Salary Survey Results

Salary by Job Type

Question: Job type (select one).

Results: Consultants highest on average, but more variable than the others.

	# US$	Mean Salary	Median Salary
Consultant	25	$74,340	$60,000
Full-time Employee	292	$71,140	$69,400
Part-time Employee	8	$52,588	$59,250
Student	20	$21,435	$18,000
Total	345	$68,080	$65,000

Salary means and medians are only for the 345 people who listed salary in US Dollars.

Highest Degree

Question: Indicate your highest degree.

Results: Masters degree was most common, followed by PhD and Bachelors.

	#	%
None	3	1%
High School	9	2%
Associate	8	2%
Bachelors	107	23%
Masters	196	42%
Ph.D	134	29%
Other	5	1%

Description of Highest Degree

Question: Circle the best description of your highest degree.

Results: Almost one third CS, with Cognitive Psychology and HCI also popular.

	#	%
Computer Science	154	32.4%
Cognitive Psychology	75	15.8%
HCI, Human Factors, Ergonomics	64	13.5%
Engineering (other than CS)	24	5.1%
Graphic Design, Fine Arts	18	3.8%
Industrial Design	12	2.5%
Mathematics	10	2.1%
Industrial, Organizational Psychology	9	1.9%
Business Administration, Management	9	1.9%
Information Systems	5	1.1%
Cognitive Science	5	1.1%
Industrial, Educational Technology	5	1.1%
Education	4	0.8%
Fine Arts	3	0.6%
Computational Linguistics	3	0.6%
Experimental Psychology	3	0.6%
Technical Communication	3	0.6%
Other Social Sciences	35	7.4%
Other Sciences	13	2.7%
Other	21	4.4%

Primary and Secondary Jobs

Question: Please select a total of two choices - one in each column - for primary and secondary job.

Results: Interaction design led the way, with usability testing a common secondary job.

	Total: Prim. + Sec.		Primary Job		Secondary Job
Interaction Design	202	23.3%	116	25.2%	86	21.2%
Usability Testing	121	14.0%	37	8.0%	84	20.7%
Academic Research	77	8.9%	52	11.3%	25	6.2%
Software Engineering	76	8.8%	43	9.3%	33	8.1%
Teaching	66	7.6%	24	5.2%	42	10.3%
Non-Academic Research	59	6.8%	44	9.5%	15	3.7%
Manager	59	6.8%	38	8.2%	21	5.2%
Visual Design	50	5.8%	19	4.1%	31	7.6%
Information Architecture	45	5.2%	21	4.6%	24	5.9%
Web Page Design	33	3.8%	12	2.6%	21	5.2%
Student	24	2.8%	16	3.5%	8	2.0%
UI Designer	6	0.7%	5	1.1%	1	0.2%
Writer	5	0.6%	4	0.9%	1	0.2%
Consulting	4	0.5%	3	0.7%	1	0.2%
General UI	3	0.3%	1	0.2%	2	0.5%
Other	37	4.3%	26	5.6%	11	2.7%
	867	100.0%	461	100.0%	406	100.0%

Salary by Organization Type

Question: Organization type (select one).

Results: Private researchers and consultants earned over $80,000.

Organization Type	# in US$	Mean Salary
Private Research Company	10	$82,850
Consulting Firm	23	$81,283
Telecommunications	30	$76,505
Software Division of Hardware Company	48	$75,121
Aerospace	6	$73,717
Software Company	80	$67,885
Consumer Product Company	20	$67,460
Government, Military	18	$66,528
Healthcare, Medical	11	$65,091
Content Provider, Media	6	$63,750
Banking, Financial	6	$62,000
Insurance	4	$60,500
Design Firm	5	$54,100
College, University	61	$50,145
Other	17
	345	$68,080

Salary means are only for the 345 people who listed salary in US Dollars.

Salary by Years Worked in Current Organization and HCI Field

Question: How many years have you worked in the organization selected above? How many years have you worked in the HCI field (excluding school)?

