Survey Calculator Helps Show IT Salary Averages

Overall, IT salaries were flat to down in 2004, with managers earning a median of $90,000 and staffers earning $60,000, compared with $90,000 and $68,000 in 2004. Job functions with the highest salary ranges include Web security, wireless infrastructure and enterprise application integration. Although IT salary freezes are generally a thing of the past, according to the survey, median raises remain paltry: about 2 percent for staffers and 3 percent for managers.

To compare your salary with others', go to the salary advisor on NWC.com, enter a job title and a geographic location, and find out the median salary for that pairing. For example, application development managers earn up to $89,000 in Chicago and up to $150,000 in San Francisco. Security staffers take home up to $80,000 in New York and up to $77,000 in Denver. Check it out--you might get the ammunition you need to ask for that raise.