Architect Salary, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 1,804 US job postings by 464 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for architects: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 1,804 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for architects in US job postings is $110,000 a year (452 postings from 144 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $88,000 to $130,000.
- The skills that most set architect postings apart are revit, autocad, sketchup.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 6 years of experience.
Architect job postings in the US, October 2026
- $110,000
- Median advertised pay (452 postings)
- $88,000–$130,000
- Middle 50% of postings
- 1,804
- US job postings from 464 employers
- 6 years
- Median experience asked
How much does an architect make?
The median advertised pay is $110,000 a year, from 452 US job postings by 144 employers that state pay. One in ten postings offers $153,000 or more.
Advertised pay in 452 US architect job postings: median $110,000 a year, middle half $88,000 to $130,000.
- Median: $110,000
- 25th percentile: $88,000
- 75th percentile: $130,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $30K–$40K | 0.7% |
| $40K–$50K | 0.2% |
| $50K–$60K | 2.9% |
| $60K–$70K | 5.2% |
| $70K–$80K | 9.7% |
| $80K–$90K | 6.8% |
| $90K–$100K | 10.4% |
| $100K–$110K | 12.2% |
| $110K–$120K | 16.2% |
| $120K–$130K | 9.5% |
| $130K–$140K | 8.1% |
| $140K–$150K | 5.4% |
| $150K–$160K | 4.3% |
| $160K–$170K | 1.8% |
| $170K–$180K | 2.0% |
| $180K–$190K | 1.8% |
| $190K–$200K | 1.8% |
| $200K–$210K | 0.4% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an annual salary | $112,000 | $92K–$132K | 422 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $110,000 | $88K–$130K | 452 |
For comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the national median annual wage of Architects, Except Landscape and Naval (17-1011) at $99,000 (May 2025). Postings advertise pay; the BLS measures what people earn, across all employers and levels.
What is the starting salary for an architect?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Architect levels and pay
Levels as they appear in job titles, ordered by the median experience asked.
| Level in title | Share of postings | Median experience asked | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| No level in title | 79.1% | 5 years | $105,000 |
| Senior | 14.4% | 10 years | – |
Highest-paying architect jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architect (general) | $109,000 | 403 | 137 |
Skills employers ask for in architect job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Revit | 55% |
| Communication | 48% |
| Autocad | 31% |
| Microsoft Office | 27% |
| Organizational skills | 21% |
| Bluebeam | 17% |
| Sketchup | 16% |
| Problem-solving | 13% |
| Adobe creative suite | 13% |
| Building codes | 13% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set architects apart
- Revit135.4× as often as in all postings · 55%
- Autocad31.6× as often as in all postings · 31%
- Sketchup277.2× as often as in all postings · 16%
- Bluebeam56.2× as often as in all postings · 17%
- Building codes113.4× as often as in all postings · 13%
- Enscape418.7× as often as in all postings · 9%
- Adobe creative suite61.3× as often as in all postings · 13%
- Photoshop40.8× as often as in all postings · 10%
- Rhino235.5× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Construction administration188.2× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Lumion379.9× as often as in all postings · 5%
- Architectural design303.3× as often as in all postings · 5%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a architect job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does an architect do?
Employers post these jobs as Project Architect, Architectural Designer, Architectural Project Manager, Senior Architect, Senior Project Architect and other titles.
The closest official occupation is Architects, Except Landscape and Naval (17-1011.00). Its most important tasks:
- Prepare scale drawings or architectural designs, using computer-aided design or other tools.
- Plan or design structures such as residences, office buildings, theatres, factories, or other structural properties in accordance with environmental, safety, or other regulations.
- Meet with clients to review or discuss architectural drawings.
- Prepare contract documents for building contractors.
- Develop final construction plans that include aesthetic representations of the structure or details for its construction.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be an architect?
Among 1,125 postings that state a minimum, the median is 6 years. 1% say 0 years and 4% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 1,125 US architect job postings: median 6 years, and 4% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 1% |
| 1 yr | 2% |
| 2 yrs | 7% |
| 3-4 yrs | 13% |
| 5-7 yrs | 37% |
| 8-9 yrs | 14% |
| 10+ yrs | 25% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Other names for an architect: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Project Architect | 142 (30.6%) |
| Architect | 89 (19.2%) |
| Architectural Designer | 83 (17.9%) |
| Architectural Project Manager | 70 (15.1%) |
| Senior Architect | 59 (12.7%) |
| Senior Project Architect | 41 (8.8%) |
| Job Captain | 28 (6.0%) |
| Project Manager | 21 (4.5%) |
| Architectural Intern | 15 (3.2%) |
| Senior Architectural Designer | 14 (3.0%) |
| Architecture Project Manager | 14 (3.0%) |
| Senior Project Manager | 13 (2.8%) |
| Sr. Project Architect | 9 (1.9%) |
| Architectural Designer II | 9 (1.9%) |
| Architectural Associate | 8 (1.7%) |
| Architectural Senior Project Manager | 7 (1.5%) |
| Project Architect/Project Manager | 7 (1.5%) |
| Registered Architect | 7 (1.5%) |
| Intermediate Architect | 7 (1.5%) |
| Architect III | 7 (1.5%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Architect compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Architect | $110K | 6 years | 1,804 | – |
| Interior Designer | $80K | 3 years | 3,409 | 19 |
| CAD Designer | $84K | 3 years | 3,380 | 14 |
| Structural Engineer | $115K | 5 years | 3,900 | 16 |
| Landscape Architect | – | – | 439 | 17 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Interior Designer | 19 | $80K |
| CAD Designer | 14 | $84K |
| Structural Engineer | 16 | $115K |
| Landscape Architect | 17 | – |
| Electrical Engineer | 13 | $132K |
| Mechanical Engineer | 12 | $122K |
Applying for architect jobs?
- Architect resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find architect jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does an architect make?
What are the highest-paying architect jobs?
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 19 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.