Average Salary

• In its 2009 survey of employment in the United States, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics collected wage data from over 350,000 individuals working as computer programmers throughout the country. It calculated that the average yearly salary for the occupation was $74,690. This equates to a monthly income of $6,224 and an hourly pay rate of $35.91. The bureau also reported that those programmers in the bottom 10 percent of earners received an average of $40,640, while their counterparts in the top 10 percent earned an average of $113,380.
  
  

Salary by Industry

• Computer programmer salaries vary significantly by industry. The bureau listed computer systems design and related services as the largest employer of programmers, but the average annual salary in this sector, $76,110, was below that in some other areas of industry. For instance, computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing firms offered an average wage of $106,170, securities and commodity contracts inter-mediation and brokerage companies paid $92,550, and software publishers offered an average salary of $85,510.
  
  

Salary by Experience

• Wage comparison website PayScale.com found that as computer programmers accrue experience, salary levels are likely to increase commensurately. As of March 2011, it listed the average pay for an individual with less than a year in the trade as between $35,198 and $52,076. With one to four years experience the range rose somewhat, to between $38,516 and $53,512. Gaining five to nine years in the field brought rewards of between $44,517 and $65,422., and a computer programmer with 10 to 19 years of experience was likely to receive between $50,735 and $78,866. Veterans of 20 years of more earned between $60,585 and $98,211. PayScale.com reports ranges between the 25th and 75th percentile of respondents to its surveys.
  
  

Salary by Location

• A third factor that impacts upon computer programmer salaries is geographical location. Pay analysis website SalaryExpert.com surveyed programmer wages in some major American cities, and listed New York city, Boston, Massachusetts, and Los Angeles, California, as the most lucrative locations, with average salaries of $80,465, $75,348 and $75,135, respectively. Phoenix, Arizona, was listed at just $65,517. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2009 survey found that Washington and Massachusetts were the states in which, across all industry sectors, a computer programmer was likely to achieve the best pay rates, averaging $90,820 and $90,680, respectively. In contrast, Arkansas was listed with an average of $63,610.