According to the New York State budget office outlook projection for the 2020 fiscal year, the New York state labor market has been tightening in every region, with labor shortages and unemployment at the lowest rate it has been since 1976. Private sector job growth in 2017 came in at 1.4 percent, and is expected to continue at nearly that rate through 2019 at least.
That’s an environment with a lot of hiring and stiff competition for top talent… the kind of environment that demands that perfect blend of management acumen and people skills that only qualified, experienced human resources professionals have.
That need, in turn, should continue to drive HR salaries and job demand higher in New York State.
Salary Expectations and Job Growth Projections for New York’s HR Professionals
New York is a behemoth for human resources employment, taking a spot in the top five states for employment levels in 2018 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics for most HR-related professions.
It’s also a bright spot in national salary levels for HR professionals, coming in at number two for pay rates for HR specialists and fourth for HR managers. New York City is headquarters for some of the largest and wealthiest businesses in the world, including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and ABM Industries.
With strong private sector growth projections buoying all of those organizations, HR staff with the right kind of education don’t ever have to worry about where their next advancement opportunity is coming from in New York, and can rest assured it’s going to pay better than what they could make almost anywhere else in the country.
Salaries for Human Resources Managers in New York
Management professionals naturally bring in the highest pay rates in the industry. In fact, all three of the largest metro areas in the state are off the charts for BLS measurements, with a dash value indicating that salaries exceed $208,000 annually in some professional areas.
New York
The New York city area ranks fourth in the nation for HR manager salaries, so it’s no surprise that the area also ranks highly within the state for manager pay.
Buffalo
The median wage for Buffalo area compensation and benefit managers exceeds the New York City area salaries.
Rochester
Rochester employs both more HR managers and more training and development managers than are found in the Buffalo area.
Salaries for Human Resources Specialists and Assistants in New York
New York
There are more HR specialists employed in the New York Metropolitan area than anywhere in the nation, and with high wages to match, it’s a solid spot to search for jobs in the role.
Buffalo
Labor relations specialists in Buffalo handily beat the state median wage, bringing in $81,050 per year.
Rochester
Rochester is home to a wide range of opportunities in specialist roles for HR staff at relatively high levels of compensation.
Salary and employment data compiled by the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics in May of 2018 for human resources managers, specialists, and assistants – https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_ny.htm#11-9111. The BLS salary data shown here represents median – 90th percentile salary ranges for the state and its MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) and includes workers at all levels of education and experience. This data does not represent starting salaries.
Job growth projections sourced from the New York Department of Labor and published in the U.S. Department of Labor-funded Long Term Occupational Projections (2016-2026) database – https://projectionscentral.com/Projections/LongTerm. Employment conditions in your area may vary.
All salary and job growth data accessed in October 2019.