---
title: "Architect"
description: "Plan and design structures, such as private residences, office buildings, theaters, factories, and other structural property."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/architect"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Architect

**Category:** Architecture and Engineering · **SOC code:** 17-1011 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 17-1011.00

Plan and design structures, such as private residences, office buildings, theaters, factories, and other structural property.

Also advertised as: Architect; Design Architect; Planner; Project Architect; Specifications Writer.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $99,280 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $47.73/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $62,300 to $161,420, with the middle half between $77,960 and $126,550
- **Total US employment:** 106,770
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +3.9% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 7,800 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 33/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 106,770 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $62,300 |
| 25th | $77,960 |
| 50th (median) | $99,280 |
| 75th | $126,550 |
| 90th | $161,420 |
| Mean (average) | $106,260 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WY | $120,580 | $130,088 | 130 |
| MA | $117,330 | $110,943 | 4,590 |
| MD | $114,550 | $109,138 | 1,800 |
| AK | $108,730 | $106,224 | 210 |
| CA | $108,540 | $98,031 | 13,270 |
| RI | $105,160 | $102,816 | 550 |
| CT | $103,540 | $99,932 | 1,200 |
| SD | $102,500 | $115,707 | 180 |
| CO | $102,400 | $99,367 | 3,290 |
| HI | $102,340 | $93,078 | 600 |
| DC | $102,040 | $92,847 | 1,700 |
| AZ | $102,000 | $101,314 | 1,550 |
| NV | $101,570 | $101,591 | 530 |
| SC | $101,550 | $108,321 | 1,030 |
| NH | $101,100 | $97,058 | 250 |

38 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 53 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/architect/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/architect.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 123,600 in the 2024–2034 base year to 128,400 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 4,800 jobs, or +3.9%. About as fast as average: 3.9% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 7,800 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Internship/residency.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Bachelor's Degree | 42.9% |
| Master's Degree | 23.8% |
| First Professional Degree | 23.8% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 4.8% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 4.8% |

## What the work involves

- Develop final construction plans that include aesthetic representations of the structure or details for its construction.
- Prepare scale drawings or architectural designs, using computer-aided design or other tools.
- Prepare information regarding design, structure specifications, materials, color, equipment, estimated costs, or construction time.
- Consult with clients to determine functional or spatial requirements of structures.
- Meet with clients to review or discuss architectural drawings.
- Monitor the work of specialists, such as electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, interior designers, or sound specialists to ensure optimal form or function of designs or final structures.
- Integrate engineering elements into unified architectural designs.
- Conduct periodic on-site observations of construction work to monitor compliance with plans.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Operations Analysis — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Evaluation — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Design — importance 4.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Building and Construction — importance 4.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Engineering and Technology — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Visualization — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Fluency of Ideas — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Realistic (R), Conventional (C), Artistic (A).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| R — Realistic | 4.92 |
| C — Conventional | 4.44 |
| A — Artistic | 4.13 |
| I — Investigative | 3.88 |
| E — Enterprising | 3.65 |
| S — Social | 2.53 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 82.0 |
| ISTP | 80.8 |
| INTJ | 78.8 |
| INTP | 66.5 |
| ESTJ | 61.7 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ, ISTP, INTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Landscape Architect](https://nuecareer.com/careers/landscape-architect) — median $79,870
- [Construction Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/construction-manager) — median $114,990
- [Interior Designer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/interior-designer) — median $67,190
- [Civil Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/civil-engineer) — median $100,840
- [Construction and Building Inspector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/construction-and-building-inspector) — median $74,690
- [Architectural and Engineering Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/architectural-and-engineering-manager) — median $171,270
- [Industrial Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/industrial-engineer) — median $102,440
- [Commercial and Industrial Designer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/commercial-and-industrial-designer) — median $83,910
- [Project Management Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/project-management-specialist) — median $102,320
- [Architecture Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/architecture-teacher-postsecondary) — median $96,870

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/architect