The US News and World Report has released their 2017 list of “Best Jobs,” based on a variety of criteria including salary, employment rate, growth potential, future job prospects, stress level and work-life balance.
Despite describing the job outlook for architects as “very solid,” overall, architecture finished outside out of the top 100, coming in 7th (out of 8) in the “Engineering Jobs” category. Find out the expected salaries for architects and which cities pay their architects the best, after the break.
The report found the median annual wage for architects to be $76,100 (over the survey period of 2015), with the top 10 percent in the profession bringing in about $125,520, and the bottom 10 percent making approximately $46,080.
Architecture rated well in employment, with an unemployment rate of just 1.9%. Under the categories of Upward Mobility (Opportunities for advancements and salary) and Flexibility (Alternative working schedule and work life balance), the report rated the profession as “average.” Stress levels, on the other hand, were rated as “above average.”
The report also listed the best paying cities for architects, which tended to be located in dense municipalities in the most populated states. The top five were as follows:
- West Palm Beach, Florida – average salary: $117,870
- Santa Barbara, California – $115,340
- Oxnard, California – $113,550
- Syracuse, New York – $103,110
- Oakland, California – $102,160
To see the report in full, visit the US News and World Report’s website, here.