For architecture and interior design firms
AIA Compensation Report and salary survey prices for architecture firms, every edition compared
The AIA Compensation & Benefits Report 2025 costs $450 for the full national report, $265 for one region and $98 for the small firm edition. AIA members pay 40 percent less, so the full report is $270. Firms that answer the survey get the report free, and it is only published every two years.
Posting a project architect or a junior designer this month and cannot wait for 2027? Price the role on the right and get a band and a range you can paste into the job ad.
- P25
- $0
- P50 · Median
- $0
- P75
- $0
Suggested posted range
Built from public U.S. BLS OES wage data (May 2025 release), adjusted for market, seniority and company stage by the multipliers published in our methodology.
Get bands for your whole team
Get startedAIA Design Shop, checked September 2026
Six ways to buy the 2025 AIA salary report, and what each one costs
List price first, then the member price after the 40 percent discount AIA applies to every version. Every figure is read from the product variants on the AIA Design Shop. Downloads are limited to two per order.
Most firms
Full national report
$450
Members $270
190+ pages, 45 positions, 817 firms, all nine regions, firm size and metro cuts
Firms with an HR lead
Full report + Excel tables
$520
Members $312
The report plus the comparison tables as spreadsheets for your own analysis
Multi-office firms
Full report + benchmark tool
$550
Members $330
The report plus an online tool that filters by region, firm size and role and exports custom tables
One big-city office
Top metro areas report
$295
Members $177
12 metros: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington
Single-region firms
One regional report
$265
Members $159
One of nine census divisions, including its metro areas
Firms under 3 architects
Small firm report
$98
Members $58.80
Sole proprietors and firms under three architectural staff, six roles, 405 firms
Which architecture salary survey a firm under 200 people should buy
Buy the full AIA report at $450, or $270 as a member, unless every office you hire for sits in a single region. Take the survey the next time AIA invites your firm, because participants get the full report free. Add a second source only for interior designers, project managers and anyone you might lose to a developer, a contractor or an in-house real estate team.
The AIA report is the reference architecture firms quote to each other. It is built from the firms themselves: 817 firms representing 1,376 offices reported pay for 13,227 positions in 2025, across 34 states, 37 metro areas and 19 cities. For the roles that move between architecture firms (intern architect, project architect, senior designer, studio director) no other survey sees as many of your direct competitors.
Its weakness is timing. AIA surveys in the spring of odd years and publishes that autumn, so a firm pricing a role in September 2026 is working from pay reported in spring 2025, and the next national edition is due in 2027. Aging the numbers forward is normal practice, but it has to be done on purpose, with a stated rate, or the band drifts below market a little more every month.
AIA regional reports and the point where the full report is cheaper
AIA splits the country into the nine census divisions below. A regional report costs $265, which looks like the obvious buy for a 25-person firm in one city. It stops being the cheap option the moment you need a second region: two regional reports cost $530, and the full national report, which contains all nine regions plus the firm size and metro breakdowns, costs $450.
Two situations push small firms into a second region without them noticing. A Kansas City firm hiring on both sides of the state line stays inside West North Central, but a Washington, DC firm with a project office in Philadelphia straddles South Atlantic and Middle Atlantic. And remote hires are priced where the employee works, which is also the location that decides which state pay transparency law applies to the posting.
The metro report at $295 covers only the 12 largest markets. If your office is in one of them, it is the most precise $295 you can spend. If you are in Tampa, Nashville or Salt Lake City, it does not include you, and the regional report is the right cut.
Cost to cover your offices
- One region
- $265
- One top-12 metro
- $295
- Full report, all regions
- $450
- Two regions bought separately
- $530
- Three regions bought separately
- $795
New England
CT, MA
Metros included: Boston
Middle Atlantic
NJ, NY, PA
Metros included: New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh
East North Central
IL, IN, MI, OH, WI
Metros included: Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee
West North Central
IA, KS, MN, MO, NE
Metros included: Kansas City, Minneapolis, St. Louis
South Atlantic
DC, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA
Metros included: Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Miami, Orlando, Raleigh, Tampa, Washington
East South Central
AL, KY, TN
Metros included: Nashville
West South Central
LA, OK, TX
Metros included: Austin, Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, San Antonio
Mountain
AZ, CO, MT, UT
Metros included: Denver, Phoenix, Salt Lake City
Pacific
CA, HI, OR, WA
Metros included: Honolulu, Los Angeles, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle
States listed are those AIA names for each regional report. The 2025 edition covers 34 states in total, with Alabama included for the first time.
