This is the forth part (part 1 on field tech pay can be found here, part 2 here (crew chief), part three- project manager) of the yearly review of how much archaeologists make in the US.
Without sounding like a broken record:
- again, apologies to Canada, not enough data to include you
- This is a snap shot of the whole field, individual jobs or employers could pay widely different ranges of pay
- There is a regional difference with those in the Eastern US earning less than those in the West, on average. Again, see point 2.
- Private sector only jobs in CRM, government and other jobs will be dealt with in other posts.
This post specifically deals with senior positions (top dog), though still employed by others so not owners or very very senior archaeologists in CRM. The data is based off of job postings on the websites archaeologyfieldwork.com and shovelbums.org. Methodology is discussed below e.g. possible flaws in the data, specifics on how the data was gathered, etc.
In 2012, the average low pay was $30.65 and the average high was $39.27 per hour. That is not bad. That is roughly $63,000 to $82,000 annual pay, mind you this comes after decades of working. The highest listed was $85,000.
My data comes from the job postings on the websites Shovelbums.org yahoo group and Archaeologyfieldwork.com, duplicate posts between the two and multiple postings of the same job were eliminated. However, it is hard to determine how many posting are just rolling calls to create lists of potential employees and job specific. Posting that were from the same company, posted less than two months apart, and listed the same requirements were eliminated as duplicates. However, if similar posts were advertised several months apart they were counted as different jobs on the assumption that after several months positions would have been filled and this is a new call for employees (even for the same project). 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. Because of the lack of standard names for this position requirements and duties were used to define this post, not names.
59 posts were examined and 4 had information on pay. The raw data can be accessed at tDAR here. In essence, this is a small sample size and all of the problems associated with that. Overall, job posting data tends to be fairly accurate when it comes to showing the general trends in pay.
Doug's Archaeology 
Lumbergh
January 29, 2013
Thanks for posting. Frankly I’m surprised there were even 4 with pay data. it does sound about right, though, for “normal” CRM managers. People who have oversight over CRM but have moved up to a broader executive role can make a lot more (~120-160k), as I think you have discussed before. I am a senior level CRM “top dog” (as you put it) at a small firm and am at the very bottom of this range. I don’t know if you’ll find this interesting or not, but here goes: although I would like to get a higher salary, the corresponding rate would make the proposal and budgeting parts of my job more difficult, because it increases costs. So I am torn between wanting more dough to support my family and wanting my labor rates as low as possible to get the work. First world problems, I suppose.
Doug Rocks-Macqueen
January 29, 2013
Thank you for that comment. It reminds me that I need to add a little more about employers. I think your catch-22 perfectly illustrates the different levels of pay in CRM. I imagine that as a “small firm” firm you probably deal with lots of smaller project (depending on what part of the country survey of cell towers, or cables, or well pads, etc). Small projects tend to mean smaller budgets and high pay can easily break the budget. The highest pay I have scene for archaeologists comes from your engineering, multinational, corps. The ones who tend to get the big government contact e.g. when you dealing with 100 million what’s a couple of extra 1000’s. All for a more in-depth post but there are of course trade offs for working for big Cs.
Speaking of posts would you be interested in guest posting? I think lots of people would be interested in your “First World” problems. Can be anonymous, if you would like.
Lumbergh
January 30, 2013
Perhaps; see “lumberghcrm” message to your Gmail.