Salary Trends

All average salaries discussed in this report are non-volunteer averages (One volunteer reported full-time status, while the rest are part-time executives.)

The responses were placed in order by salary from largest to smallest, and the data divided in quarters.  Averages were calculated for each part of the data (quartile averages) and were compared.  As shown below, salary correlates with dues income, base dues, and population, as shown in the table.  The top three quartiles all average at least 400 members, while the 4th quartile averages only 170 members.  The effects of other variables on salary are discussion in the individual sections below.

Other notable trends:

• The highest-paid executives on average are those that have between 9 and 13 years experience ($61,000/yr).  The other quartile averages range between $37,000/yr and $42,000/yr.
• Executives that represent multi-county regions or cities both earn an average $39,000/yr, while executives that represent individual counties earn $51,000/yr on average.
• Organizations that have approximately 280 or more members pay their executives an average of $54,500/yr, while organizations with fewer than 280 members pay approximately $36,000-$40,000/yr on average.

Not all chamber executives are employed by a chamber of commerce.  Seven respondents reported being employed by an Economic Development organization or ED-Chamber partnership.  Executives employed by these organizations tend:

• to have a masters degree
• to represent counties
• to earn an average of $70,000/yr (compared with $40,000/yr earned by executives employed at chambers of commerce).

As shown in the table, executives that have received a raise in the last year tend to be

• serving higher population areas
• managing larger budgets
• employed by organizations that have more dues income and more members, and
• earning higher salaries.

Executives with masters degrees tend to have more experience, serve areas with higher populations, manage larger budgets comprised of more income from dues, receive higher salaries, and they are more likely to have received a raise in the last year when compared with the respondents with bachelors degrees or less.

Female chamber executives are located almost entirely pure chamber organizations (only 1 of 20 females are employed by a partnership), while male executives are more likely to be employed by an Economic Development organization or partnership.  Female chamber executives tend to represent areas with an average population of 30,000, manage budgets that average $136,000, and have an average salary of $34,000.

Respondents with one or more years of Chamber Institute training average 11 years of experience, are more likely to be women, tend to represent more highly-populated areas, and be a part of organizations that have more income from member dues.  They are also more likely to have received a raise in the last year.  This training does not appear to pay off, however.  Average salaries for Chamber-Institute-trained executives are slightly less than for those that haven’t received this training.

In general, samples aren’t large enough for a detailed analysis.  Nineteen respondents reported working part-time hours (fewer than 40/week); two of these did not report a salary and two others didn’t report their gender.  Six executives reported working on a volunteer basis, and are not included in the salary calculations.  Given these limitations, part-time chamber executives tend:

• to be employed by chambers of commerce rather than by Economic Development partnerships
• to represent either counties or cities (no multi-county regions)
• to be female (67 percent) among those executives with 11 or more years of experience.

The top half of part-time chamber executives earns $26,000/year on average, while the bottom half earns $10,000/year on average.  Three of the top six earners received a raise in the last year (50 percent), while only one of the bottom six received a raise (17 percent).

Other notable trends:

Part-time executives with 5-8 years experience are the highest paid on average at $14,500/year.  The other salary ranges earned between $6000-$7800/year on average.

Budget, population, and salary are all correlated.  Organizations with larger budgets tend to be located in areas with higher populations and pay their part-time chamber executives higher salaries (see table).

Only three of the 19 organizations with part-time chamber executives are organized as Economic Development partnerships.  These organizations tend to serve areas with larger populations, have larger budgets at their disposal, and pay their part-time executives higher salaries than chambers of commerce (see table).

Five of 19 part-time chamber executives reported having received at least 1 year of Chamber Institute training.  However, the average salary for those executives was not significantly different from the executives that have not received this training ($13,500 for both groups).

Education Trends

In general, less-experienced part-time executives tend to be better educated, and the better-educated executives earn higher salaries (see table).