Architecture firm pay against all employers, May 2025
The federal wage survey (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) does not publish architecture firms on their own. Its closest cut is NAICS 5413, architectural, engineering and related services, which employs 92,180 architects. The table compares the May 2025 median in that industry with the median across every US employer. These are base wages only, with no bonus or overtime, which is also how a posted range is read.
| Role | A&E firms median | All industries median | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architects | $98,440 | $99,280 | -0.8% |
| Interior designers | $78,340 | $67,190 | +16.6% |
| Landscape architects | $82,290 | $79,870 | +3.0% |
| Architectural and civil drafters | $65,980 | $66,150 | -0.3% |
| Project management specialists | $107,050 | $102,320 | +4.6% |
| Architectural and engineering managers | $168,410 | $171,270 | -1.7% |
Source: BLS OEWS May 2025, national industry estimates for NAICS 541300 and cross-industry estimates, read from the BLS public data API.
+16.6%
What interior designers earn at architecture and engineering firms over the all-industry median. The broad figure includes furniture retailers and small residential studios. A firm that prices its interiors team off it posts a range more than $11,000 below its real competitors.
For architects themselves the gap is under one percent, because nearly every architect already works at a design firm, so "architecture firms" and "all employers" are close to the same population. That is the useful finding: for your licensed staff, the free federal figure and the AIA figure are measuring the same market, and a difference between them is about level, region and timing, not about peer group. How to read the federal numbers without the usual mistakes is covered in our guide to BLS salary data.
Salary bands for architecture firm roles, 25th to 75th percentile
Each bar runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile at architectural and engineering firms, with the median marked. That middle half is a reasonable starting shape for a posted range at a national midpoint; a firm in San Francisco or New York moves the whole bar up, a firm in a smaller market moves it down. Read the AIA report for the level inside the band (intern, project architect, senior associate).
Scale $0 to $220,000. Marigold line is the median.
Turning these into a structure with grades, midpoints and overlap between levels is covered in salary bands, and the fastest way to check where a current employee sits inside one is the range penetration calculator.
Other architecture compensation surveys and when they beat the AIA report
| Source | Peer group | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIA Compensation & Benefits Report 2025 | 817 US architecture firms, 45 positions | $265 to $550, 40 percent off for members, free to participants | Architecture firms with three or more architectural staff |
| AIA Small Firm Compensation & Benefits Report 2025 | 405 sole proprietors and firms under three architectural staff | $98, members $58.80 | Sole practitioners and micro firms |
| Zweig Group Salary Report of AEC Firms | Architecture, engineering, planning and environmental firms | 2026 edition $995 a region, $3,499 all regions | Mixed architecture and engineering firms that want an annual cut |
| Mercer Benchmark Database | Employers across all industries | From $3,450 per module | Roles you lose to developers, owners and corporate real estate |
| Federal wage survey (BLS OEWS) | All employers, with an A&E services cut | Free, published every spring | A dated, citable anchor between AIA editions |
| WageList | Federal data adjusted for your market tier | $99 a month, or $588 a year | A band and a postable range for any role, any month |
Zweig Group's report is the only other survey built from design firms, and it is annual, which fills the year AIA skips. At $995 for one region it costs more than twice the full AIA report. Mercer makes sense only for the handful of roles where your real competition is not another firm. Full prices and module lists are in our breakdowns of Mercer Benchmark Database pricing and the wider list of salary survey providers. Firms that do both architecture and engineering should also look at the engineering salary survey options, where ACEC chapter reports are often free to participants.
