Salary Survey

The IA Institute produces an annual salary survey, capturing information on compensation, daily work habits and demographics. Learn what members of the IA Institute, sigia-l, and the IxDA reported and see the trends in IA titles, salaries, and activities. We present summary data, as well as open-ended responses which help us formulate questions for the next year's survey.

Read our 2008 Salary Survey online.

DOWNLOAD THE SALARY SURVEY PDF


Highlights of the 2008 survey include the following:

  • Of the 414 responses; 73.4%% were from USA, concentrating in the northeast and western states. Of the remaining geographic regions, 7.6% were from Australia/Pacific Rim, 6.2% from the United Kingdom, 4.7% from EU (non-UK) countries, 4.2% from Canada, 1.7% from South America (primarily Brazil), and 1.2% from Asia (including India but not the Middle East). This year we received no responses from Africa, the Middle East or Central America/Mexico/Caribbean
     
  • The largest earning group remains $100,000-109,999 USD, representing 11.7% of all respondents, followed by the $110,000-119,999 USD range at 8.0%. We noted an issue with the ranges used in this survey that should be reviewed carefully. Categories under 99,999 are in ranges of 5,000 and categories over 100,000 are in ranges of 10,000. For example, the $75,000-$79,999 USD and $80,000-$84,999 USD combined categories represent a $10K range comprising 15% of responses. To address potential misunderstanding, we created a normalized chart of responses based on ranges of 10,000, which are shown on the following chart:

    salary_ranges.png


  • The inferred mean salary (not counting the Over $200K USD and Under $20K USD groups) was $96,800 USD, up $10,800 USD since last year. (Adding in the upper and lowest ranges, assuming a "midpoint" of $20K USD for the lowest range and $200K USD for the highest, the inferred average is a very slightly higher $97,400 USD).

  • Top earning world regions included US: West with an inferred average salary of $112,500 USD, followed by US: Northeast ($100,500 USD), United Kingdom ($100,400 USD) and Australia and the Pacific Rim ($97,900 USD). Differences in non-salary compensation should be reviewed to compare salary data from one geographic area to another.

  • Top earning metro areas included the San Francicso Bay Area ($128,207 USD), Los Angeles, CA ($124,737 USD), San Jose ($113,750 USD), London ($112,625 USD), Melbourne ($112,500 USD), Perth ($110,833 USD), New York City ($110,179 USD), and Philadelphia ($100,962 USD). Nine additional metropolitan areas with fewer than three respondents also scored within this top range, but were not reported to protect the privacy of the respondents. These areas included parts of the United States, Western Europe and Australia. Again, differences in non-salary compensation should be reviewed to compare salary data from one metropolitan area to another.

  • The percent of female respondents edged ahead of males with with 50.8% female to 49.2% male, the reverse of last year but practically equal. The largest response category for both genders was $100,000-$109,999 USD. Like last year, we found more males in both the Under $20,000 USD (4 males vs 1 female) and Over $200,000 USD categories (5 males vs 1 female). Removing the upper and lower ranges, we found an average salary of $97,500 USD for females and $96,200 USD for males. Adding in the top and bottom ranges, again with the assumption of $20K USD for the bottom and $200K USD for the top, brings male and female salaries closer ($97,600 USD for females and $97,200 USD for males).

In addition to information on salary, we collect data on the following:

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Educational Level
  • Job Title
  • Annual Increase
  • Hours worked
  • Breakdown of Job Tasks
  • Vacation, Holidays and Other Benefits
  • Length of Time in Current Job
  • Length of Time in Field
  • Size of Company
  • Geographic Area

Past Salary Surveys:

This page was last modified on December 15, 2008 04:52 PM.