It has been pretty well documented that pay is better for archaeologists in the Western United States vs. the Eastern United States (see here for another publication on it, p.36). Lots of people have made guesses as to why that is but no one has actually investigated it. I figured I would test out some of the assumptions such as more government land in the west leads to more work, fewer archaeology programs in the west mean less competition, etc. Here is the data for some of it: number of schools that have archaeology programs by state (full list here), population of state, and state size:
I used the averages of field technician pay gathered from the SAA article (again see here, p.36) not perfect (AK should be much higher) but it works well enough. I basically looked at population per archaeology degree program in a state. Population and land serves as a a proxy from demand for archaeology. More people means more construction which leads to more archaeology to salvage before destruction. More land, like with people, means more areas to survey, excavate, etc. Programs serve as a proxy for the supply of archaeologists, more archaeologists means more competition for jobs and lower wages. The results were:
(edit-R were not given before) The R numbers .3 and .17 (square root of R2) indicate that there is no correlation between population, land, number schools, and pay (R close to 1 or -1 indicate high correlation. Those close to 0, none.) . Not shown here, I also ran the numbers for just population and just land and there is no correlation either. It does not look like these factors influence the pay divide seen in the US.
In my next post I will look at government land (most archaeology work occurs in relation to government land or projects) and I will try to chase down the number of graduates per school (it could be that number of schools is a poor proxy for available workers). Hopefully this will shed some light on this.
Doug's Archaeology 
Chris Webster
December 12, 2011
In my experience states with a larger amount of public land have better pay. We always did smaller projects on the east coast. They were for a housing project or a single building even. Never anything large. However, out here in Nevada we work on multi-million dollar energy projects that could be 10s of thousands of acres in size. I’ve been on large block surveys and some linear surveys that were hundreds of miles long.
It’s nice to be working in one of the four states in the $14 dollar range! I just interviewed for a job in Nevada today where the minimum pay for field tech is $16. Looking forward to more information on this subject.
Doug Rocks-Macqueen
December 13, 2011
that data was from 2007 so it should all be a little higher then it is now.
Chrisstopher Dore
December 13, 2011
I take a bit more of an economic perspective on the issue. In the West, the ability to work in a supervisory position on all but private land is tied to obtaining a permit from the appropriate agency. In the West the permits tend, particularly in some areas, to require experience in geographically small areas and can be difficult to obtain. Additionally, permits are tied to individuals, not directly to firms.
In the East, it is generally fairly easy for archaeologists to move around and work in different areas. Thus, in the East archaeologists are more interchangeable. They are more of a commodity. Economically, with commodities, price converges on cost. In the West, archaeologists aren’t as interchangeable. If a company wants to work in a certain area, they must employ a permitable person. Getting this permitable person comes at a premium which companies are willing to pay. Overall this results in higher salaries and, I think, explains the salary differences between East and West.
This is a bit more difficult to test, but Doug is a sharp guy and always up to data challenges!
Doug Rocks-Macqueen
December 13, 2011
As part of the data I collect from job postings I have a list of those that require regional experience and those that require permits by state. Job postings might work as a proxy for states were permits are required which I can compare against pay. I’ll most likely be without internet for a few days so it may be a week before I can post on it but I will look into it.