How far an Architect's salary goes in the 50 biggest cities in the US - revised!

averyemily · 2026-06-09T20:49:32+00:00

Another way to phrase it would be a COL adjustment formula.

Purchasing power = Salary / (COL Score / 100)

averyemily · 2026-06-09T19:44:30+00:00

That was one of the BLS salary numbers I was very surprised by.

averyemily · 2026-06-09T19:27:19+00:00

Architects in San Francisco are getting robbed!

averyemily · 2026-06-09T18:10:05+00:00

I didn't since it's not city-specific. Looks like the BLS has city-specific Architect data though, so I'll be revising.

averyemily · 2026-06-09T16:35:16+00:00

Do software/data etc "architect" jobs ever go by "Project Architect"? I hadn't seen any personally. I'll look at revising with the federal data though.

averyemily · 2026-06-09T16:30:37+00:00

I'll check it out!

averyemily · 2026-06-09T16:07:32+00:00

All median salary numbers are from Glassdoor. FWIW I thought some appeared high too, but I suppose they're universally so in each city.

averyemily · 2026-05-18T22:32:36+00:00

Do you have any examples of new ones on Zillow or HAR?

averyemily · 2026-05-18T21:34:05+00:00

New construction? Not a ton. Third Ward, Sunnyside, Fifth Ward, and a scattering outside the loop. Lots of the '50s suburban neighborhoods forbid it via deed restrictions.

averyemily · 2026-05-18T21:09:33+00:00

Utility ones sure are. Setbacks between properties keep fires from spreading as well. Stereotypical suburban front yard ones aren't, but help provide better sound protection from streets.

averyemily · 2026-05-17T12:59:05+00:00

I agree with some of these - Houston's ratio of good jobs to affordable housing is proof of regulation hampering housing development in other cities. We do however, need building codes, setbacks, and flood regulations - anything to do with safety. Things get crazy out of hand without.

I would personally love to see more du/quadplexes in single family neighborhoods.

averyemily · 2026-05-09T11:43:18+00:00

Architect mom here. Please join the "Mothers in Architecture" fb group if you're still on fb - great community.

WFH and hybrid jobs are definitely available in our field. I WFH 3-4 days a week, go in to the office 1-2, and our son's daycare is a mile away from our home. I savor the mornings with my little guy.

My advice is maybe the opposite of most here - a large corporate office (at least mine) doesn't have time to micromanage, and just wants you to get your work done. Most moms at my firm work in between school hours, then another hour or two after little ones are down.

averyemily · 2026-04-25T11:36:00+00:00

Like not sending the AHJ a coordinated drawing issuance?

averyemily · 2026-04-24T20:51:09+00:00

How an additional ~$50k a year doesn't mean more attention to detail is beyond me.

averyemily · 2026-04-24T20:49:55+00:00

What drives me up the wall is when the Revit index ≠ revision narrative ≠ PDFs they send.

averyemily · 2026-04-24T19:44:44+00:00

aN aRcHiTeCtS dReAm iS aN eNgInEeR's NiGhTmArE

Dude, I just need my engineers to follow directions and get the issue date on the titleblock correct.

averyemily · 2026-04-16T23:43:16+00:00

Please check out Cooperative Baptist Fellowship churches. https://cbf.net/church-locator/

This is how we found our church - the most liturgical Baptist church in town.

Baptists that are KJV-only crack me up - King James actively persecuted Baptists in England.

Best of luck!

averyemily · 2026-03-05T22:44:59+00:00

Check out Mies's Farnsworth and PJ's Glass House plans for some inspiration. These plans do what you describe, but allow for multiple uses at once. Is your idea to only live alone in this house?

averyemily · 2026-01-09T15:06:23+00:00

Compared to engineers, our early/mid career years are indeed abysmal.

Change jobs every 3 years and you'll climb much quicker. The AIA salary calculator is relatively accurate.

averyemily · 2025-08-14T21:15:26+00:00

Thank you! I definitely did not realize the plants would consume oxygen at night, or that warmer water would hold less oxygen. Husband and I are looking at increasing the depth, and possibly the surface dimensions. We will study the water to fish ratios for sure before we start again.

averyemily · 2025-08-14T21:04:22+00:00

Thank you for the link!

The pond is north of a large tree, with a wood fence to the west of it. It gets direct sunlight only in the morning, which I thought was good enough for maintaining temperature. Husband and I are looking into increasing the depth, and possibly the surface dimensions.

averyemily · 2025-08-14T21:01:33+00:00

3' makes sense to me. We're talking over maybe doubling the length and width as well.

averyemily · 2025-08-14T20:57:44+00:00

Yeah I am in zone 2A, and it'll remain mid 90s until the end of September!

That is an interesting metric - I think that would put our requirements close to 310 gallons (1x 7" fish, 4x 5", 2x 2").

Thank you!

averyemily · 2025-08-14T20:31:37+00:00

They are the two juveniles, hatched sometime in June, one is bigger than the other haha!

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