Side-by-side distribution
Architect
$175,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 26.7%
- Live roles
- 10,538
Electrician
$38.95/hr
per hour · USD
- Disclosing
- 44.7%
- Live roles
- 1,320
Highest-paying jobs
Principal Technical Architect, Product Management (AWS/Azure)
3P Systems Architect
Director, Solution Architect, AI-Native Engineering
Fabric SOC Architect
Interconnect and Compute Architect
Datacenter Liquid Cooling Architect
Performance Architect, CPU Cluster
Field Executive Architect
Performance Modeling Architect
Lead Architect, Top Strategic Accounts
Highest-paying jobs
Industrial Controls Electrician
Electrician with OCONUS Travel
Service Electrician
1099 Master Electrician
Service Electrician
Journeyman Electrician Tech - NICET Level 3
Journeyman Electrician Tech - NICET Level 2
Electrician Foreman
Electrician Foreman
Electrician Foreman
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$142,450 | 101 |
Accenture
|
$180,350 | 86 |
Databricks
|
$213,750 | 74 |
Northrop Grumman
|
$169,700 | 56 |
|
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
|
$244,500 | 52 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$163,700 | 49 |
GDIT
|
$195,000 | 44 |
McKesson
|
$142,450 | 42 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Amentum
|
$75,816 | 33 |
| AE American Electric Power | $93,548 | 17 |
Mears Group
|
$56,847 | 13 |
Johnson Electric
|
$94,815 | 10 |
Ameresco
|
$94,234 | 10 |
|
Anheuser-Busch
|
$79,206 | 10 |
Silgan
|
$74,807 | 10 |
Power Design
|
$72,800 | 10 |
Architect salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $202,000 | 237 |
| Seattle | $189,685 | 134 |
| New York | $187,500 | 378 |
| Austin | $186,200 | 158 |
| Los Angeles | $180,350 | 121 |
| Chicago | $180,350 | 221 |
| Boston | $180,350 | 183 |
| Denver | $180,350 | 140 |
| Atlanta | $180,350 | 156 |
| London | $180,048 | 31 |
Architect vs Electrician: which pays more?
The median for Architect is $175,000 per year (typically $142,400–$206,500), versus $38.95/hr for Electrician ($32.95/hr–$44.25/hr). That puts Architect about 116% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Architect and Electrician are compared on equal terms regardless of the currency each role was originally posted in. Only roles that publish a salary range feed the medians; numbers refresh every few hours as new roles post and older ones close, so this comparison reflects the market right now rather than a fixed survey. Use it as a directional benchmark when weighing one path against the other.