Results: 16-20 year HCI experts earned twice as much as newcomers to the field.

Year Ranges	With current organization	In HCI
0-1	$63,104	$51,065
2-3	$63,526	$55,793
4-5	$68,342	$60,460
6-10	$68,070	$72,313
11-15	$81,718	$84,628
16-20	$80,843	$111,212
21-25	$69,643	$98,000
25+	$94,532	$87,500
Total	$68,080	$68,080

Salary means are only for the 345 people who listed salary in US Dollars.

Region of Work (by number of CHIs attended)

Question: Primary country in which you work (select one or fill in). State/Province/Region where you work.

Results: Western USA outdrew everyone else; non-Americans were likely first-timers.

		CHIs Attended
Region	Total	1	2-3	4+
Total USA	346	106	89	147
Northeast	97	34	21	41
Southeast	22	7	6	9
Midwest	59	13	18	27
Southwest	10	3	4	3
West	145	49	36	59
Not Specified	13	0	4	8
Total Outside USA	117	53	35	28
Canada	29	8	12	9
Sweden	24	17	5	2
The Netherlands	17	6	7	4
UK	15	7	1	6
Norway	5	4	1	0
France	4	1	1	2
Germany	4	3	1	0
Switzerland	4	1	3	0
Australia	3	1	1	1
Denmark	2	2	0	0
New Zealand	2	1	1	0
Japan	1	1	0	0
Portugal	1	0	1	0
Brazil	1	0	0	1
Czech Republic	1	1	0	0
Israel	1	0	1	0
Finland	1	0	0	1
Hong Kong	1	0	0	1
Other	1	0	0	1

Number of CHI Conferences Attended (by region)

Question: CHI conferences attended (select one)

Results: Over one-third of the responses came from first-timers; North Americans were more likely to be "die-hard" attendees.

CHIs Attended	North America	Outside North America	Total	Percentages by # CHIs
1	114 72%	45 28%	159	35%
2-3	101 81%	23 19%	124	27%
4-5	74 86%	12 14%	86	19%
6+	82 92%	7 8%	89	19%
	371 81%	87 19%	458

Organization Memberships (by region and CHIs attended)

Question: Select all ogranizations below in which you are a member

Results: North Americans and regular attendees were more often members.

		North	Outside North	CHIs Attended
	Overall	America	America	1	2-3	4+
ACM	67%	72%	49%	43%	71%	87%
SIGCHI	68%	75%	41%	45%	69%	89%
SIGGRAPH	3%	4%	0%	2%	2%	5%
Local SIG	29%	31%	25%	15%	29%	43%
UPA	9%	11%	1%	6%	9%	12%
HFES	15%	18%	1%	10%	14%	20%

Weeks of Vacation Received in 1997 (by region)

Question: Weeks of vacation given to you in 1997 (total granted, not weeks taken).

Results: North Americans got less vacation.

	North America		Outside North America		Total
1 (or less)	17	5%	2	2%	19	4%
2	90	26%	2	2%	92	21%
3	130	37%	6	7%	136	31%
4	67	19%	14	16%	81	18%
5	21	6%	31	35%	52	12%
6+	27	8%	33	38%	60	14%
Total	352	100%	88	100%	440	100%

1997 Gross Salary

Question: 1997 gross salary (before bonus, benefits & taxes).

Results: Average salary was almost $78,000.

Under $50,000	115	25%
$50,000 - $74,999	159	35%
$75,000 - $100,999	124	27%
$101,000 - $149,999	32	7%
$150,000 - $199,999	8	2%
Over $200,000	20	4%
Mean	$77,900

US Dollars.

1997 Cash Bonus

Question: 1997 cash bonus (before benefits & taxes).

Results: Most did not get a bonus.

None	259	56%
$1 - $2499	46
$2500 - $4999	36
$5000 - $9999	59
$10,000 - $19,999	46
Over $20,000	15
Mean for those receiving a bonus	$8900	44%

US Dollars.

September 22, 1998
chi98-web@acm.org