The average salary level of a highly qualified engineer/IT specialist/scientist/architect of computer systems in leading US corporations is $150,000 - $200,000 per year of accrued pre-tax income (base salary + bonuses + benefits + stock options) with work experience of more than 7 - 8 years and the ability to create advanced innovative developments on a global scale.
Large corporations offer 30% - 50% higher salaries than the economy's average, according to the Indeed/Glassdoor job registry and the BLS macroeconomic survey.
High-Growth Segments and Advanced Job Opportunities
Advanced jobs in high-growth segments like generative AI creation with project management opportunities can offer a base salary of $250,000 - $340,000 per year, with the possibility of additional compensation of up to half a million dollars before taxes. Taxes and fees should be deducted from this amount (with an income of about $500,000 per year, approximately 35% will be deducted in the US).
Factors Influencing Salary Variations
Everything depends on the company, region, and position. The best opportunities are in companies like Microsoft / OpenAI, Google, Meta, NVIDIA, Adobe, Salesforce, AWS (Amazon's AI-related division), and other large, fast-growing companies in AI and information systems architecture development.
Earning $175,000 - $200,000 per year of net income after all taxes and fees is quite realistic for highly qualified senior-level specialists with years of experience in creating cutting-edge / innovative developments on a global scale in rapidly growing fields like AI, nanotechnology, and biotech.
It's fair to say that in 2023, the average net disposable monthly income starts at $10,000 for highly skilled professionals in developed countries and major corporations. The highest echelon reaches $20,000 - $30,000 per month, but these are rare specialists.
This is the price of a knowledge-based economy, where household incomes are at least 3-5 times higher than the national average.
Conclusion
High wages are fully justified by the high return on investment as innovation multiplies, creating hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue and trillion-dollar capitalization. But that's a topic for another time.