Annual Salary Survey

After hitting a salary summit in 2015, U.S. tech compensation takes a small slide.

- Cody Clark

When it comes to actual mountaineering, you don’t often have to wonder whether you’ve reached a summit. If you have an unobstructed view to all points of the compass and nothing in your immediate vicinity is higher than you are, then congratulations — you’re on the peak.

Peaks and valleys are harder to identify when they’re of the metaphorical sort used to characterize financial trends. You typically can’t tell you were at the summit until you’ve pressed on past the highest point and suddenly realize that you’re heading down. The terrain becomes clear only in hindsight: We can’t tell where we are without making reference to ground recently covered.

As some readers may have guessed by now, the average annual salary of certified IT professionals in the United States lost some ground in 2016. The figure we’re reporting this year —$108,790 — is still impressive. It’s just not as big as it was ($113,350) at the end of 2015.