5% of gross pay for Civil Engineers in Hunt County, TX. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Texas residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,578 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $719, for $2,297 in total. Gasoline in Texas averages $2.88 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,334.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $25,499 a year in Hunt County, TX. Subtract that from $76,734 of take-home pay and $51,235 remains, which is $4,270 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 52.9% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Hunt County, TX
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Hunt County, TX: 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 Hunt County, TX, set beside the Texas and national medians.
Property taxes in Hunt County, TX
Homeowners in Hunt County, TX pay a median of $3,002 a year in real estate taxes, 29% below the Texas median of $4,232 and 4% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $241,700, the median tax bill is 1.24% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Civil Engineers median of $96,920, a tax bill of that size would equal 3.1% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Hunt County, TX
Renters in Hunt County, TX pay a median gross rent of $1,222 a month in the Census survey, 13% below the Texas median of $1,403. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,536 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 $241,700, 15% below the Texas median of $283,800. Median household income is $71,938, 8% below the Texas median of $78,476, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 25.6% of that income.
Commuting in Hunt County, TX
Workers in Hunt County, TX who travel to a workplace spend an average of 31.3 minutes each way, 17% above the Texas average of 26.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.2 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 10.1% of workers in Hunt County, TX work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Civil Engineers afford to live in Hunt County, TX?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $96,920 that ceiling is $2,423 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,536 is $887 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $29.54 an hour; the median for Civil Engineers is $46.60, which is 58% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $36.89 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 9.6 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,807 a month means $904 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,590 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $58,825.
How fast you can save
At $4,270 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 Hunt County, TX
How much do Civil Engineers make per hour in Hunt County, TX?
The median is $46.60 per hour, based on $96,920 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $29.67 at the 10th percentile to $76.04 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Civil Engineers take home after taxes in Hunt County, TX?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $96,920 becomes $76,734 a year. That is $6,395 a month, $2,951 every two weeks or $1,476 a week.
How much tax do Civil Engineers pay in Hunt County, TX?
Total taxes are $20,186 a year, an effective rate of 20.8%: $12,771 federal income tax, $7,414 FICA and no Texas income tax.
Do Civil Engineers earn more in Hunt County, TX than elsewhere in Texas?
Yes. The local median of $96,920 is +1.1% versus the Texas average of $95,818, a difference of $1,102 a year.
Can Civil Engineers afford a one-bedroom apartment in Hunt County, TX?
A one-bedroom costs $1,536 a month against take-home pay of $6,395, which is 24.0% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $2,423 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Civil Engineers in Hunt County, TX?
About $4,270 a month ($51,235 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $25,499 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Hunt County, TX at the 30% guideline?
$29.54 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $18,432 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Civil Engineers is $46.60.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 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 Texas 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.