Annual Salary, Salary Range, and Highest Paying States and Industries
Airline Pilots
Airline Pilots pilot and navigate the flight of fixed-wing aircraft, usually on scheduled air carrier routes, for the transport of passengers and cargo. Requires Federal Air Transport certificate and rating for specific aircraft type used. Includes regional, national, and international airline pilots and flight instructors of airline pilots.
Table of contents
- Average salary
- Starting salary
- Salary rank
- Salary range
- Highest paying states
- Highest paying industries
Average salary
Starting salary
Entry-level Airline Pilots, Copilots and Flight Engineers with little to no experience can expect to make anywhere between $80,920 to $106,530 per year. Similar to any other job, their salary will increase as they gain experience.
Salary rank
We wanted to make it easy for our readers to compare the salary of Airline Pilots, Copilots and Flight Engineers to all the other careers out there. So we created Salary Rank. We compared the salary of all careers then we gave them a rank of A, B, C, or D depending on where their average salary sit in comparison to other careers.
Salary range
Level | Hourly | Annual |
---|---|---|
Highest (Top 10%) | $* | $208,000+ |
Senior (Top 25%) | $* | $208,000+ |
Middle (Mid 50%) | $* | $160,970 |
Junior (Bottom 25%) | $* | $106,530 |
No experience (Bottom 10%) | $* | $80,920 |
Highest paying states
State | Hourly | Annual |
---|---|---|
MI | $* | $248,770 |
NV | $* | $236,260 |
FL | $* | $229,730 |
CA | $* | $229,110 |
WA | $* | $221,570 |
IL | $* | $200,840 |
CO | $* | $200,040 |
TX | $* | $194,100 |
AK | $* | $180,100 |
NY | $* | $177,680 |
* Airline Pilots, Copilots and Flight Engineers are generally paid on an annual basis not hourly.
Another simple way to increase your salary as an Airline Pilot, Copilot and Flight Engineer is to move to a higher paying state. However moving to a higher paying state like MI doesn’t guarantee that you will make more because the expenses at MI might be much higher than where you are currently living at right now.
According to BLS, the highest paid Pilots and Flight Engineers are in the states of MI, NV, FL, CA and WA.
Highest paying industries
Salary by industry | Annual | Hourly |
---|---|---|
Scheduled Air Transportation | $191340 | $* |
Management of Companies and Enterprises | $161080 | $* |
Nonscheduled Air Transportation | $131420 | $* |
Technical and Trade Schools | $116830 | $* |
Support Activities for Air Transportation | $115760 | $* |
Federal Executive Branch | $113030 | $* |
Architectural, Engineering, and Related Services | $101290 | $* |
Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools | $93990 | $* |
Other Ambulatory Health Care Services | $ | $* |