Specialized tech skills will make you indispensable and help you earn more, but salaries are ultimately still tied to job titles. A new study helps illuminate the best (and worst) paying tech jobs for 2018. How Much recently dug through Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data to come up with these positions on either end of the pay scale. We cross-referenced those findings versus our own Salary Survey and other data points. Naturally, managers sit atop the earnings heap. BLS data is a touch more granular than many other sources, but shows a “Computer and Information Systems Manager” earning $149,730 on average. This rate scales down through “Product Manager,” which has an average salary of $120,444. Of the five ‘management’ positions atop BLS’s earnings data, the average salary is $135,381. This figure is closely aligned with the Dice Salary Survey, which packages management roles (listed as CEO, CIO, CTO, VP and Director) into a single earnings figure: $136,786. Software engineers and/or application developers also align at around $106,000. Web developers, who have seen a sharp decline in their earnings of late, are shown in BLS data and the Salary Survey as earning approximately $75,000 annually. These figures are above average for workers in the United States, even though this figure is a moving target. U.S. Census Data shows the average income right around $50,000 per year for individuals, while BLS data shows median household income in the U.S. is closer to $60,000. Job titles such as “Desktop Support Specialist” and “Quality Assurance Specialist,” which are all bespoke titles for customer and client support roles, fall in line with this average. It’s only when those titles become more general – “Help Desk” and “Technical Support Representative” – we see income dip below $50,000. There are many ways to improve your average salary if you're in tech. Some metro areas are better for tech jobs, and there are industries that typically pay well above average for tech pros. Skills, as always, are also a way to level-up your salary without moving to a new city or finding a new job. The How Much double-pyramid is below, so feel free to give it a look for a more detailed view of BLS-derived job titles and earnings.