The 2021 market research salary and compensation survey is based on data gathered from an invite-only online survey sent to pre-qualified marketing research subscribers of Quirk’s.

The survey was fielded from June 10 to July 16, 2021. In total there were 2,173 respondents. We received 748 usable surveys from client-side researchers (corporate market research) and 1,001 usable surveys from provider-side researchers (market research company employees). An interval (margin of error) of 2.2 at the 95 percent confidence level was achieved. (Not all respondents answered all questions.)

If fewer than 10 responses were given to any job title, crosstabs have not been made available to help protect the identity of participants.

For additional survey results follow the link below:
Market research salaries by job title

Industry

CountBaseBonusDiv.*Other*Total
Advertising/Public Relations





Agriculture





Automotive





Banking/Financial





Building Materials/Products





Computer Hardware/Software





Construction/Housing





Consulting





Consumer Goods





Education





Entertainment





Food/Beverage





Government





Health Care/Pharmaceuticals





Hospitality (hotels, etc.)





Insurance





Manufacturing





Media/Publishing/Information





Non-Profits





Retail





Technology/IT/Web





Telecommunications





Transportation





Travel





Utilities/Energy





Other





Mean












Region in which located

CountBaseBonusDiv.*Other*Total
USA - North East (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)





USA - Mid Atlantic (NJ, NY, PA)





USA - East North Central (IL, IN, MI, OH, WI)





USA - West North Central (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD)





USA - South Atlantic (DC, DE, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV)





USA - East South Central (AL, KY, MS, TN)





USA - West South Central (AR, LA, OK, TX)





USA - Mountain (AZ, CO, ID, MT, NM, NV, UT, WY)





Pacific Coast (AK, CA, HI, OR, WA)





Canada





Mexico





Central and South America





Eastern Europe





Western Europe





Asia





Middle East





Africa





Australia/New Zealand





United Kingdom





India





Mean












Annual revenue/sales of organization

CountBaseBonusDiv.*Other*Total
< $1 Million US dollars





$1M - $3M





$3M - $6M





$6M - $10M





$10M - $50M





$50M - $100M





$100M - $300M





$300M - $500M





$500M - $1 Billion





>$1 Billion US dollars





Mean












Number of full-time equivalent market researchers on staff

CountBaseBonusDiv.*Other*Total
0





1 - 2





3 - 5





6 - 10





11 - 15





16  - 25





>25





Mean












Number of years of experience in marketing research

CountBaseBonusDiv.*Other*Total
< 1 year





1 - 2





3 - 5





6 - 10





11 - 15





16  - 25





>25





Mean












Years at current job

CountBaseBonusDiv.*Other*Total
< 1 year





1 - 2





3 - 5





6 - 10





11 - 15





16  - 25





>25





Mean












Number of employees supervised

CountBaseBonusDiv.*Other*Total
0 (None)





1 - 2





3 - 5





6 - 10





> 10





Mean












Highest degree achieved

CountBaseBonusDiv.*Other*Total
High-school graduate





College graduate





Masters program graduate





Ph.D. graduate





Mean












Gender

CountBaseBonusDiv.*Other*Total
Male





Female





Non-binary





Mean












Age

CountBaseBonusDiv.*Other*Total
< 25





25 - 30





31 - 35





36 - 45





46 - 55





56 - 65





66+





Mean






*Bonus was defined as bonus or commission for 2020 in US dollars.

*Dividends were defined as compensation in the form of dividends, stock options or profit sharing in US dollars for 2020.

*Other was defined as annual value of other compensation (company car, health club membership, mobile phone etc.) in US dollars