Average Salary

• The mean annual wage in the United States for computer and information systems directors is $120,640, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The lowest 25 percent of those in this occupation earn an average wage of $89,240, while those in the upper 25 percent earn $143,590. IT directors and managers may direct and plan activities in fields such as electronic data processing, systems analysis and computer programming.
  
  

Industry

• Information technology reaches into dozens of different types of industries, each of which offers a different salary for IT directors. The industry with the highest level of employment for IT directors is computer systems design and related services, with an annual mean wage of $130,000. The industry of management of companies and enterprises pays slightly less at $123,910, while software publishers pay more at $136,580. Insurance carriers offer IT directors an average salary of $114,940, and colleges, universities and professional schools offer the lowest, at $97,160.
  
  

Location

• Whether company or college, any institution must factor in the local cost of living when setting a salary. IT directors in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California, area earn the highest wages in the nation, at $166,590, while New Jersey is the overall highest paying state at $139,880. New York, California and Massachusetts also rank as top-paying states, with average annual wages of $138,020, $136,720 and $132,950, respectively.
  
  

Outlook

• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment for computer and information systems managers "is expected to grow 17 percent over the 2008-2018 decade, which is faster than average for all occupations." Overall, job growth is predicted to be best in computer systems design establishments, such as software-publishing and data-processing companies, technical consulting services and healthcare organizations.