Certified Public Accountant Salary

If you’ve considered becoming a certified public accountant (CPA), now may be the perfect time. According to The CPA Journal, the supply of qualified accountants has not kept up with the demand. Retiring accountants, employers’ need for accountants with broader skills, and lower numbers of accounting students have all contributed to the shortage.

Learn more about CPA salary ranges and employment outlook in this guide. Discover which states, cities, and industries pay the most, employ the highest number of accountants and auditors, and offer the best job growth potential.

Becoming a CPA can benefit you in several ways, including higher pay, job security, and increased demand. The average annual salary for CPAs totaled $83,040. Payscale reports that average CPA salaries range from $62,000 to $107,000, depending on experience level.

CPA salary variations depend on several factors, including educational attainment, experience, industry, geographical location, and specialization. For example, Payscale lists New York City’s average CPA salary as 20.3% higher than the national average.

Accountants can qualify for licensure with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, a related field such as business or finance, or any field with a state licensing board-specified number of accounting credits. Earning a master’s degree can increase your CPA salary. An advanced degree can also offer opportunities to specialize, which may lead to higher pay. A master’s or doctoral degree can also qualify you for higher-level roles and accompanying wage increases.

You might wonder if the time and expense of earning a graduate degree can make that much difference to your bank account. Accounting salaries go up with additional education. Some states require 150 college credits for CPA licensure, and pursuing a master’s might make sense. But in the states that only require 120 credits, a bachelor’s degree may be sufficient.

The length of time you spend as a CPA corresponds to steady average annual wage increases, as shown in the table below. Gaining experience from less than a year to 1-4 years adds $10,000 to your average annual pay. The next two jumps to 5-9 years and 10-19 years each add $13,000 per year on average. The last pay increase for those achieving 20+ years averages $9,000 a year.

In addition to base salary increases, high performers can also receive bonuses and employer benefits.

CPA salaries can vary significantly by location and are influenced by factors such as cost of living, population density, quality of life, and whether the area is rural or urban. CPAs may earn more in large cities and densely populated areas due to a more competitive job market.

Typically, but not always, areas with higher cost-of-living indexes offer a higher average wage. Many of these less affordable areas consist of desirable and densely populated states and cities on the East or West Coast. Some of the top 10 states with the highest costs of living, including California, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, and New York, also rank among the highest-paying for accountants and auditors, as illustrated in the following tables.

The data below are not specific to CPAs, but represent similar careers grouped by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

According to long-term data from the BLS, employment for accountants and auditors is projected to increase by 5% from 2024 to 2034. Job growth percentage rates can vary by geographical location or industry.

Overall, the BLS projects approximately 124,200 accounting and auditing job openings each year from 2024 to 2034. Employers must fill positions held by retiring professionals and those leaving the occupation for other reasons.

The BLS lists other factors driving employment opportunities, including economic growth, globalization, and a complex tax and regulatory environment. Technological advancements also play a role and may automate certain accounting functions, but they do not reduce the demand for advisory and analytical services.

The data below are not specific to CPAs, but represent similar careers grouped by the BLS.

As outlined in the table below, the states with the largest number of accountants and auditors span the country, from California to Florida. Three of those states — California, Texas, and Florida — are among those with the highest projected employment increases during 2022-2032. Additional states with high projected job growth for accountants and auditors include Utah (30.5%), Tennessee (21.8%), Idaho (15.3%), and Washington (15.2%).

The top three metropolitan areas that employ the largest number of accountants and auditors are New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. Generally, rural states and non-metropolitan areas employ the fewest accountants and auditors. States with 80-910 accountants and auditors include Alabama, Idaho, Montana, New Hampshire, Vermont, Wyoming, and the Dakotas.

Projections Central lists the states with the lowest projected growth percentages as New Jersey (1.9%), Michigan (1.8%), and Maine (0.7%). However, these states should still experience positive long-term growth between 2022 and 2032.

Virtually all businesses and industries require CPAs; however, a 2022 Wall Street Journal article reported that 300,000 accountants and auditors left their jobs over the prior two years, and college enrollment in accounting has been too low to fill the resulting gaps.

To address the shortage of accounting students and CPAs, several state licensing boards have passed legislation that reduces the educational requirements to qualify for a CPA certification from 150 college credits to 120 (the typical number for bachelor’s degree programs). The hope is that more students will major in accounting if they are not required to complete an extra year of school.

All industries employ accountants and auditors, but salaries, job duties, upward mobility, and the number of available jobs can vary by company, type of business, and work environment. Payscale lists CPA salaries for accounting firms, including EY, KPMG, and RSM McGladrey, around the national average or a little higher. But, as detailed in the following tables, higher pay can be found in other industries, including self-employment, with an average annual salary of $122,449.

The BLS data below shows the highest average annual pay for accountants and auditors employed in web search portals, libraries, archives, and other information services. This industry encompasses companies such as LinkedIn, Meta, X, West Publishing, and Yelp. The second top-paying industry is manufacturing and reproducing magnetic and optical media, which includes such companies as Atlantic Recording, Sony, and Time Warner.

Top employers of accountants and auditors include accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services, but also local government and the management of companies and enterprises.