What a project manager costs in the US
The wage BLS measured across 1,066,670 jobs, what an employer pays on top of it, the pay in every state, and which of the job's core tasks already show up in AI use.
Medians for the whole US. Your own cost depends on where you hire, the benefits you offer and the hours worked.
- Median wage
- $102,320
- Hourly wage
- $49.19
- Loaded per hour
- $61.27
- Middle half earns
- $78,440 to $133,100
- Jobs in the US
- 1,066,670
Wage × 1.2455 for benefits and payroll taxes, from BLS.
A project manager in the US is paid a median $102,320 a year, $49.19 an hour, across 1,066,670 jobs. With benefits, a small employer pays about $127,440. Of its 10 core tasks, 8 showed up in Claude.ai conversations in May 2026, and in 5 of those Claude mostly did the task rather than assisting.
The work, task by task
The 10 core tasks O*NET lists for project management specialists, most important first, and how each showed up in Claude.ai conversations in May 2026. The bar splits those conversations between Claude doing the task and Claude helping a person do it.
- 01Communicate with key stakeholders to determine project requirements and objectives.
- 02Identify project needs such as resources, staff, or finances by reviewing project objectives and schedules.API: 100% did the task, 0% helped
- 03Submit project deliverables to clients, ensuring adherence to quality standards.Claude.ai: 51% did the task, 49% helped
- 04Confer with project personnel to identify and resolve problems.Claude.ai: 95% did the task, 5% helped · API: 97% did the task
- 05Plan, schedule, or coordinate project activities to meet deadlines.Claude.ai: 51% did the task, 49% helped
- 06Request and review project updates to ensure deadlines are met.Claude.ai: 98% did the task, 2% helped · API: 98% did the task
- 07Monitor project milestones and deliverables.Claude.ai: 97% did the task, 3% helped · API: 98% did the task
- 08Assign duties or responsibilities to project personnel.Claude.ai: 46% did the task, 54% helped · API: 97% did the task
- 09Create project status presentations for delivery to customers or project personnel.Claude.ai: 43% did the task, 57% helped
- 10Produce and distribute project documents.Claude.ai: 49% did the task, 51% helped · API: 85% did the task
8 of 10 tasks appear in the Claude.ai sample of the Anthropic Economic Index for May 2026, and 1 more only in its sample of API traffic, where businesses run Claude inside their own software. A task without a row had too few conversations for Anthropic to publish, which is not the same as none. Shares are of all sampled Claude.ai conversations, so small figures are normal: 0.18% of every conversation that month was about this occupation.
Pay by state
The median annual wage in each state and DC, and the same wage fully loaded. Washington pays the most, $124,160; Arkansas the least, $77,170.
| State | Median wage | Fully loaded | Middle half | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $100,820 | $125,570 | $78,010 to $132,500 | 3,190 |
| Alaska | $99,580 | $124,030 | $74,330 to $126,110 | 1,950 |
| Arizona | $99,050 | $123,370 | $75,870 to $129,750 | 22,920 |
| Arkansas | $77,170 | $96,120 | $57,630 to $103,670 | 5,510 |
| California | $120,910 | $150,590 | $85,620 to $155,850 | 114,380 |
| Colorado | $110,050 | $137,070 | $85,010 to $136,990 | 32,390 |
| Connecticut | $105,240 | $131,080 | $81,490 to $135,100 | 8,410 |
| Delaware | $122,190 | $152,190 | $97,130 to $136,510 | 1,770 |
| District of Columbia | $104,900 | $130,650 | $79,340 to $143,440 | 5,170 |
| Florida | $98,070 | $122,150 | $75,820 to $128,640 | 76,370 |
| Georgia | $102,140 | $127,220 | $77,470 to $132,550 | 28,900 |
| Hawaii | $78,000 | $97,150 | $62,460 to $104,990 | 1,560 |
| Idaho | $95,630 | $119,110 | $71,410 to $128,780 | 5,750 |
| Illinois | $103,470 | $128,870 | $81,000 to $132,360 | 27,180 |
| Indiana | $95,020 | $118,350 | $72,690 to $122,260 | 11,970 |
| Iowa | $96,540 | $120,240 | $77,360 to $130,170 | 6,720 |
| Kansas | $100,010 | $124,560 | $75,990 to $128,780 | 6,030 |
