GCGovComp.app

City of Los Angeles / Architect

Role across City of Los Angeles

Architect

Carry out the duties of this position in support of the agency's public mission.

21 people hold the Architect role across 7 departments in City of Los Angeles, with a median total compensation of $140,127. Among 17 jurisdictions where this role is reported, City of Los Angeles ranks #3 by median pay.

Employees
21
Median pay
$140,127
Departments
7
Cross-jurisdiction
#3 of 17

Compared with the local labor market

Architect pay vs. the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area

Across all employers in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area, the median wage for Architects, Except Landscape and Navalabout 4,870 people is $104,170. City of Los Angeles pays a median base salary of $114,923 for this role, 10% above that figureabout the 60th percentile of local pay for the occupation.

Where City of Los Angeles sits in the local pay range

10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
$75,640
$80,390
$104,170
$132,190
$164,530
City of Los Angeles median · $114,923

The bar is the range of annual wages for Architects, Except Landscape and Naval across every employer in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows City of Los Angeles’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.

And across the country

Nationwide, the median wage for Architects, Except Landscape and Navalabout 106,770 people is $99,280. City of Los Angeles’s median base salary is 16% above that national figure, about the 64th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.

10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
$62,300
$77,960
$99,280
$126,550
$161,420
City of Los Angeles median · $114,923

Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA range relative to the national one.

Computed over the 20 of 21 people in this role paid at least $25,000 in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.

Median total compensation for this role at City of Los Angeles is $140,127, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.

Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.

Compare jurisdictions

Architect pay in other jurisdictions

Where Architects are paid most

Los Angeles County
$198,686 · 6
City of Chicago
$131,082 · 20
Miami-Dade County
$124,195 · 16
Illinois
$121,500 · 10
South Carolina
$115,844 · 6
New York City
$111,462 · 67
Texas
$108,913 · 74
Minnesota
$101,639 · 15
Utah
$101,144 · 6
Georgia
$88,000 · 37
Florida
$81,621 · 6
Missouri
$77,151 · 8
City of Baltimore
$73,857 · 16

Median total compensation for comparable Architect roles in other jurisdictions (highest first). Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not by identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for this role.

Within City of Los Angeles

Departments with this role

Largest City of Los Angeles departments for this role

Water and Power
5 · $138,699
Building and Safety
3 · $119,396
Harbor
1 · $188,419
Airports
1 · $182,192
Cultural Affairs
1 · $115,070

Departments in City of Los Angeles employing the most people in this role. Each bar links to that department’s page for the role.