Bluewolf, an IT job placement agency based in New York, has recently published its 2009 IT Salary Report for the Tri-state Area (N.Y., N.J., Connecticut) which features numbers for both 2008 and 2009 for comparison. It is important to note that these numbers are predictions based on Bluewolf's experience in the IT space, as in numbers the agency sees regularly from jobs in demand (and placed) and numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Below I have listed the 2009 numbers only, but the overall stats can be summarized this way: Salary numbers at the high end of each category are, as expected, down overwhelmingly, but average salary levels are holding steady. The other thing to note is that in many categories the bottom or entry-level salaries in most positions have fallen some. The bottom line is that it has become much more of an employer's market--even in IT.

Anecdotally, I would suggest that these salary numbers represent the highest you will probably see (and maybe even inflated) in the United States, with Silicon Valley numbers coming in close. And based on Bluewolf's own assessment, Bluewolf appears to back me up.

In the introduction to the numbers, Bluewolf says, "It is important to note that with the majority of our experience being in the New York area, our numbers may appear inflated when held against a national average. Salary ranges tend to be approximately 25 percent higher in the Northeast and on the West Coast, while in New York they tend to be 50 percent higher than the national average."

The main issue I have with the information is that Bluewolf does little to try and explain the few changes that show an improvement. Why are network managers seeing a 14 percent salary spike? Why are average e-commerce analysts seeing a 5 percent raise? I don't see anything from Bluewolf that attempts to explain these two bright spots, and I would not begin to try and explain them right now.

My gut tells me these prediction numbers may not be showing the full picture in a down economy when so much of the average numbers are flat. You can compare these numbers and trends with research from CIO Insight. (PDF)

Here are Bluewolf's numbers for 2009:

ADMINISTRATION
Chief Information Officer $140,000 - $175,000
Chief Technology Officer $120,000 - $150,000
Vice President of Information Technology $110,000 - $145,000
Information Technology Manager $100,000 - $120,000

APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT
Systems Analyst $65,000 - $85,000
Applications Architect $90,000 - $120,000
Business Analyst $50,000 - $95,000
Developer/Program Analyst $65,000 - $100,000
Lead Applications Developer $80,000 - $100,000

CONSULTING AND SYSTEMS INTEGRATION
Director $100,000 - $150,000
Project Manager/Senior Consultant $85,000 - $125,000
Information Technology Auditor $80,000 - $120,000

DATA/DATABASE ADMINISTRATION
Database Developer $70,000 - $100,000
Database Administration $70,000 - $120,000
Data Architect $85,000 - $120,000
Data Modeler $85,000 - $110,000
Data Warehouse Analyst $80,000 - $105,000
Business Intelligence Analyst $80,000 - $105,000

ERP
Technical Analyst $80,000 - $100,000
Techno-Functional Analyst $90,000 - $125,000
Functional Analyst $100,000 - $125,000

QUALITY ASSURANCE AND TESTING
Quality Assurance Analyst/Tester $65,000 - $85,000

INTERNET AND eCOMMERCE
Senior Web Developer $80,000 - $110,000
Web Developer $65,000 - $90,000
Web Designer $45,000 - $90,000
eCommerce Analyst $65,000 - $100,000

NETWORKING/TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Network Administrator $65,000 - $100,000
Network Manager $70,000 - $110,000
Network Engineer $70,000 - $100,000

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Product Manager $80,000 - $125,000
Software Engineer $80,000 - $105,000
Software Developer $70,000 - $100,000

TECHNICAL SERVICES, HELP DESK AND TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Desktop Support Analyst $50,000 - $65,000
Systems Administrator $50,000 - $80,000
Help Desk (top tier) $55,000 - $65,000
Interactive Producer $80,000 - $110,000
Information Architect $80,000 - $120,000

You can download the full salary report for comparison with 2008 here (registration required).

What are you seeing for salary levels on job hunts in the tri-state area and the rest of the country?