Really helpful to have this resource - I find it really challenging to find relevant compensation data on sites like Payscale given that community is still a bit niche in the broader job market. Curious if you're able to extract any insights about how salaries compare in high cost of living cities like New York and San Francisco (for example, if they're 10% higher than average). Do you have enough data to derive any insights there?
Alright, finally had some time to sit down and work through the numbers.
The averages for major cities like NYC and SF are indeed higher, but only for more senior positions:
Average for a community manager is $78,000 USD (compared to $77,000 USD globally)
Average for a senior community manager is $130,000 USD (compared to $102,000 USD globally)
Average for a director/head of community is $168,000 USD (compared to $141,000 USD globally)
US average salary in USD:
For community managers: $87,000 (numbers are weird, but I triple checked the math for reporting on salaries for CMs in NYC/SF and it was consistently $78,000. There were significantly more CMs from outside of those two cities which is why these numbers skew higher for the rest of the US, and CM salaries outside of the US are significantly lower which is why the average CM salary globally is only $77,000)
For senior community managers: $112,000
For director/head of community: $163,000
Great thread. Alex you may want to add clarity are these base salaries? Or is it total comp including bonus and equity packages as you reach more senior roles?
These are base salaries. We asked about bonuses as a separate question, but there weren't many folks who got bonuses so I didn't include it in the main report. Happy to answer any specifics you might have around that, though!
Thanks Alex! Sorry I missed this when the survey went out. I am wrapping up week 3 now as Senior Director, Customer Community and Growth at Kaltura reporting to the VP of Marketing. My role will likely grow in the next year and report to the GM. More than 12 years in this space. Survey results you shared are great and in line with what I am seeing for those of us with many years of experience.
Thanks for being one of the catalysts for this happening :D If there are any specific questions you have that aren't covered in my report please let me know, I can see if I can dig up some additional details for you.
Thanks Alex! I'd be curious to see what changes based on the person or team's main function. Do community advocates earn more than community support teams? Does it typically require more experience?
I'll preface this by saying that these numbers are based on all job titles that responded with their primary team function (so there are a mix of senior and junior roles for each category):
For communities that are focused on advocacy, people earn on average $104,000 USD.
For communities that are focused on support, people earn on average $96,000 USD.
For communities that are focused on brand awareness, people earn on average $71,000 USD.
For communities that are focused on engagement, people earn on average $96,000 USD.
The following is the average salary in USD based on years of experience:
1 year of experience: $65,000
2-3 years of experience: $90,000
4-5 years of experience: $87,000
6-7 years of experience: $112,000
8-9 years of experience: $96,000
10+ years of experience: $148,000
Interesting to see the dips between 2-3 years and 4-5 years, and 6-7 years and 8-9 years. Some of this is due to location, but I think people need to start asking for raises!
Thank you!! I was so excited that so many people responded so we could work with a good data set. I hope that what we've shared can help folks go into those negotiation conversations prepared with enough data to really support their case.
Great work team! Thank you for doing this research. If you continue to add data points, I would love to see the breakdown of salaries based on the company’s size and/or annual revenue.
I think I should be able to get you the salary based on company size! Adding that to my to-do list, and I'll ping you once I have something to share :)
Woah! On who the community team reports to after marketing: "The next largest bucket is an actual standalone Community team that reports into the executive team!"
Such a powerful sign that Community Managers are getting far more clout today than they were 5 years ago.
You asked about other compensation like stock but then don't offer a place to add a # - some folks in tech get a majority of income from this option, so you are potentially missing big data point.
For "How many members does your community have?" - for me as an internal community manager its all employees generally have access, but this is a hard question. consider adapting?
We had a stock amount field on the last survey but no one knew what to put, so it honestly felt easier to remove than to try and have multiple questions about stock (e.g. some people don't know percentages, some people don't know numbers, and ultimately the value fluctuates and makes it harder to answer).
I think the number of members still applies, even if you're an internal CM. It's still reasonable to say that all of the employees are members of your community.
Alex, Thank you so much. This report is super eye opening.
I'm happy if I can translate this report into Japanese and share it with community managers in Japan.
Is it possible?
Not specifically, but we did get some responses around that based on titles and functions. The updated survey has a question similar to that, though, so hopefully for this next round of data we'll have some good answers based on those particulars.
Edit: I'm going to go ahead and add another question specifically around this so there's a concrete answer, rather than piecing together from various questions :)
Really helpful to have this resource - I find it really challenging to find relevant compensation data on sites like Payscale given that community is still a bit niche in the broader job market. Curious if you're able to extract any insights about how salaries compare in high cost of living cities like New York and San Francisco (for example, if they're 10% higher than average). Do you have enough data to derive any insights there?
Alright, finally had some time to sit down and work through the numbers.
The averages for major cities like NYC and SF are indeed higher, but only for more senior positions:
Average for a community manager is $78,000 USD (compared to $77,000 USD globally)
Average for a senior community manager is $130,000 USD (compared to $102,000 USD globally)
Average for a director/head of community is $168,000 USD (compared to $141,000 USD globally)
Super helpful. Thank you Alex!
These averages are limited to NYC & SF, right? If so, possible to get a US average too, please 🙏?
