How Much Did Archaeology Technicians Make in 2011

The numbers are in for my annual examination of archaeology job postings in the US (UK runs on a fiscal year and will be ready in April). My data comes from the job postings on the websites Shovelbums.com yahoo group and Archaeologyfieldwork.com (added for the 2011 numbers), duplicate posts between the two and multiple postings of the same job were eliminated. Even if the job posting was for multiple jobs they are only counted as a single data point as most job postings do not list the number of openings.

This post will present data on pay for Archaeology technicians, entry level positions in CRM (no federal positions were considered in this category). Out of 330 posts 101 gave starting pay and 48 gave highest pay for an average starting pay in the US of $ 13.63 per hr. to a high average of $16.41 per hr . That is an improvement over 2010 were there was a decrease in salaries offered and inline with long term historical averages. The highest pay offered was $23.37 per hr. and the lowest $7.25 per hr. The median for starting pay is around $13 per hr. and the largest starting grouping is between $14-14.99 per hr. with roughly 24% of all positions offer a starting pay in this range.

These translate out to an average yearly starting pay of $28,350 with a possible low of $15,080 or high of $48, 609 (post from California where cost of living is higher). The high average is around $34,132. There are two important details to take into consideration: one, this assumes that a technician works 40 hrs a week for 52 weeks (real stretch); two, there is great difference in regional pay across the US with higher pay in the west. This last issue will be addressed in a different post.