How Much Do Project Managers Make?
If you’re wondering what kind of salary a project manager earns, your best bet is to ask someone currently working as a project manager. But even then, the responses will vary greatly. Project managers work in many different industries, and salaries depend on the following factors: location, industry, role, certification, years of experience, and the average size of projects, teams, and budgets managed.
What is the average salary for a project manager?
You can research project manager salaries through the U.S. government's Bureau of Labor and Statistics and official associations such as the Project Management Institute (PMI), as well as employment websites where users self-report their salaries.
Project manager median wages from BLS
The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) does not classify project managers as a separate occupation but considers them construction managers when in the construction industry, computer and information systems managers in IT, or architectural and engineering managers in engineering. Project managers working in other areas are categorized as unclassified managers. We can get a general idea about salary information from these three industries.
Computer and IT (Information Systems) project managers
As of 2019, the median annual wage of IT managers (including IT project managers) was $146,360 (USD) per year or $70.37 per hour.
Construction project managers
As of 2019, the median annual wage of construction managers (aka general contractors, project managers) was $95,260 per year or $45.80 per hour.
Architectural and engineering project managers
As of 2019, the median annual wage of architectural and engineering managers was $144,380 per year or $69.63 per hour.
PMI's Project Manager Salary Survey
In January 2020, Project Management Institute (PMI) released Earning Power: Project Management Salary Survey, Eleventh Edition, based on survey data gathered from 32,000 project management professionals in 42 countries.
In the report, the median annual salary for project managers across all countries, roles, and experience levels was $57,911.
Glassdoor's project manager salaries national average
As of January 2021, employment website Glassdoor shows that the national average for project manager salaries is $66,137, averaging from 133,345 salaries in its database.
PayScale's average salaries for PMP-certified project managers
As of January 2021, salary information website PayScale shows the average salaries for those with the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification as:
- IT project managers: $88,982 (calculated from 6,972salaries)
- Senior IT project managers: $116,813 (calculated from 4,404 salaries)
- Project manager (general): $74,612 (calculated from 46,267salaries)
What do project managers do to justify those salaries?
Wondering what it is that project managers actually do? Then read this: What is project management?