US average salary in USD:
For community managers: $87,000 (numbers are weird, but I triple checked the math for reporting on salaries for CMs in NYC/SF and it was consistently $78,000. There were significantly more CMs from outside of those two cities which is why these numbers skew higher for the rest of the US, and CM salaries outside of the US are significantly lower which is why the average CM salary globally is only $77,000)
For senior community managers: $112,000
For director/head of community: $163,000
THANK YOU SO MUCH 🙏
Great thread. Alex you may want to add clarity are these base salaries? Or is it total comp including bonus and equity packages as you reach more senior roles?
These are base salaries. We asked about bonuses as a separate question, but there weren't many folks who got bonuses so I didn't include it in the main report. Happy to answer any specifics you might have around that, though!
Thanks Alex! Sorry I missed this when the survey went out. I am wrapping up week 3 now as Senior Director, Customer Community and Growth at Kaltura reporting to the VP of Marketing. My role will likely grow in the next year and report to the GM. More than 12 years in this space. Survey results you shared are great and in line with what I am seeing for those of us with many years of experience.
I think I should be able to get that info for you! Adding it to my list :)
Awesome - thank you Alex!
Good stuff! Thanks for sharing the report. I look forward to seeing how things shift and evolve over the years.
Thanks for being one of the catalysts for this happening :D If there are any specific questions you have that aren't covered in my report please let me know, I can see if I can dig up some additional details for you.
Thanks Alex! I'd be curious to see what changes based on the person or team's main function. Do community advocates earn more than community support teams? Does it typically require more experience?
This is a great question. It might take me a day to dig in, but this is officially on my to-do list!
Thanks Alex!
I'll preface this by saying that these numbers are based on all job titles that responded with their primary team function (so there are a mix of senior and junior roles for each category):
For communities that are focused on advocacy, people earn on average $104,000 USD.
For communities that are focused on support, people earn on average $96,000 USD.
For communities that are focused on brand awareness, people earn on average $71,000 USD.
For communities that are focused on engagement, people earn on average $96,000 USD.
The following is the average salary in USD based on years of experience:
1 year of experience: $65,000
2-3 years of experience: $90,000
4-5 years of experience: $87,000
6-7 years of experience: $112,000
8-9 years of experience: $96,000
10+ years of experience: $148,000
Interesting to see the dips between 2-3 years and 4-5 years, and 6-7 years and 8-9 years. Some of this is due to location, but I think people need to start asking for raises!
Thanks so much for looking into this Alex! Super interesting (especially those dips).
This is exactly why we're putting content like this together AND making it open, free and accessible for all!
Thank you!! I was so excited that so many people responded so we could work with a good data set. I hope that what we've shared can help folks go into those negotiation conversations prepared with enough data to really support their case.
Great initiative! Thank you for this detailed report.
If there are any other insights you're curious about, let me know! I may be able to pull something together.
Just shared this with my team. SO good. Thank you Alex!
Hope some of these insights are helpful for you as you're continuing to grow your team!
As Alex said, make sure you fill out the survey if you haven't already! We'll continue to update this post as the data gets even better.
Am I missing something or why can't I find USA on the list of countries?
Whoops!! Good catch. Added :)
Great work team! Thank you for doing this research. If you continue to add data points, I would love to see the breakdown of salaries based on the company’s size and/or annual revenue.
I think I should be able to get you the salary based on company size! Adding that to my to-do list, and I'll ping you once I have something to share :)
Thanks so much!
Average salaries based on company size (in USD):
1-10 employees: $79,000
11-20 employees: $90,000
21-50 employees: $103,000
51-100 employees: $85,000
101-500 employees: $102,000
501-1000 employees: $118,000
1001-5000 employees: $86,000
5000+ employees: $148,000
Really great read. I'd love more content like this!
Let me know if there's anything specific you're interested in and I can try and make it happen!
Great job on this team!
Oooh one thing though—I think I missed the section on "% of community managers who love puns"?
100% of community managers love puns. Its a job requirement!
Thanks! If you have any ideas for what you'd like to see in v2, let me know :D
Woah! On who the community team reports to after marketing: "The next largest bucket is an actual standalone Community team that reports into the executive team!"
Such a powerful sign that Community Managers are getting far more clout today than they were 5 years ago.
You asked about other compensation like stock but then don't offer a place to add a # - some folks in tech get a majority of income from this option, so you are potentially missing big data point.
For "How many members does your community have?" - for me as an internal community manager its all employees generally have access, but this is a hard question. consider adapting?
We had a stock amount field on the last survey but no one knew what to put, so it honestly felt easier to remove than to try and have multiple questions about stock (e.g. some people don't know percentages, some people don't know numbers, and ultimately the value fluctuates and makes it harder to answer).
I think the number of members still applies, even if you're an internal CM. It's still reasonable to say that all of the employees are members of your community.
Alex, Thank you so much. This report is super eye opening.
I'm happy if I can translate this report into Japanese and share it with community managers in Japan.
Is it possible?
Absolutely! Please feel free to translate and share with Japanese community managers. I'm glad you found this report helpful.
Did you ask about type of community? Internal, external, market, customer...etc?
Not specifically, but we did get some responses around that based on titles and functions. The updated survey has a question similar to that, though, so hopefully for this next round of data we'll have some good answers based on those particulars.
Edit: I'm going to go ahead and add another question specifically around this so there's a concrete answer, rather than piecing together from various questions :)