Talent Maps / Dallas-Fort Worth / Structural Engineers

Dallas-Fort Worth Structural Engineer Talent Map (2026)

What structural engineers earn in Dallas-Fort Worth, how Texas licenses them, which firms employ them and the convention center, airport, tower and data center projects competing for them.

Hiring structural engineers in DFW?

A talent map shows where a group of professionals works, what they are paid and who else is trying to hire them. This one covers structural engineers in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts structural engineers as civil engineers, so we pair its May 2025 wage data with real pay ranges from DFW job postings in 2026. Our civil and structural engineering recruiters update it as new data comes out. See also our DFW civil, architect and data center talent maps.

$96,920Median pay for civil engineers, the BLS group that includes structural engineers, in DFWBLS, May 2025

$124,870The 75th percentile, where licensed structural engineers usually sitBLS, May 2025

69,000+Professional engineers licensed to serve Texas, across every disciplineTBPELS

2.1M sq ftThe rebuilt Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, due at the end of 2030City of Dallas

800,000 sq ftGoldman Sachs’ new Dallas campus, opening January 2028Fox Business, 2026

765+ MWData center capacity under construction in DFWCBRE, H1 2026

Structural engineer salaries in Dallas-Fort Worth

BLS does not publish a separate figure for structural engineers. The civil engineer figures below include them, but structural engineers with a PE and building or bridge experience usually earn at or above the 75th percentile ($124,870).

Annual pay percentile	DFW metro	Texas	United States
10th percentile	$61,720	$63,240	$68,240
25th percentile	$77,710	$77,200	$79,930
Median	$96,920	$96,860	$100,840
75th percentile	$124,870	$127,340	$129,680
90th percentile	$158,170	$164,330	$163,220

Civil Engineers (SOC 17-2051), which includes structural engineers. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, May 2025, via O*NET OnLine.

What DFW structural jobs are posting in 2026

Employer and role	Experience	Posted base pay
Arcadis, Structural Engineer 2, Dallas	2+ years, EIT	$70,000 to $100,000
Jacobs, Structural Engineering Professional, Dallas	Early career	$74,700 to $102,700
Wright Engineers, Structural Engineer, DFW	4+ years	$90,000 to $110,000
Jacobs, Structural Engineering Professional, Dallas	4+ years, PE	$91,400 to $125,600
Jacobs, Senior Structural Engineer (Data Center), Fort Worth	8+ years, PE	$132,900 to $182,700
Jacobs, Structural Engineer SME, AI Data Centers, Dallas	15+ years	$169,500 to $233,000

Postings live between March and September 2026. Several of these roles are open to more than one location, so the ranges reflect wider markets as well as DFW.

What the postings show: data center structural work pays a clear premium. A senior engineer with a PE and mission-critical experience is being offered well above the 90th percentile for civil engineers as a whole.

How Texas licenses structural engineers

Texas does not have a separate structural engineering (SE) license. The Texas Board of Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors licenses professional engineers and records each engineer’s primary discipline, and structural is one of the recognized branches. Candidates must pass the FE exam, a PE exam and the Texas Ethics exam, and the board accepts the 16-hour NCEES structural exam as the PE exam. That makes the pool of Texas engineers who can seal structural drawings larger than in states with a separate SE license, but the number with deep high-rise, long-span or mission-critical experience is still small.

Where DFW’s structural engineers work

Structural specialist firms

Walter P Moore has offices in downtown Dallas and Fort Worth, and its Dallas portfolio includes AT&T Stadium, Globe Life Field, American Airlines Center and DFW’s Terminal D. Thornton Tomasetti has a Dallas office on North Central Expressway.

Datum Engineers, founded in Dallas in 1937, practices only structural engineering. L.A. Fuess Partners is headquartered in Dallas, with a second office in McKinney.

Multi-discipline engineering firms

Jacobs and AECOM are both headquartered in Dallas. Halff, founded in Dallas in 1950, has four Metroplex offices. Huitt-Zollars has been headquartered in Dallas since 1975.

RLG Consulting Engineers has offices in Dallas and Fort Worth, and JQ Infrastructure, formerly Jaster-Quintanilla, works in Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston.

Testing and forensics

Raba Kistner has worked in Dallas since 2008 and runs materials testing and engineering from Grand Prairie. RLG also offers forensic engineering.

