2024 Salary Survey: Engineering Management Retains Highest Average Salary for Automation Professionals

Summary

Automation.com, a subsidiary of International Society of Automation (ISA), conducted its annual Automation Professional Salary Survey this year and asked participants questions about their income in 2023 and how it changed in 2024. Results are compared by geographic region, job function, industry, years of experience and professional certification. This year’s salary survey has a new question asking United States residents which area of the country they live in so we could show salary results by geographic region of the USA.

Engineering Management is top-earning job function

Last year, Engineering Management bypassed Information Technology, Cybersecurity for the highest-earning job function for automation professionals in 2022. In this year’s survey, Engineering Management maintained its lead: professionals with this job function earned an average gross salary of $172,760 in 2023. General or Operations Management claimed second place at $158,392. Information Technology, Cybersecurity was not left behind this year; that job function showed one of the most dramatic average pay increases, jumping by $19,333 from 2022 to 2023.
 

How many automation professionals are getting a salary increase this year?

In 2024, 84% of survey respondents received a salary increase of at least 1% from 2023, and almost 37% received an increase of at least 5%. In the USA, 85.45% of respondents reported receiving at least a 1% salary increase from 2023 to 2024, while 29.5% received at least a 5% increase.
 

Oil, Gas and Petroleum earns the top average gross salary

Oil, Gas, and Petroleum once again claimed the highest average gross salary ($171,650) for 2023 of all the surveyed automation industries. Computers & Electronics earned second place at $167,500. Plastics and Rubber showed up in third place, with an average gross salary of $161,666.
 

How to read the full 2024 Automation Salary Survey 

This Automation.com 2024 Automation Salary Survey report explicates data about the salaries and work lives of automation professionals across the globe in various industries and stages of their careers. The survey was conducted online in early 2024 by Automation.com, a subsidiary of ISA–The International Society of Automation. A total of 1,146 professionals provided data.

If you’re curious about how years of experience, education and geographic region of the USA affect salary levels, read the full survey by clicking the button below.