Are Product Managers Paid Well? (Actual Salaries They Get)

Are Product Managers Paid Well

Product managers are crucial to the success of any company. They make sure that they meet the needs of the consumer while optimizing profits for the company. So, are Product Managers paid well?

Yes, Product Managers are paid well. The average Product Manager salary is $108,992 per year in the US. That’s over twice the national average salary, which is around $48,672. Associate Product Managers earn around $96,000 while VPs and Directors of Product Management earn between $150,000 and $250,000.

These figures vary depending on the location and industry, as well as experience and education. Let’s cover this in detail below.

What Is A Product Manager?

A Product Manager job has hundreds of responsibilities. The main objective of a Product Manager is to ensure the success of the product and maximize the profits and growth throughout its lifecycle.

Some of the most important duties as a Product Manager include:

  • Communicating with customers and potential customers to determine their needs and over-deliver on them.
  • Staying up to date with the latest technologies and trends to keep up with the exponential growth of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
  • Deciding on which new technologies in the market should be bought or recreated.
  • Finding the most profitable balance between the market’s needs and the cost of the product to meet those needs.
  • To work with different departments in the company to ensure that everyone aligns with a single strategy.
  • Motivate and support the sales department by providing them with tools and in-depth product information to drive sales.

In reality, we can easily list over a hundred other Product Manager responsibilities. The ones listed above are merely the most prevalent in Product Management job roles today.

How Much Do Product Managers Make?

Just like most other careers, a Product Manager’s salary depends on a few different factors, namely:

  1. Industry,
  2. Experience and Education,
  3. Product Management Level, and
  4. Location

Industry

Product Managers in rapidly growing industries are paid more for their expertise. Tech companies are one of the most generous with what they offer because time is critical in getting their market share. At the time of writing this, Facebook pays the most for Product Managers, with an average of $195,000 per year. Google is close behind with $170,000. Amazon and Microsoft pay around $146,000 and $142,000 respectively.

Tech companies pay Product Managers a lot because their workload is massive. Not only do tech Product Managers need to produce an amazing product, but they also need to do it within a short period of time before the needs of the customer are fulfilled by another product on the market.

Energy and utility companies also have very high salary offers for Product Managers.

Experience and Education

Simply put, experienced Product Managers earn more because they’re better equipped to steer the company in the right direction for maximizing sales.

Different Levels Of Product Management

According to Glassdoor, the average base pay for an Associate Product Manager in the US is $96,010 per year. This will vary depending on location, industry, experience, and education.

  • A mid-level Product Manager earns around $108,992 per year.
  • A Senior Product Manager earns approximately $123,895 per year.
  • A VP of Product earns $181,145 per year.
  • A Chief Product Officer earns about $200,000 per year.

Location

Location affects salary because of the supply and demand in different areas. In areas where the supply is low, and demand is high, the salary will be high.

Locations that have a higher cost of living will also offer higher salaries to compensate for the cost of living in that area.

Here are some examples of Product Manager salaries in different areas.

  • Texas – $108,992
  • New York – $108,992
  • Wyoming – $90,719
  • San Francisco – $129,387
  • Seattle – $118,976
  • Chicago – $99,497
  • Denver – $94,762
  • Minneapolis – $102,846
  • Atlanta -$102,031
  • Dallas – $100,692

Related Further Reading:

Product Manager Salaries In Different Countries

We have converted each country’s local currency to the US dollar for easier comparison. Keep in mind that the cost of living is far lower in some of these countries compared to the US.

  • USA – $108,992
  • UK – $68,319
  • Canada – $67,864
  • Germany – $74,147
  • Australia – $87,607
  • New Zealand – $72,621

Why Are Product Managers Paid Well?

Product Managers are paid well because the success or failure of the company is heavily reliant on them. If anything goes wrong in the long-term strategy of a product, the whole company could fail. So as a Product Manager, the risks that the company takes based on your decisions can be very profitable or costly. Employers pay employees higher salaries when the decisions of the employee affect the company’s success or failure significantly.

PM’s also need to make sure that the company is on track or one step ahead in terms of the technology available to the consumers. A company can go from billions in profits to closing down within months if it doesn’t keep up with the latest technologies and trends. A good Product Manager makes sure that the company doesn’t fall behind the competition.

As we mentioned earlier in the article, we could list over a hundred Product Manager responsibilities. With a hefty amount of high-level duties comes a hefty amount of pay.

Are Product Managers In Demand?

Yes, the demand for Product Managers has increased by over 30% in the last few years. This increase is more than 5X that of the average increase in demand for other jobs overall.

The demand for experienced Product Managers has seen the biggest increase in recent years, with over a 50% growth rate. Entry-level Junior Product Manager positions have grown by around 10%, which is still more than the average of 6% in all other types of jobs.

Some people even refer to this time as “The Golden Age of Product Management.”

Interesting Further Reading:

Takeaways…

Product Managers are amongst the top earners in the US. Some senior Product Managers earn higher salaries than dentists, pilots, petroleum engineers, architects, marketing managers, financial managers, and attorneys.

Location plays one of the most significant roles in determining the paycheck. The average pay for this position is $129,387 per year in San Francisco compared to $90,719 in Wyoming.

The more experience and education you have, the more valuable you’ll be to the company and the higher your salary offer should be.

Product Managers will continue to be well compensated for the foreseeable future as advances in technology aren’t slowing down anytime soon. The more the world changes, the more companies require good Product Managers to provide short-term and long-term strategies accordingly.

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