06 · Decision
Which AIA edition fits which firm
1 to 2
architectural staff
Small firm report, $98. The main report would compare you with firms ten times your size.
3 to 30
one office
Your regional report at $265, or the metro report at $295 if you are in one of the 12 cities.
2+ regions
or remote staff
Full report at $450. It already costs less than two regional reports.
50+
with an HR lead
Full report with Excel tables at $520 or the benchmark tool at $550, so the data loads into your own bands.
Whichever edition you buy, it arrives once every two years. WageList is what firms use for the other 23 months: pick the role and the market, get a band and a range from the latest federal release, with the source and date attached so you can defend it to a candidate or a state agency.
Architecture job postings, pay ranges and exempt status
An architecture firm posting a job in a pay transparency state has to include a good faith range, and a survey median is not a range. The usual approach is to take the 25th to 75th percentile for the level, age it to the posting date and adjust for the office location. Our pay transparency law guide covers each state, and salary ranges in job postings shows how wide a range can be before regulators treat it as meaningless.
Licensed architects generally qualify for the learned professional exemption, but drafters, BIM technicians and many junior designers are judged on their duties, not their titles, and often fail it. A salaried drafter who is not exempt is owed overtime. Check the exempt vs non-exempt rules and the current exempt salary threshold before you post a salaried range for a production role.
AIA compensation report questions firms ask
How much does the AIA Compensation Report cost?
The AIA Compensation & Benefits Report 2025 costs $450 for the full national PDF, $520 with the Excel tables and $550 with the online benchmark tool. A single regional report is $265 and the top metro areas report is $295. AIA members take 40 percent off every version with the code AIA publishes on the product page.
Is the AIA Compensation Report free for members?
No. Membership gives 40 percent off, so the full report is $270 instead of $450. The only way to get it free is to complete the AIA compensation survey when your firm is invited. Every firm that submits a response receives a free copy of the full report once it is published.
How often does AIA publish the compensation report?
Every two years. AIA sold 2021 and 2023 editions, and the 2025 edition went on sale on September 22, 2025. The small firm edition follows a few months later; the 2025 small firm report was released on February 24, 2026. Survey invitations for an edition go out in the spring of the survey year.
What is the AIA Small Firm Compensation Report?
It is a separate $98 report for sole proprietors and firms with fewer than three architectural staff. The 2025 edition draws on 405 small firms and 994 full-time staff, with compensation tables for six roles. Firms with three or more architectural staff are covered by the main report instead.
How much do architects make at architecture and engineering firms?
The May 2025 federal median for architects at architectural, engineering and related services firms is $98,440, with the middle half between $77,420 and $125,580. That is within one percent of the $99,280 all-industry median, because most architects already work at design firms, so the industry cut barely moves the number.
Which architecture roles need a different peer group?
Interior designers. The May 2025 federal median for interior designers at architecture and engineering firms is $78,340, 16.6 percent above the $67,190 median across all employers, which include furniture retailers and small design shops. Pricing a design firm interior designer off the all-industry figure puts the offer well below market.
Should a small architecture firm buy the regional or the full AIA report?
Buy the regional report only if every office and every competitor sits in one region. One region costs $265, two cost $530, which is more than the $450 full report that already contains all nine regions plus firm size and metro cuts. For a firm hiring across two regions, the full report is cheaper.
Do architecture firms have to post salary ranges?
Yes, in pay transparency states once the firm passes the state headcount threshold. Colorado, Washington, New York, California, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Massachusetts, New Jersey and others require a good faith pay range in the job posting. Architecture has no exemption, so every posted architect, designer and drafter role needs a range.
Price an architecture role today, not in 2027
Pick the role and the market, get a band and a range you can paste into the posting. Plans from $99 a month, no sales call.
Other sector salary surveys and pricing guides
The $98 edition, who it fits and where the size cut-off leaves a gap.
ACEC chapter, Zweig, ASCE and Mercer prices for engineering firms.
What contractors pay for surveys, and the roles they compete with you for.
Published prices across the market, from association reports to Mercer.