How much money does an architecture earn?

Answer 1

ANSWER 1: Other job titles for "Architectural Engineer" are, typically, "drafter" or "draftsman" or "draftsperson" or "architectural drafter" or "architectural draftsperson." My point is that architectural engineers are not the same as fully-fledged and licensed architects. It's the engineers and draftspersons who do a lot of the actual drawing, as well as the engineering and building code research which goes into an overall architectural plan.

The drafter, draftsperson, or engineer works under the licensed architect. And so specialized is the job that in large architectural firms there will often be up to three (3) levels of architectural draftspersons or engineers.

The salary for such jobs will always depend on the locale. A drafter in New York or San Francisco, for example, is obviously going to be paid more than one in a smaller midwestern town or city. However, the national average salary (actually, technically, the median) for a drafter, depending on level, tends to range from $35,000(US) to $55,000(US), give or take. Though it can be a lot higher (or even a bit lower), that's at least the national median.

By comparison, architects are so specialized that in really large architectural firms there can be up to five (5) levels of them, with national median salaries ranging from $40,000(US) to $80,000(US). However, do not let those numbers mislead you. If the architect has blossomed-out into his/her own firm (or is one of the top architects in a huge firm where there are five levels of architects); or if s/he was won some serious awards, or has gotten some famous commissions, then there is almost no limit to what s/he may be earning... well into the six figures, no doubt... and maybe even beyond. Licensed architects, once they become kinda' famous, can become fairly wealthy.

Architectural firms on very large, famous building projects often get paid as much as three percent (3%) of the overall cost of the project in architectural fees. That's usually bigmoney. On the new Freedom Tower, at "ground zero" in New York, the agreed-upon architectural fees were only around 1.5%, and that still ended-up totaling over $22 million(US) that the architectural firm (actually, there were two of them) was(were) paid. The owners (usually partners) in an architectural firm paid that kind of money usually take home not-insignificant amounts of such money. A large seven-figure income for a senior partner architect in a hugefirm like that would not be uncommon.

Those kinds of numbers, though, are at the high-end extreme, across the board. A well-respected architect whose firm is medium to large; and who's plenty busy doing all manner of work in a medium-to-large city, could easily make, as a personal income, mid-to-high six-figures or low-seven-figures. Most architects, though, make less... sometimes, much less...

...and architectural engineers far less, even, than that. Many architectural engineers, though, move on to become fully-fledged architects (with some additional schooling, of course). Drafting, researching and engineering for a large architectural firm is an excellent training ground for future licensed architects!