June 30, 2017 | Read Time: 1 minute
Title: Association of Art Museums Directors 2017 Salary Survey
Organization: Association of Art Museum Directors
Summary: North American museums remain stable workplaces, and almost two-thirds of the continent’s museums spent roughly half of their budgets on employee salaries, according to the report.
The median salary increase was 3 percent in 2016, compared with 2.7 percent in 2015.
Sixty-four percent of responding museums said they spent 41 percent to 60 percent of their operating budget on payroll-related expenses last year, up from 57 percent in 2015.
The report tallied responses from 219 museums in the United States, Canada, and Mexico and covers more than 50 staff positions, ranging from leaders to support staff in advancement, communications, curatorial, education, and security departments.
Among the other findings:
- From 2011 to 2016, chief operating officers saw their salaries grow the most, at a compound annual growth rate of 5.5 percent, which the report says is double the average rate across other museum positions.
- From 2011 to 2016, curatorial staff saw the second fastest increase in salaries, with median incomes growing at a rate of more than 4.6 percent.
- Nearly half of the museums offered their nondirector-level executive staff reimbursements for acquiring or maintaining professional licenses, while 42 percent offered such reimbursements only to those at the director level.
