Compared with the local labor market
Senior Transportation Engineer, Caltrans pay vs. California
Across all employers in California, the median wage for Civil Engineers — about 55,180 people — is $122,500. Transportation pays a median base salary of $166,090 for this role, 36% above that figure — about the 84th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Transportation sits in the local pay range
$77,980
$96,590
$122,500
$149,350
$175,940
Transportation median · $166,090
The bar is the range of annual wages for Civil Engineers across every employer in California, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Transportation’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Civil Engineers — about 367,840 people — is $100,840. Transportation’s median base salary is 65% above that national figure, above the 90th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$68,240
$79,930
$100,840
$129,680
$163,220
Transportation median · $166,090
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the California range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 1,517 of 1,689 people in this role paid at least $25,000in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.
Median total compensation for this role at Transportation is $166,629, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare departments
This role across California
Senior Transportation Engineer, Caltrans is held in 3 California departments. In Transportation, the median of $166,629 ranks #2 of 3.
Highest-paying departments for this role
Median total compensation for the Senior Transportation Engineer, Caltrans role in other Californiadepartments (highest first). Each bar links to that department’s page for this role.