Automation.com 2007 Salary Survey Results

First, we'd like to say "Thank you!" to everyone who took the time to complete our 2007 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 1563 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 864 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 864.

Indicator	Percentage of Respondents or Average
Job Function	Automation/Control Engineering (45.0%)
Average Age	43.6
Gender	Male (95.6%)
Race/Ethnicity	Caucasian (81.8%)
US Geograpic Region	Midwest (25.9%)
Education Level	College graduate (45.3%, 14.6% have advanced degree)
Degree Received  (Field of Study)	Electrical Engineering (29.7%)  Electrical Engineering Technology (15.3%)
Years of Experience	18.1 (average)
Years with Present Employer	2 year or less (36.3%)  3 to 5 years (19.4%)
Annual Salary	$83,623 (average)
Bonus Last Year	None (45.1%)
Typical Work Week	46.8 hours (average)
Vacation	2.8 Weeks per year (average)
Job Satisfaction	Somewhat satisfied (49.9%)
Top 3 Job Satisfaction Factors	Salary (52.7%)  Feeling of accomplishment (42.9%)  Technical challenge (42.5%)
Top 3 Benefits, excluding salary	Health Insurance (67.7%)  Pension Plan/401K (46.6%)  Flexible Working Hours (41.9%)

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 864.

Job Function	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
Automation/Control Engineering	$82,622	45.0%
Design Engineering	$71,250	2.8%
Engineering Management	$102,574	3.9%
General or Operations Management	$103,676	2.0%
Inside Sales	$50,909	1.3%
Instrumentation Engineering	$91,250	1.9%
Marketing & Public Relations	$92,586	3.4%
Operations and Maintenance	$71,741	6.5%
Outside Sales	$100,213	5.4%
Plant Engineering	$90,000	1.0%
Process Engineering	$79,118	2.0%
Production/Manufacturing Engineering	$66,667	1.4%
Quality Control, Evaluation & Testing	$109,167	0.7%
Research & Development	$95,000	1.9%
Systems Integration/Consulting	$83,083	6.9%
Technical/ Application Support	$69,959	7.1%
Training/Education	$77,143	1.6%
Other	$92,065	5.3%

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 864.

Industry	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
Raw material processing	$85,417	11.1%
Manufacturer of machinery and equipment	$76,366	12.5%
Aircraft, missile or ordnance manufacturing	$93,000	0.6%
Instrumentation and control equipment manufacturing	$89,770	10.1%
Automotive or other transportation equipment manufacturing	$72,986	4.2%
Other fabricated metal	$67,857	0.8%
Miscellaneous manufacturing	$82,791	11.9%
Utility services (gas, electric, waterworks, etc.)	$80,039	7.4%
Engineering/construction	$92,246	8.0%
Research & development	$79,038	1.5%
Software	$87,353	2.0%
System Integration	$83,877	13.7%
Training/Education	$78,611	2.1%
Other	$86,463	14.2%

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 864.

Years of Work Experience	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
2 years or less	$49,634	4.7%
3 to 5 years	$58,125	4.6%
6 to 10 years	$73,797	15.%
11 to 15 years	$82,232	16.2%
16 to 20 years	$86,906	16.1%
21 to 25 years	$91,541	16.9%
26 to 30 years	$92,459	14.0%
31 or more years	$95,361	12.0%

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 864.

Years With Present Employer	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
2 years or less	$77,548	36.3%
3 to 5 years	$85,952	19.4%
6 to 10 years	$83,540	18.6%
11 to 15 years	$85,988	9.4%
16 to 20 years	$92,617	7.4%
21 to 25 years	$95,197	4.4%
26 to 30 years	$92,813	2.8%
31 or more years	$89,286	1.6%

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 864.

Highest Level of Education	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
Advanced Degree	$93,631	14.6%
Attended Some Graduate School	$99,091	6.4%
College Graduate	$83,638	45.3%
Attended Some College	$79,057	13.2%
Technical/Trade School Graduate	$73,254	13.4%
Attended Some Technical/Trade School	$72,586	3.4%
High School Graduate	$78,629	3.6%
Attended Some High School	$95,000	0.2%

This data is calculated from the 556 respondents who indicated they have received a Bachelor's Degree. The percent numbers are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 864. Please note that some respondents reported they have more than one degree.

