Construction Compensation Snapshot
Construction Compensation Snapshot
National compensation visibility for the core construction execution roles — project leadership, estimating, field supervision, and project engineering. Framed in regional positioning rather than precise spot wages.
Headline read
National median compensation for construction project leadership sits in the low-to-mid six figures, with material regional premiums concentrated in coastal metros — most notably the Northeast corridor and California. Field supervision and estimating tracks somewhat lower nationally but exhibits similar regional dispersion. Project engineering carries a consistent technical premium across most large markets.
Project Manager
Highest-paying state markets for this role include NY, WA, MA, NJ. Lower-cost markets currently include AR, WY, WV. Regional positioning here is intended as a benchmark anchor; the published medians reflect cross-industry OEWS reporting, not construction-only segmentation. Top-state position reads as material premium over national medians.
Estimator
Highest-paying state markets for this role include MA, WY, CO, WA. Lower-cost markets currently include AR, NM, OK. Regional positioning here is intended as a benchmark anchor; the published medians reflect cross-industry OEWS reporting, not construction-only segmentation. Top-state position reads as material premium over national medians.
Project Engineer
Highest-paying state markets for this role include CA, WA, MA, LA. Lower-cost markets currently include GA, AR, WV. Regional positioning here is intended as a benchmark anchor; the published medians reflect cross-industry OEWS reporting, not construction-only segmentation. Top-state position reads as material premium over national medians.
Superintendent
Highest-paying state markets for this role include WA, IL, NJ, OR. Lower-cost markets currently include AR, AL, MS. Regional positioning here is intended as a benchmark anchor; the published medians reflect cross-industry OEWS reporting, not construction-only segmentation. Top-state position reads as material premium over national medians.
Cross-role observations
- Coastal premium persists. Northeast and West Coast metros carry meaningful compensation premiums across all four roles, reflecting cost-of-living and talent-density dynamics.
- Field supervision spread is widest. The regional gap between top and bottom state medians is largest for Superintendents / Foremen — implying greater portability of total compensation expectations.
- Project engineering runs flatter. Civil-engineering wage dispersion is narrower nationally; technical specialization compresses regional spread.
Methodology & sources
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). State medians are compared against the national median for the same SOC code; positioning is expressed in directional ranges. Published wage figures are rounded to the nearest $5,000 to avoid overprecise framing. Percent-over-national values are rounded to 5% bins. Note that OEWS reports cross-industry medians — construction-only segmentation is not separately published at the state level. See the methodology page for confidence and limitations. Operational, directional read — not a forecast. Tiers, not scores. Ranges, not spot figures.