The Minnesota GIS/LIS Association recently published the results of a statewide salary survey of GIS professionals conducted in the Fall of 2009. The report addresses the basic question that everyone ponders at some point, “how do I compare to my peers?”
It’s hard to know if the salary trends in Minnesota can be extrapolated to Wisconsin, but many of the observations noted in the Minnesota report certainly sound familiar.
For example, government entities are the largest employer of GIS professionals in the state (65%), particularly at the county level (27%). The overall median salary of people responding to the survey was $55,000.
Some useful statistics quoted directly from their report:
Median Salary based on location
Metro County (58%) $62,000
Outstate (42%) $49,000
Median Salary based on level of education
Less than bachelor degree (13%) $47,000
BA/BS (47%) $52,000
Master degree or above (40%) $63,000
Median Salary based on major program of degree(s)
Computer Science, math, stats, etc. (19%) $72,000
Sciences: bio, env, natural, etc (32%) $55,000
Geography, Planning, Landscape Arch (42%) $57,000
GIS (11%) $53,000
Other (7%) $48,000
Median salary based on years of GIS experience
Under 3 years (11%) $40,000
3-5 years (12%) $42,000
5-10 years (26%) $50,000
More than 10 years (51%) $65,000
In lieu of a similar report here, this is a great resource for Wisconsin geospatial professionals to check out. The full report of the 2009 salary survey is available for free on the Minnesota GIS/LIS Association Web site.