Project Manager Salary Calculator

1. Choose annual salary or hourly rate, then enter your gross pay before tax.
2. Set your hours per week and paid weeks per year. Blank fields count as 40 hours and 52 weeks, the 2,080-hour year that BLS uses.
3. Add a second offer in the same pay type to compare it. Read the band, the approximate percentile and the gap to the median.

The project manager salary calculator is a tool that compares a project manager's salary or contract rate with official US wage data. It converts the pay to every common pay period on the way.

This page uses SOC code 13-1082, Project Management Specialists. BLS describes them as workers who coordinate the budget, schedule, staffing and other details of a project. They lead and guide the work of technical staff and may serve as the point of contact for the client.

The code has clear edges. BLS excludes management occupations, logisticians, meeting and event planners, and production and planning clerks from it. A person whose main job is managing a department or a construction site may be counted in a management code and not here. Check your duties against the definition before you rely on the comparison.

The tool adds nothing for certification, team size or industry. BLS publishes no such premium in this series, so the comparison uses your pay and the national percentiles alone.

Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS national estimates for project management specialists (SOC 13-1082), May 2025, read on 2026-10-02. Employment: 1,066,670 wage and salary jobs. BLS publishes every figure in this table in full; none is top-coded.

The median project management specialist earns $102,320, about 2.0 times the $50,980 median for all occupations. The 10th percentile is $61,580 and the 90th is $167,970, a ratio of about 2.7.

The middle half spans $54,660, from $78,440 to $133,100. The mean of $110,740 is $8,420 above the median, a smaller skew than in many high-paid occupations.

Industries with the Most Project Management Jobs

The work is spread out. The largest single industry, architectural and engineering services, holds 99,830 jobs, about 9% of the 1,066,670 surveyed. Two of the top five are construction industries.

Industries with the Highest Mean Project Management Wage

These five are the highest means BLS lists. None of them is among the five largest employers above.

The calculator converts your pay to an hourly figure, then places it between the hourly wage points BLS publishes for project management specialists.

1. It finds annual pay. A salary stays as entered. An hourly rate is multiplied by your hours and weeks.
2. It divides annual pay by 12, 26 and 52 for monthly, biweekly and weekly pay.
3. It finds hourly pay. A salary is divided by the hours you work in a year.
4. It finds the two BLS hourly wage points on each side of your hourly pay. W1 and W2 are those wages, and P1 and P2 are their percentiles.
5. It estimates your percentile on a straight line between the two points, and subtracts the median to get the gap.

The comparison runs on hourly pay for a reason. BLS annual wages are hourly wages times 2,080 hours, so an hourly match treats part-time and long-hour schedules fairly.

A salary of $118,000 for 40 hours a week shows the method. It is $56.73 an hour, between the median of $49.19 and the 75th percentile of $63.99. The estimate is 50 + (56.73 - 49.19) / (63.99 - 49.19) x 25 = 62.7, so about the 63rd percentile.

Example values only. A contract project manager bills $58 an hour for 40 hours a week and expects 48 paid weeks. A new contract offers $65 an hour.

The rate beats the BLS median hourly wage by 17.9%. The four unpaid weeks still cost money: a full 2,080-hour year at $58 would pay $120,640, which is $9,280 more than this contract delivers.

Industry

BLS median pay is $120,700 in finance and insurance and $98,730 in construction, a gap of $21,970. Professional, scientific and technical services sit between them at $108,260.

State

New Jersey has the highest state mean at $127,900, which is $17,160 above the national mean. Washington follows at $127,580, then New York at $126,260, California at $124,430 and Virginia at $123,390.

Contract or Salaried

BLS annual wages assume 2,080 paid hours. A contractor with gaps between projects is paid for fewer. Enter your real weeks to see the difference.

Hours

BLS says schedules may need flexibility, such as work across time zones. A $96,000 salary is $46.15 an hour at 40 hours and $36.92 at 50 hours. That is about the 43rd percentile against the 24th.

How the Job Is Classified

The same title can fall under this code or under a management code. The two have different wage tables, so the code decides which comparison is fair.

