Consultant vs private contractor

The differences between consultants and private contractors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a consultant, becoming a private contractor takes usually requires More than 10 years. Additionally, a consultant has an average salary of $78,912, which is higher than the $45,674 average annual salary of a private contractor.

The top three skills for a consultant include customer service, strong analytical and project management. The most important skills for a private contractor are windows, snow removal, and RAN.

Consultant vs private contractor overview

	Consultant	Private Contractor
Yearly salary	$78,912	$45,674
Hourly rate	$37.94	$21.96
Growth rate	11%	8%
Number of jobs	171,733	13,902
Job satisfaction	4	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 41%
Average age	44	46
Years of experience	4	-

Consultant vs private contractor salary

Consultants and private contractors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Consultant	Private Contractor
Average salary	$78,912	$45,674
Salary range	Between $58,000 And $107,000	Between $27,000 And $76,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	-
Highest paying state	New Jersey	-
Best paying company	L.E.K. Consulting	-
Best paying industry	Technology	-

Differences between consultant and private contractor education

There are a few differences between a consultant and a private contractor in terms of educational background:

	Consultant	Private Contractor
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 41%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Northwestern University	-

Consultant vs private contractor demographics

Here are the differences between consultants' and private contractors' demographics:

	Consultant	Private Contractor
Average age	44	46
Gender ratio	Male, 58.4% Female, 41.6%	Male, 73.7% Female, 26.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.8% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 13.8% White, 65.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 5.9% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 20.0% Asian, 1.5% White, 67.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%
LGBT Percentage	12%	2%

Differences between consultant and private contractor duties and responsibilities

Consultant example responsibilities.

Lead IIS tuning to get the maximum through put.
Manage daily data operations and customer support for SaaS web application products in Linux.
Manage several contractors in the development and coding of DB2 interface programs, as well as modification of the package software.
Manage operational incidents and changes to consistently meet SLA compliance
Introduce Jenkins to help automate manual deployments to multiple environments.
Design and code windows service to automate NRA applications email distribution.

Private contractor example responsibilities.

Enter and manage data for timberline for JC/AP/AR for multiple companies.
Manage, oversee and troubleshoot production schedules, critical orders and product development.
Utilize QuickBooks to manage company finances, including project invoices, material purchases, and accounts receivable.
Manage and decide all remodel activities.
Prepare and submit EHR data require for third party, Medicare, and Medicaid compliance audits.
Apply coats of paint, varnish, stain, enamel and lacquer to decorate and protect interior and exterior surfaces.

Consultant vs private contractor skills

Common consultant skills

Customer Service, 10%
Strong Analytical, 7%
Project Management, 6%
C++, 5%
C #, 5%
Java, 5%

Common private contractor skills

Windows, 36%
Snow Removal, 16%
RAN, 8%
Manual Labor, 6%
Troubleshoot, 6%
HVAC, 6%