California · 2025 pay · 10 people
How much does a principal structural engineer make in California?
$186,121typical pay for a principal structural engineer in 2025
$179,184 – $204,404what most people earned
Includes everyone paid during 2025, including part-year workers. Typical pay rose 0.2% from 2024.
✓ Official data from 3 agencies · Matches each agency's latest release · Show sourcesHide sources
- California State Controller's Office · sco.ca.gov ↗
- California State Controller's Office · sco.ca.gov ↗
- California State Controller's Office · sco.ca.gov ↗
Where principal structural engineers work
Typical pay at each employer, 2025 (everyone paid).
Related jobs and the next step up
Same line of work at a different rank, by typical pay (full-year employees where we can tell).
- Senior Structural Engineer$173,009 (everyone)
- Structural Engineer$176,331 (everyone)
- Principal Structural Engineer (this page)$186,121 (everyone)
- Supervising Structural Engineer$188,561 (everyone)
Highest-paid principal structural engineers, 2025
Common questions
How much does a principal structural engineer make in California?
The typical principal structural engineer was paid $186,121 in 2025; most earned between $179,184 and $204,404. This counts all 10 people paid, including part-year workers.
How much of the pay is overtime?
Overtime made up 0.3% of all pay for principal structural engineers in 2025.
Which job titles are included?
Everyone whose payroll title is Principal Structural Engineer, at any level (for example "Principal Structural Engineer"). Part-time-schedule titles (such as "20 hours") are left out. Senior, supervising and trainee titles have their own pages.
Job titles are written out in full from the payroll's abbreviations (for example "SR CRRECTNL POLC OFCR" → "Senior Correctional Police Officer"). "Typical pay" is the median; "most earned" is the middle half. How we calculate this