Project management specialists earn $20,260 more than the median for business operations specialists, the BLS group that contains them.

BLS also lists the median in the industries that employ the most project management specialists.

Contract and salaried pay are easier to compare on one basis. The guide to hourly vs salary pay sets out what each one includes.

Project management specialists typically need a bachelor's degree, and BLS projects much faster than average growth.

The degree may be in business, project management or a related field. Some employers prefer a technical degree tied to their industry, such as information technology or engineering. BLS says professional certification is not always required but shows competency to clients and employers.

Professional, scientific and technical services employ 28% of these workers and construction employs 22%. BLS links future demand to the growing volume and complexity of information technology projects.

Quoting a Contract Rate

Switch to hourly and enter the rate with your expected paid weeks. The tool compares the rate with BLS hourly wages and shows the yearly total you will really see.

Moving from Contract to Salary

Enter the salary as the main pay, then run the contract separately. The salary to hourly calculator gives the same conversion without the BLS data.

Changing Industry

Use the industry medians above as context. A move from construction to finance crosses a $21,970 gap in median pay.

Planning for Overtime

BLS wages exclude overtime pay. Hourly project staff can add it with the overtime pay calculator.

1. Comparing a Manager Role with Specialist Data

BLS excludes management occupations from this code. A role classed as a management occupation is not described by these percentiles.

2. Multiplying a Contract Rate by 2,080

That assumes no gaps and no unpaid leave. At 48 paid weeks, $58 an hour is $111,360, not $120,640.

3. Adding a Certification Premium

BLS reports no wage premium for any certificate. Any figure quoted for one comes from another source.

4. Mixing Hourly and Annual Comparisons

A contract rate and a salary only compare on one basis. The tool converts both to hourly pay before it reads the BLS table.

5. Reading the Highest-Paying Industry as Typical

Taxi and limousine service tops the mean-wage list at $167,400, yet it is not among the five largest employers.

The conversions are exact arithmetic on your numbers. The percentile is an estimate, because BLS publishes five wage points and not the full curve.

This is an estimate built on BLS survey data. It is not a pay offer, and it is not career or financial advice. Every figure is gross, and this page does not estimate tax. The guide to gross vs net income explains what comes off before take-home pay.

The BLS median for project management specialists was $102,320 a year in May 2025, or $49.19 an hour.

This page uses SOC 13-1082, Project Management Specialists. BLS excludes management occupations from it, so some senior roles fall under other codes.

BLS reports $61,580 at the 10th percentile and $167,970 at the 90th. The middle half earn between $78,440 and $133,100.

Among the largest employers, finance and insurance has the highest median at $120,700. By mean wage, taxi and limousine service leads at $167,400.

By BLS annual mean wage, New Jersey leads at $127,900, then Washington at $127,580 and New York at $126,260.

BLS says certification shows competency but is not always required. It publishes no pay figure by certification, so this calculator applies none.

It is about the 65th percentile of BLS hourly wages, $8.81 above the median. Contractors also cover their own unpaid time and costs.

Multiply the rate by weekly hours and paid weeks. $58 x 40 x 48 = $111,360. The BLS convention of 2,080 hours would give $120,640.

In this BLS code, the construction median is $98,730, below the $102,320 median for all industries. Roles classed as management occupations are counted separately.

BLS projects 7% growth from 2025 to 2035, much faster than average, with about 76,500 openings a year.

• BLS OEWS Profiles: Project Management Specialists (SOC 13-1082) (US Bureau of Labor Statistics; May 2025 national employment, mean wage and percentile wages. Choose May 2025, then the occupation. Read 2026-10-02.)
• Occupational Outlook Handbook: Project Management Specialists (US Bureau of Labor Statistics; duties, entry education, median pay and the 2025 to 2035 outlook. Read 2026-10-02.)
• OEWS Frequently Asked Questions (US Bureau of Labor Statistics; what counts as wages, who is surveyed, and the 2,080-hour year.)
• OEWS Data Tables (US Bureau of Labor Statistics; the May 2025 release and earlier years. Page last modified May 15, 2026.)