Industry News

Architecture Firm Compensation Back on an Upward Trajectory

Though U.S. architecture firms are still recovering from the Great Recession, overall business conditions are improving allowing an increase in compensation for architecture positions. Compensation across the profession increased an average of 1.8 percent per year over the 2013-2014 period, with growth occurring in every architectural staff category, according to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2015 Compensation Survey.

Average compensation

2015

2013

2011

Senior design/project management staff

$103,400

$99,400

$94,900

Architects/designers

$77,10

$73,000

$71,600

Interns

$48,900

$47,300

$47,000

Report costs:

  • Full report: $209.50 AIA member/$349 nonmember
  • Nine
    regional reports
    (New England, Middle Atlantic, East North Central, West North Central, South Atlantic, East South Central, West South Central, Mountain, and Pacific):
    $119.50 member/$199 nonmember

  • Metro Area report
    (includes Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC): $149.50 member/$249 nonmembe

The landing page for the report can be found at www.aia.org/compensation. It includes ordering information and a link to download a free sample chapter of the report.

New for 2015: Salary Calculator

View mean and median salaries for 17 architectural staff positions and cut salary data by region of the country or by firm size – all at no cost to AIA members.