| Kentucky | $81,700 | $101,760 | $64,130 to $104,860 | 10,250 |
| Louisiana | $84,850 | $105,680 | $66,800 to $121,500 | 8,050 |
| Maine | $101,830 | $126,830 | $80,060 to $126,020 | 2,620 |
| Maryland | $104,040 | $129,580 | $80,010 to $134,630 | 30,530 |
| Massachusetts | $114,190 | $142,220 | $87,290 to $144,990 | 21,960 |
| Michigan | $100,970 | $125,760 | $78,290 to $129,310 | 25,330 |
| Minnesota | $97,860 | $121,880 | $79,000 to $123,080 | 18,850 |
| Mississippi | $78,870 | $98,230 | $63,020 to $103,650 | 4,320 |
| Missouri | $94,660 | $117,900 | $71,270 to $124,980 | 21,460 |
| Montana | $87,890 | $109,470 | $70,830 to $121,160 | 2,940 |
| Nebraska | $80,150 | $99,830 | $62,390 to $102,820 | 3,190 |
| Nevada | $99,940 | $124,480 | $77,460 to $130,010 | 8,290 |
| New Hampshire | $90,890 | $113,200 | $74,010 to $116,500 | 3,840 |
| New Jersey | $122,980 | $153,170 | $92,850 to $155,490 | 28,300 |
| New Mexico | $106,970 | $133,230 | $79,460 to $155,990 | 4,330 |
| New York | $121,040 | $150,760 | $91,660 to $160,220 | 68,020 |
| North Carolina | $100,820 | $125,570 | $77,970 to $130,690 | 36,200 |
| North Dakota | $96,160 | $119,770 | $77,010 to $119,630 | 2,020 |
| Ohio | $95,770 | $119,280 | $74,420 to $126,570 | 34,260 |
| Oklahoma | $86,240 | $107,410 | $66,810 to $116,520 | 11,220 |
| Oregon | $105,480 | $131,380 | $81,260 to $134,270 | 19,380 |
| Pennsylvania | $100,150 | $124,740 | $78,370 to $128,640 | 36,150 |
| Rhode Island | $104,680 | $130,380 | $79,890 to $132,750 | 3,880 |
| South Carolina | $95,040 | $118,370 | $72,960 to $125,480 | 17,040 |
| South Dakota | $82,250 | $102,440 | $67,630 to $104,180 | 1,310 |
| Tennessee | $85,890 | $106,980 | $70,220 to $112,350 | 20,780 |
| Texas | $98,440 | $122,610 | $74,810 to $129,370 | 138,960 |
| Utah | $96,720 | $120,460 | $74,840 to $127,160 | 16,450 |
| Vermont | $80,800 | $100,640 | $66,830 to $101,620 | 1,190 |
| Virginia | $120,840 | $150,510 | $85,550 to $158,050 | 43,860 |
| Washington | $124,160 | $154,640 | $92,830 to $162,490 | 36,240 |
| West Virginia | $91,780 | $114,310 | $65,370 to $125,050 | 2,520 |
| Wisconsin | $97,580 | $121,540 | $76,720 to $123,850 | 21,610 |
| Wyoming | $94,080 | $117,180 | $71,830 to $120,090 | 1,180 |
The same benefits ratio applies in every state, because BLS does not publish benefit costs by business size for each state. The middle half is the 25th to 75th percentile wage.
Where the numbers come from
Every figure is copied from a public file. The only arithmetic is the loaded cost: the wage times 1.2455.
- Wages
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, occupation 13-1082 (Project Management Specialists). Annual figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours, as BLS computes them, so they already include pay for paid leave.
- Fully loaded
- BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (2026 Q2), private businesses with 1 to 49 workers: $37.64 an hour in total compensation over $27.88 in wages plus $2.34 in paid leave gives 1.2455. Paid leave sits in the denominator because the annual wage already pays it.
- Tasks
- O*NET 31.0 core tasks for 13-1082.00, the ten most important by their importance rating. A few occupations list fewer core tasks.
- AI use
- Anthropic Economic Index, release of June 2026, conversations from May 2026. "Did the task" is Anthropic's automation share, where the user directs Claude to do the work; "helped" is augmentation, where the user works with Claude to learn, check or iterate.
- Not measured
- What a particular business pays, and whether an AI system can do a task well. The AI figures count conversations about a task, not jobs replaced.
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. AI use data from the Anthropic Economic Index by Anthropic, under CC BY. Wage and benefit data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What would an AI system cost for this work?
Put $127,440 beside the running cost of a system doing the tasks above, with the build counted in year one.
BLS wages May 2025 · O*NET 31.0 · Anthropic Economic Index