What the title covers in US statistics
The official statistics count project managers under occupation 13-1082, project management specialists. The group is defined as people who analyze and coordinate the schedule, timeline, procurement, staffing and budget of a product or service on a per-project basis, lead technical staff and may act as the client's point of contact. Sample titles include implementation project manager, fiber project manager and project management consultant. The figures on this page, 1,094,300 jobs and a median wage of $102,320, cover that whole group. Note that information technology project managers are treated as a separate occupation, and construction managers are counted separately too, so some people with "project manager" on their business card sit in other statistics.
How the job differs by industry
The title is the same everywhere, but the work is not. Professional, scientific and technical services employ 28% of project management specialists. These are consulting, engineering and IT services firms, where you run projects for clients, write status reports for people outside your company and may travel to client sites. Construction is the second-largest employer at 22%. There, a project manager handles owners, architects, subcontractors, bids, change orders and cost reports, and spends regular time on job sites. The in-demand technologies for the occupation reflect that mix: Procore and Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D for construction, GitHub for software teams, Asana and Slack for coordination, and Tableau for reporting.
Manufacturing (7%), administrative and support services (6%) and finance and insurance (5%) round out the largest employers. In-house corporate project managers often run process changes or system rollouts and answer to an internal steering committee instead of a paying client. Part of the future demand is expected to come from the growing volume and complexity of IT projects, which favors candidates who can talk comfortably with technical teams.
Where the jobs and the pay are
Texas has the most jobs (138,960, median $98,440), followed by California (114,380, median $120,910), Florida (76,370, median $98,070), New York (68,020, median $121,040) and Virginia (43,860, median $120,840). Texas and Virginia are the most concentrated, with location quotients of 1.44 and 1.56. The highest medians are in Washington ($124,160), New Jersey ($122,980) and Delaware ($122,190).
Nationally, the middle half of workers earn between $78,440 and $133,100. Official wage data are not broken down by years of experience, so treat any "entry-level project manager salary" with caution. What is known is that specialists often begin as trainees on small projects and progress to large, complex ones as they take on more responsibility.
What employers look for on a resume
A bachelor's degree is the baseline: business or project management are common, and some employers prefer a technical degree related to their industry, such as engineering or computer and information technology. Experience matters as much as the degree. Business analysts, information security analysts and training and development specialists are common feeder jobs, and some employers value experience in recruitment, employee relations or compensation and benefits, which candidates sometimes gain through internships or volunteering.
On your resume, show projects as outcomes: scope, budget, team size, deadline and what was delivered. Certification is optional, but it demonstrates competency to employers and clients. The Project Management Institute's PMP is the best-known credential; it requires 35 hours of project management education plus documented experience leading projects. Newcomers can start with PMI's entry-level CAPM.
In interviews, expect to walk through the full project life cycle: defining scope with the client, building a plan with costs, risks and a timeline, directing the team and handling client changes, then closing out by organizing financial statements, contracts and other documents. Have one example ready for each stage, including a project that did not go to plan and what you did about it.
The honest downsides
You are accountable for results while depending on people who often do not report to you. Stress tolerance, perseverance and self-control are among the key work styles, and project managers often work under tight deadlines and may oversee more than one project at a time. Most work full time and some work more than 40 hours a week. Schedules can require flexibility, for example calls with teams in other time zones or work during off-peak hours, such as a system cutover on a weekend. And when a project goes over budget or late, the project manager is usually the first person asked why.