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Published

Compensation Intelligence Snapshot

National medians and regional spread for core construction execution roles — anchored to BLS OEWS.

Q2 2026Updated Q2 2026DirectionalWIL-2026.1Compensation Strategy

Workforce Intelligence Lab · Sources: BLS OEWS · BLS QCEW

At a glance

ConfidenceDirectionalWIL-2026.1

Executive Brief

Decision-ready summary for leadership review — directional bands only, no raw data exports.

Standing Brief · CVF v1.2

Compensation Intelligence Snapshot

National medians and regional spread for senior execution roles — positioning bands, not spot wage quotes.

4Role groupsCore execution
~$115kPM median bandNational anchor
+35%Widest premiumTop-state spread
2026-06Updatedv2

Full Report

Complete structured analysis with charts, rankings, and methodology confidence.

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. Field supervision and estimating tracks somewhat lower nationally but exhibits similar regional dispersion.

Regional wage spread vs. national median · % over / under national, 5-pt bins
Project Manager
Estimator
Project Engineer
Superintendent
Bars span the lowest- to highest-paying tracked state markets for each role, positioned against the national median. Directional 5-point bins — regional positioning, not construction-only spot wages.

Project Manager

National median
~$115k
Top-state position
+35% vs nat'l
Lowest-state position
-25% vs nat'l
Range character
material premium → discount

Highest-paying state markets include NY, WA, MA, NJ. Lower-cost markets include AR, WY, WV. Top-state position reads as material premium over national medians.

Estimator

National median
~$80k
Top-state position
+30% vs nat'l
Lowest-state position
-20% vs nat'l
Range character
material premium → discount

Highest-paying state markets include MA, WY, CO, WA. Lower-cost markets include AR, NM, OK. Top-state position reads as material premium over national medians.

Project Engineer

National median
~$100k
Top-state position
+20% vs nat'l
Lowest-state position
-15% vs nat'l
Range character
material premium → discount

Highest-paying state markets include CA, WA, MA, LA. Lower-cost markets include GA, AR, WV. Top-state position reads as material premium over national medians.

Superintendent

National median
~$80k
Top-state position
+35% vs nat'l
Lowest-state position
-25% vs nat'l
Range character
material premium → discount

Highest-paying state markets include WA, IL, NJ, OR. Lower-cost markets include AR, AL, MS. 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.
  • Field supervision spread is widest. Superintendents / Foremen show the largest regional gap between top and bottom state medians.
  • Project engineering runs flatter. Technical specialization compresses regional wage dispersion.
Published snapshot is restrained to OEWS-derived state-level framing. Segment- or metro-specific benchmarks are available through the research team.

Interactive Visualizations

Charts, indicators, and comparative views — institutional evidence without raw record access.

Regional compensation spread

Top-state premium vs. national median by core execution role — directional positioning, not spot wages.

Regional wage spread vs. national median · % over / under national, 5-pt bins
Project Manager
Estimator
Project Engineer
Superintendent
Bars span the lowest- to highest-paying tracked state markets for each role, positioned against the national median. Directional 5-point bins — regional positioning, not construction-only spot wages.

Methodology Summary

Source families, framework version, and confidence framing — not proprietary formulas or scoring weights.

Institutional workforce intelligence methodology with documented confidence tier, source-family transparency, and quarterly refresh cadence. Public library packages exclude proprietary model details and raw-data exports.

Version
WIL-2026.1
Source families
BLS OEWS · BLS QCEW
Update cadence
Quarterly
Confidence
Directional

Methodology registry →

Executive Presentation

Slide-style summary for board and leadership review.

Slide 1

Situation Summary

National medians and regional spread for core construction execution roles — anchored to BLS OEWS.

Slide 2

Key Findings

1. National medians and regional spread for core construction execution roles

Slide 3

Implications

Directional workforce intelligence for institutional planning — banded operational reads without exposing raw-data exports or proprietary model details.