These firms hire structural engineers for inspections, failure investigations and construction-phase testing.

Architects and owners

Dallas is home to two of the country’s largest architecture firms, HKS and Corgan, and structural engineers work closely with both. See our DFW architect talent map.

Data center developers and contractors hire structural engineers for large steel and concrete packages on fast schedules.

Where the talent sits: DFW submarkets

Downtown and Uptown Dallas

BuildingsSports and assembly

Walter P Moore and JQ-IMEG offices, the convention center rebuild and the Klyde Warren Park expansion over the freeway.

North Dallas and Central Expressway

BuildingsForensics

Thornton Tomasetti, Datum Engineers and L.A. Fuess Partners, plus AECOM headquarters on Noel Road.

Fort Worth

BridgesBuildings

Walter P Moore’s Fort Worth office, Freese and Nichols and the Panther Island flood control and bridge work north of downtown.

Arlington and Grand Prairie

TestingResearch

Raba Kistner’s testing operation and UT Arlington’s structural research lab, between the two downtowns.

South metro

Data centersIndustrial

The data center campuses in Red Oak, Lancaster, Wilmer and Midlothian, which need large structural packages built quickly.

What’s driving demand for structural engineers in DFW

Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. Dallas is rebuilding its convention center as a $3.8 billion, 2.1 million square foot project with 750,000 square feet of exhibit space and a geothermal pile system that combines the foundations with the energy system. Completion has slipped to the end of 2030.
DFW Airport. Terminal F, now about $4 billion, opens its first phase in 2027, alongside the Terminal C rebuild.
New towers. Goldman Sachs’ 800,000 square foot Dallas campus is due to open in January 2028.
Klyde Warren Park expansion. A 1.7 acre extension will add a roughly 24,000 square foot glass-and-steel pavilion suspended over the freeway. Jacobs leads the engineering, and construction starts by the end of 2026.
I-30 Canyon. TxDOT’s $888 million rebuild of I-30 through downtown, with new bridges, runs to 2031.
Panther Island. In Fort Worth, the 3,900 foot North Bypass Channel, with floodwalls and a pedestrian bridge, is moving ahead with $403 million in Army Corps of Engineers funding.
Data centers. More than 765 MW of data center capacity is under construction in DFW, with another 3.7 GW planned.

The talent pipeline

UT Arlington. UTA’s Civil Engineering Lab Building is the largest civil engineering research facility in North Texas. Its 12,000 square foot structural lab has a 50 by 24 foot reaction floor and two 850-kip reaction frames, and the department teaches graduate steel, prestressed, bridge and earthquake design.
SMU. The Lyle School’s MS in civil engineering lists structural engineering as a target career, and SMU reports that all of its 2023-24 MS graduates were employed within six months.
Growth. Texas is projected to add about 4,400 civil engineering jobs between 2024 and 2034, a 13% increase, with about 2,520 openings a year.

What this means if you’re hiring

Don’t price off the civil median. Licensed structural engineers are paid at or above the 75th percentile, and data center specialists well above it.
Hire for the project type. High-rise, long-span, bridge and mission-critical experience don’t transfer easily. Be specific in the job post.
Expect competition through 2030. The convention center, the airport, new towers and data centers are all hiring at once.
Train up. Pairing EITs from UTA and SMU with senior PEs is often faster than waiting for a perfect experienced hire.

Need structural engineers in Dallas-Fort Worth?

Apollo Technical has recruited engineers since 2010. Our recruiting teams place structural, civil and bridge engineers on a contract, contract-to-hire and direct hire basis.

Call 214.257.7733 or see our Dallas engineering recruiters page.

Hire structural engineers

Frequently asked questions

How much do structural engineers make in Dallas?

BLS groups structural engineers with civil engineers, whose DFW median is $96,920. Posted DFW structural roles in 2026 ranged from $70,000 for early-career engineers to more than $180,000 for senior data center engineers with a PE.

Does Texas have an SE license?

No. Texas licenses professional engineers and records their primary discipline, which can be structural. The state accepts the NCEES 16-hour structural exam as the PE exam.

Which structural engineering firms are in Dallas?

They include Walter P Moore, Thornton Tomasetti, Datum Engineers, L.A. Fuess Partners, Halff, Huitt-Zollars, RLG Consulting Engineers and JQ Infrastructure, along with Dallas-headquartered Jacobs and AECOM.

Sources (14)