Automation.com 2005 Salary Survey Results

First, we'd like to say "Thank you!" to everyone who took the time to complete our 2005 survey.  These salary statistics and information are specific to the Automation.com audience and/or subscribers (industrial automation, process control, and instrumentation engineers and other professionals) and are relative to job function, industry type, education level, years of experience, etc.  Click here to see survey questions.

This year we received a total of 1704 responses from all over the world. Since salaries vary so much depending on geography, the following results were tallied from the US responses only, a total of 1072 respondents. The results are depicted in chart and table form.

Scroll to the bottom of this page to read some of own interesting observations from this survey.

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 1072.

Indicator	Percentage of Respondents or Average
Job Function	Automation/Control Engineering (43.9%)
Average Age	43
Gender	Male (97%)
Race/Ethnicity	Caucasian (83.2%)
Education Level	College graduate (62.1%, 15% have advanced degree)
Degree Received  (Field of Study)	Electrical Engineering (21.2%)  Electrical Engineering Technology (9.7%)
Years of Experience	17.3 (average)
Years in Current Job	2 year or less (37.9%)  3 to 5 years (25.7%)
Annual Salary	$76,926 (average)
Bonus Last Year	None (48.2%)
Typical Work Week	46.8 hours (average)
Vacation	2.6 Weeks per year (average)
Job Satisfaction	Somewhat satisfied (45.9%)
Top 3 Job Satisfaction Factors	Salary (54.1%)  Technical Challenge (46.1%)  Feeling of accomplishment (39.9%)
Top 3 Benefits, excluding salary	Health Insurance (76.5%)  Pension Plan/401K (44.5%)  Flexible Working Hours (40.7%)

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 1072.

Job Function	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
Automation/Control Engineering	$77,086	43.9%
Design Engineering	$72,500	3.4%
Engineering Management	$107,616	4.0%
General or Operations Management	$101,000	0.9%
Instrumentation Engineering	$73,109	2.7%
Operations and Maintenance	$61,069	5.3%
Plant Engineering	$69,792	1.1%
Process Engineering	$74,444	0.8%
Production/Manufacturing Engineering	$60,833	2.0%
Quality Control, Evaluation & Testing	$66,042	1.1%
Sales/ Marketing	$83,259	12.0%
Research & Development	$78,409	1.0%
Systems Integration/Consulting	$85,245	8.6%
Technical/ Application Support	$62,500	6.9%
Training/Education	$70,455	1.0%
Other	$70,500	5.1%

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 1072.

Industry	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
Raw material processing	$78,824	6.3%
Manufacturer of machinery and equipment	$68,532	14.5%
Aircraft, missile or ordnance manufacturing	$79,792	1.1%
Instrumentation and control equipment manufacturing	$83,529	11.1%
Automotive or other transportation equipment manufacturing	$72,500	3.8%
Other fabricated metal	$59,000	0.9%
Miscellaneous manufacturing	$72,891	10.7%
Utility services (gas, electric, waterworks, etc.)	$66,985	3.2%
Engineering/construction	$87,370	9.0%
Research & development	$79,792	1.1%
Software	$89,375	2.2%
System Integration	$82,587	16.1%
Training/Education	$49,773	1.0%
Other	$74,270	18.8%

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 1072.

Years of Work Experience	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
2 years or less	$50,323	2.9%
3 to 5 years	$58,878	7.3%
6 to 10 years	$68,430	15.3%
11 to 15 years	$75,076	18.4%
16 to 20 years	$80,954	19.3%
21 to 25 years	$84,177	15.3%
26 to 30 years	$86,875	12.7%
31 or more years	$82,686	8.9%

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 1072.

Years With Present Employer	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
2 years or less	$72,635	37.9%
3 to 5 years	$78,469	25.7%
6 to 10 years	$78,125	16.2%
11 to 15 years	$75,253	9.2%
16 to 20 years	$88,400	4.7%
21 to 25 years	$97,250	2.9%
26 to 30 years	$85,300	2.3%
31 or more years	$76,500	1.0%

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 1072.

Highest Level of Education	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
Advanced Degree	$90,512	15%
Attended Some Graduate School	$78,559	5.5%
College Graduate	$77,337	47.1%
Attended Some College	$73,598	13.8%
Technical/Trade School Graduate	$64,839	13.1%
Attended Some Technical/Trade School	$66,466	2.7%
High School Graduate	$75,400	2.3%
Attended Some High School	$84,000	0.5%

This data is calculated from the 696 respondents who indicated they have received a Bachelor's Degree. The percent numbers are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 1072. Please note that some respondents reported they have more than one degree.

Degree (Bachelor)	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
Electrical Engineering	$82,423	21.2%
Electrical Engineering Technology	$77,596	9.7%
Mechanical Engineering	$83,618	7.1%
Control Engineering	$71,364	2.1%
Chemical Engineering	$97,500	2.8%
Other Engineering	$76,289	6.0%
Physics	$89,531	1.5%
Computer Science	$82,434	3.5%
Mathematics	$75,000	1.0%
Other Science	$77,639	1.7%
Business Administration	$76,250	3.7%
IT/Systems	$75,625	0.7%
Liberal Arts	$78,750	2.1%
All Other	$71,625	1.9%

This data is calculated from 161 (15%) respondents who indicated they have received an Advanced Degree. The percent numbers are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 1072. Please note that some respondents reported they have more than one advanced degree.

Degree (Advanced)	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
Electrical Engineering	$83,919	3.5%
Electrical Engineering Technology	$79,773	1.0%
Mechanical Engineering	$95,909	1.0%
Control Engineering	$79,250	1.9%
Chemical Engineering	$103,667	1.4%
Other Engineering	$93,395	1.8%
Physics	$90,000	0.6%
Computer Science	$95,625	0.4%
Mathematics	NA	0.0%
Other Science	$95,500	0.5%
Business Administration	$99,500	5.1%
IT/Systems	$53,750	0.4%
Liberal Arts	$83,929	0.7%
All Other	$88,000	0.5%

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 1072.

Gender	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
Male	$77,171	97%
Female	$68,984	3%

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 1072.

Race/Ethnicity	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
African American	$66,806	1.7%
Asian	$71,875	4.9%
Caucasian	$77,646	83.2%
Hispanic	$76,087	4.3%
Other	$70,000	2.1%
No Answer	$76,786	3.9%

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 1072.

Employment Type	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
Contractor	$87,828	11.4%
Direct Employee	$75,526	88.6%

It pays to have (and finish) your advanced degree...those with an advanced degree have a $13,175 higher annual salary ($90, 512) than those with a bachelor's degree ($77,337) and those who hadn't finished their advanced degree had only a $1,222 higher annual salary ($78,559) than those with a bachelor's degree.

The highest paying job function is Engineering Management with an annual salary of $107,616.  The second highest paying job function is General or Operations Management with an annual salary of $101,000.  Looking for a big jump in pay?  Get into management!

Next time, we'll have to break out Sales and Marketing as two separate job functions.  The combined annual salary for these two job functions is $82,359.  I would expect Sales to have a much higher annual salary and that Marketing salaries brought this combined salary down a bit.

Independent contractors are bringing in an average of $12,302 more per year than direct employees. 

If you have any comments or questions regarding our 2005 survey or results, please don't hesitate to contact Rick Zabel.