Architect's Incomes in the USA: Are Architects Disrespected?

Our sources

We are happy for any reader to point us to better sources, but so far we are using these:

• The Economic Census (Professional, Scientific and Technical Services) (EC), conducted every five years by the U.S. Bureau of the Census. We have data from this census going back to 1967 (when it was known as the Census of Service Industries); quite a while. Here is what we found.
• The Current Population Survey (CPS), a joint project of the Census people and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in the U.S. Dept of Labor. This gives us data back to 1995, not so long. Here is what we found.
• The National Compensation Survey conducted by the BLS. Data for architects goes back to 1997.
• The Occupational Employment Statistics program, also by the BLS, and also with data back to 1997.

An architectural population explosion

We suspect that much of the feeling of malaise in the occupation arises not from economic realities, but from social ones. Quite simply: many years ago, there were very few architects in the USA, and they were very special people. Nowadays you can find any number of architects busking in subways. Not so special!

Take a look at the chart below, which shows the number of architects in the United States in terms of architects per million Americans. In 1850, 17 Americans in every million were architects. In the years to 1960 the graph shows a slow upward drift so that in 1960 166 Americans in very million were architects. True, a large proportionate increase, but take a look at what happens in the decades after 1960! By 1990, architects were as common as parking attendants (source: OES 2002).

If the same ratio pertained today as it did in 1850, there would be a very select 8,000 architects in the entire United States. That's about how many American cartographers there are. You don't bump into many professional mapmakers on the bus, do you?

It may be that the feeling of malaise in the occupation has little to do with economics, and more to do with the sociological bloating of the occupation. Too many graduates competing for the same share of the pie.

Here's a weird thing

Remember that hypothetical figure of 8,000 architects for today? Here's a funny thing: that's almost exactly how many partners and sole proprietors there are in American architecture firms. Over the past 150 years in the USA, there has been a structural shift in the occupation from proprietor/partner to salary-man (as the Japanese call them). In 1850 virtually every architect was his own man (not woman—that happened much later). Today very few are.

How few? Our BLS data only tracks from 1967: we know nothing about the period 1850 – 1950. Even, so there is one compelling figure. In 1967, partners/sole proprietors were 10.3% of all people in architectural firms. In 1997, they were only 5.2%.

Economic data about the occupation

Most economic data about architects (salaries, wages, compensation, etc) only looks at employees.

That's fine as far as it goes, but architecture has traditionally been an occupation of the self-employed. According to the BLS screed on architects, one in five architects are (is?) self-employed, about three times the rate for other professionals. This huge segment does not show up in the data we here at the Key Centre have available.

So we cautiously present our results for architectural employees.

Results from the Economic Census (EC)

We have been studying this data since 1967. Good heavens! The data from the 2002 census was published in 2006. We hope to present a full analysis by last quarter of 2008.

Results from the National Compensation Survey (NCS)

The NCS charts the average hourly earnings (AHE) of wage and salary workers in the USA. The NCS does not tell us how many architects it postulates for the USA.

Possibly about 75% of American architects fall into the salaried category, the rest being self-employed, owners and partners. To eliminate effects of inflation, we have provided data on the AHE compared to the rest of American workers. For example, in 2006 salaried architects earned 65% more per hour than the typical American worker, and 7% per hour more than the typical ‘professional and technical’ worker. We used the public data query facility.

Salaried architects compared to…	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
All workers	1.59	1.64	1.36	1.47	1.48	1.55	1.76	1.80	1.62	1.65
White collar	1.29	1.33	1.12	1.20	1.21	1.26	1.43	1.46	1.32	—
Professional and technical	1.05	1.07	0.85	0.91	0.92	0.98	1.10	1.11	1.00	1.07
Salaried architects' average hourly earnings (AHE) as a ratio of the earnings in other categories.

Results from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program

The OES counted 101,000 architectural workers in 2006. The OES lists median annual earnings (MAE) for a very detailed breakdown of American occupations. Year by year we have converted these into ratios.

Salaried architects compared to…	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
All	–	–	–	176%	172%	168%	166%	162%	157%
Lawyers	61%	54%	54%	54%	53%	51%	50%	48%	47%
Librarians	124%	120%	114%	112%	111%	107%	104%	101%	97%
Dentists	43%	43%	37%	37%	39%	40%	39%	38%	36%
Vets	94%	81%	78%	77%	76%	73%	72%	69%	66%
Carpenters	166%	149%	146%	143%	140%	137%	137%	134%	131%
School bus drivers	254%	240%	228%	217%	213%	210%	205%	198%	192%
Salaried architects' median annual earnings (MAE) as a ratio to those in other categories.

Results from the Current Population Survey (CPS)

The CPS counted 161,000 architectural salary earners in 2006. We used Table 39 from this survey. It shows salaried architects' median weekly earnings (MWE) compared to the totality of American workers, and compared to those classified in the ‘Professional’ sector. See the notes above. For example, in 2006 the typical salaried architect earned 66% more per week than the typical American worker.

Salaried architects compared to…	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
All workers	1.51	1.55	1.63	1.67	1.67	1.83	1.64	1.65	1.63
‘Professionals’	1.01	1.04	1.10	1.14	1.15	1.26	1.15	1.14	1.20
Salaried architects' median weekly earnings (MWE) as a ratio to those in other categories.

Salaried architects compared to…	2004	2005	2006
All workers	1.79	1.76	1.66
‘Professionals’	1.29	1.27	1.20
Salaried architects' median weekly earnings (MWE) as a ratio to those in other categories.