Coroflot Salary Results

Back in September I posted about Coroflot's 2006 Design Salary Survey, a survey that is now complete. Almost 250 respondents fell into the architecture category (not nearly as many as the industrial design field but much more than fashion), an amount that gives a good indication of salary relative to firm type but not enough for decent geographical indicators.


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The graph above compares the salaries in the various fields of the survey in terms of staff level, from entry to director. Architecture is highlighted with the red box; the others are (L-R) graphic design, industrial design, interaction/web design, interior design, and fashion design. Even at the small, illegible size above, a few things are clear.

:: At the entry level, salaries across the fields are pretty much the same, except for graphic design.
:: At the upper level, architects are very low, a little bit higher than the apparetnly poor graphic designers.
:: Salaries for directors (pink bar at top) is not much higher than senior designers (green bar below).

This says to me what architects have known for a long time: architects are underpaid. It also appears to indicate that the monetary reward of being partner in a firm is not commensurate with the responsibility, compared to the other fields. For architects the greatest growth is for senior designers, where three out of five of the other fields have that growth happen at the highest level.

Check Coroflot for more illuminating stats, including Rock-osity.