is your city not represented at all in the salary poll to the left? the results aren't tabulated, but you can get some glimpses of what you might expect...

there are one or two from philadelphia, although i did not take the time to scroll through every item on the list

Go to 'Jobs.com' It doesn't have every job description that an archt
might want to see, but you can get an idea of what people's expectations are.

let me know what city and what categorie and I will look it up in the aia thing and let you know.

Philadelphia PA

I looked it up on monster.com but I don't trust the figures I got, but I used Architect IV & Architect V.

I'm in the midst of my exams/have six years experience.

Any other info you'd need?

I know it has been discussed before, but I would like to reiterate:

The Salary Poll is useful, but it has the potential to be so much more powerful. Why can't the results be tallied and presented as an averaged by city? Why can't you search or narrow the results by city? Or by age or experience for that matter?

1,700 people have responded to that poll as of this post! There is so much raw information there, but until is formatted and presented in a useable form (rather than a list organized simply by date of posting), it will be a severely under-utilized and inefficient tool.

i agree with ericharch.....at the minimum it should be broken down (or have the option) by city/region and registration status

that takes time. i bet paul and javier wouldn't mind you taking care of it, though.

salaries.com also has a listing by location and profession...I used it as a basis (along with polling peers in the area) for my current position, and then added a few grand to it...;)

i realize that takes time....i didn't ask for it to be finished by the end of business....these are just suggestions to help make archinect better for its audience.
besides, i might actually volunteer if i had the slightest bit of knowledge in the programming field (that's why i'm going to grad school!....to learn how to script and write computer code)

A lot of this information is already compiled ...

If you are a member of AIA, you can download the most recent AIA Salary Survey for $50 (non-member charge = $225.) Go to http://www.aia.org/ and poke "Store"

This survey contains factual data from 1,200 firms around the US ... data for most experience levels is provided for various regions, states and metro-areas.

$50 isn't much to spend ... it might mean thousands to you if you price your services too low ... or too high and don't get the job you really want.

but for those not really interested in joining the AIA or who cannot since they're not registered, $225 is a bit much

you can contact the various city's aia and if you are a member of aia or aias or if you know someone who is that will use there number you can have them send you that kind of info.

Any wonder why architects don’t make crap for wages? Reading through this thread and the dozens that have preceded it give a slight indication.

For one, there is no reliable (free) public information available on salaries throughout the U.S. Maybe this is because Architects don’t want to show just how poor we are because it would be a crush to our over-inflated egos.

And thank you AIA for taking advantage of the profession, yet again. You ask for yearly dues from anyone who wants to tag their name with AIA, and when you actually do something useful – you decide that it would be a good idea to make some money off of it as well.

what is the AIA?

philadelphia PA.
entry level interns, median 36,000
second year intern 39,200
third year intern 39,600
architect/designer 1 40.700
architect designer 2 49,700
architect designer 3 53,000
senior architect 70,000
project manager 73,000
department heard 83,200

these are all medians. If you tell me the level, I will give you the details- the range, number of positions surveyed, average bonus, etc.

You know what DEtroit ... life it tough ... everything in life isn't free, despite what your whiney little, self-absorbed ass might want !

If you don't want to be a member of AIA, don't be a member of AIA ... but don't expect AIA to go out of its way to subsidize your miserable little freeloading life.

This is the REAL world ... stop being such a baby !

archie,

those are pretty accurate medians for anywhere in the US despite differences in cost of living

the numbers I posted are from the latest AIA survey. They have a pretty complete listing by city, with ranges, medians and means. I would agree- they seem pretty average to me. Keep in mind they are total compensation, so include profit sharing, benefits like paid AIA dues, vacation, etc, so they are above what the actual salary to take home would be. Probably more on the high end- higher level architects get more perks than interns.

seriousli, what is the aia?

American Institute of Architects, a professional organization for architects in the US:

[url=http://www.aia.org/]AIA[\url]

oops...AIA

many thank yous

veux1-
entry level interns do not make 36,000 everywhere.

that's for damn sure

archie: actually, the 2005 survey changed the definintion of what is reported on the compensation tables to be "base pay only" (see explanation of coverage on p.17) ... earlier AIA surveys reported "total compensation, including salary, bonuses, profit sharing and other incentive compensation" in the tables ...

this is a very important and significant distinction ... readers of this forum should understand that distinction ... the old approach caused considerable confusion and made it hard for users of the surver to really know what to think ... you rarely know what your "bonus, profit sharing and other incentive compensation" will be when you are considering a new position ... it's really hard for firms to quantify those benefits in advance.

this new survey more accurately reports the average base pay practitioners at each level should be able to earn.

stephanie and raji-

a lot more? or less? in some places, where?

i understand that it isn't universal but it is pretty accurate.

anything less is not really worth it, unless you agree to be taken advantage of in turn for a great experience

try this site.

salaries

jabber; thanks for the correction. I did not realize they had made that change in the methodology. Could they have made it any smaller and more hidden in the text??! I agree, it is a better way to do it- some firms included health insurance in that number, some didn't.

veux1-
all i know is that i am a second year intern, and am making under 30k.
and i think this is pretty standard for intern architects in boise.
and it totally a livable wage.

stephanie-

The cost of living there bust be relatively low. Even in Oklahoma, were i am from, cost of living is low and 1st year interns can make 34k easy. I've never been to Boise, nice place to live and work?

also, i did say accurate medians

of course, i'm not trying to argue...i mostly just wanted to state that you don't have to be making a ton of money to be relatively statisfied with where you live and what you do.

boise is relatively inexpensive right now, but i don't think it will be for much longer. and it's rated as the second safest place to live.

archie, would you mind to look up Seattle too? Licensed, with 7-10 years experiences. Thank you!

seattle metro area,
architect desigher 2; 6-8 yrs experience mean 47,700, lower quartile 45,000, median 48,000, upperquartile 50,800 average additional cash 3200

architect designer 3; 8-10 yrs experience 58,100 mean, 56,800 lower quartile, 60,000 median, 62,200 uppper quartile, average additional cash 3700

stephanie, the aia does not give data for Idaho, sorry! but for the pacific Northwest, the range for an entry level intern is from $30,200 to $34,100. with $1,100 additional cash average
West North Central i $34,000 to $38,500

stephanie, have you gotten a raise for the year? I think you should be over 30k, but you seem to like your job so maybe it's OK.

Archie, thank you very much! The salary in Seattle seems to be very low compare to other cities. Acturally I heard it is one of the lowest city for Architects, sucks... Cosidering the relatively higher living cost to a lot of other cities, the salary should be much higher.

go to your local aia office and ask them if you can look at the report. they have a published copy of it that they will let you read. if you don't want to fork over the money, then you've got to expend a little energy and walk over to the office and ask in your most flattering way, "may i take a look at your copy of the compensation guide?"

salary.com of course

try acinet.org