Degree (Bachelor)	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
Electrical Engineering	$90,561	29.7%
Electrical Engineering Technology	$78,441	15.3%
Mechanical Engineering	$86,205	10.1%
Control Engineering	$78,889	4.9%
Chemical Engineering	$99,375	7.9%
Other Engineering	$81,531	8.8%
Physics	$85,556	1.6%
Computer Science	$95,086	5.2%
Mathematics	$72,813	1.4%
Other Science	$84,737	3.4%
Business Administration	$85,833	4.3%
IT/Systems	$79,375	2.2%
Liberal Arts	$93,500	2.7%
All Other	$80,357	2.5%

This data is calculated from 126 (14.6%) respondents who indicated they have received an Advanced Degree. The percent numbers are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 864. Please note that some respondents reported they have more than one advanced degree.

Degree (Advanced)	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
Electrical Engineering	$83,138	23.3%
Electrical Engineering Technology	$69,615	6.4%
Mechanical Engineering	$97,500	5.9%
Control Engineering	$88,690	10.4%
Chemical Engineering	$105,000	5.4%
Other Engineering	$98,056	8.9%
Physics	$81,667	3.0%
Computer Science	$85,385	6.4%
Mathematics	$65,000	1.0%
Other Science	$88,571	3.5%
Business Administration	$100,887	15.3%
IT/Systems	$60,000	1.0%
Liberal Arts	$73,000	2.5%
All Other	$72,143	6.9%

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 864.

Gender	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
Male	$84,210	95.6%
Female	$70,395	4.4%

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 864.

Race/Ethnicity	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
African American	$69,167	1.4%
Asian	$82,500	5.9%
Caucasian	$83,299	81.8%
Hispanic	$80,242	3.6%
Other	$82,900	2.9%
No Answer	$97,434	4.4%

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 864.

Employment Type	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
Contractor	$92,500	9.6%
Direct Employee	$82,689	90.4%

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 864.

US Geographic Region	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
Great Lakes	$79,294	9.8%
Mid-Atlantic	$88,634	11.3%
Midwest	$76,435	25.9%
New England	$81,850	5.8%
Pacific Northwest	$87,500	6.9%
So-Cal	$91,810	3.2%
South	$89,611	10.4%
Southeast	$83,716	12.8%
Southwest	$88,582	11.8%
Other	$71,741	1.9%

The percent numbers indicated in the right-hand column are relative to the total number of survey respondents of 864.

Company or Division Size	Average Salary	Percent Respondents
less than 30	$80,293	18.8%
30 to 49	$81,762	7.1%
50 to 99	$76,599	10%
100 to 249	$76,594	16.0%
250 to 499	$84,973	10.9%
500 to 999	$85,294	7.9%
1,000 to 4,999	$89,804	13.3%
5,000 to 9,999	$90,385	6.0%
10,000 or more	$94,517	10.2%

Good news! In two years, the average overall salary jumped from $76,926 to $83,623...roughly a 4% increase per year.

It pays to obtain an advanced degree (or even attend some graduate school)...those with an advanced degree have a $9,993 higher annual salary ($93,631) than those with a bachelor's degree ($83,638).

The highest paying job function was Quality Control, Evaluation & Testing at $109,167. It appears that the executives have been able to justify paying high salaries when it comes to quality assurance. Next in line were General or Operations Management at $103,676 and Engineering Management at $102,574. It pays to be in management! And as you might expect the next highest salary was associated with all those hard working (or not so hard working) outside sales guys.

The highest paid degrees were Chemical Engineering at $99,375 followed by Computer Science at $95,086.

Guess which region within the U.S. demands the highest salary. If you guessed Southern California, you're RIGHT. The average salary in Southern California is $91,810. The Southern region came in second at $89,611.

Independent contractors are bringing in an average of $9,811 more per year than direct employees...that's almost a $2,500 decrease compared to 2005.

Professionals working for very small companies (less than 50 people) are paid higher than those working for companies with 50 to 249 people. But otherwise, the larger the company, the larger the pay.

If you have any comments or questions regarding our 2007 survey or results, please don't hesitate to contact Rick Zabel.