Saturday, August 14, 2010

Architect Salary Question

I've been searching online for median salaries of an architect but I've seen a lot of extremes like extremely low salaries and extremely high salaries depending on the website.

What is the starting salary on average for an architect when they start out and how does the salary increase as they gain experience?
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As you have learned, determining salaries is a difficult challenge because there are so many variables. Many salary survey data is available, but costs a considerable amount to obtain. Published by Architect Magazine, the 2009 salary below will begin to answer your question.


Below is some information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Earnings

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos038.htm#earnings

Median annual wages of wage-and-salary architects were $70,320 in May 2008. The middle 50 percent earned between $53,480 and $91,870. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $41,320, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $119,220. Those just starting their internships can expect to earn considerably less.

Earnings of partners in established architectural firms may fluctuate because of changing business conditions. Some architects may have difficulty establishing their own practices and may go through a period when their expenses are greater than their income, requiring substantial financial resources.

Many firms pay tuition and fees toward continuing education requirements for their employees.

The starting salary of recent graduates will vary depending on their degree (BArch vs. MArch), firm size, location (Urban vs. Rural), amount of experience, etc. It is not an exact science.

When discussing this topic with students, I will state that starting salaries can start between 30 - 45K and will increase with experience again depending on the factors I listed above. When seeking employment, be sure to know your worth and how to negotiate.

Dr. Architecture

3 comments:

Research Survey said...

Salary depends on experience and degrees we have. anyways thanks for sharing!!

Unknown said...

Hi,

You've nice blog. Numerous men and women nowadays don't know whether they're getting appropriate salary for their profession. To be clear one can check on the net wage comparison websites to know what other organizations offer for the same position. For instance to compare wage of an analyst one can just type analyst salary in a salary comparison website like Whatsalary.com

Unknown said...

Salary offered in one country may not be necessarily sufficed to sustain in another country. Individuals in big number relocate to another country for work assignments, sometimes for better growth prospects every year, with some of them fear cost of living crisis.