Program administrator vs project manager

The differences between program administrators and project managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a project manager has an average salary of $91,578, which is higher than the $50,715 average annual salary of a program administrator.

The top three skills for a program administrator include customer service, oversight and patients. The most important skills for a project manager are project management, project scope, and customer service.

Program administrator vs project manager overview

	Program Administrator	Project Manager
Yearly salary	$50,715	$91,578
Hourly rate	$24.38	$44.03
Growth rate	5%	8%
Number of jobs	119,898	167,116
Job satisfaction	-	4.17
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Average age	43	47
Years of experience	2	-

What does a program administrator do?

Program administrators are responsible for planning, directing, and coordinating their organization's program or service. Their duties and responsibilities may vary depending on the industry they work at, such as educational, community, and social services. Among these duties are selecting and supervising the staff to manage a certain program or project, managing the program's budget, and evaluating the success of a program. To become successful in this role, a program administrator must have in-depth knowledge of project management disciplines, leadership skills, and decision-making and problem-solving skills.

What does a project manager do?

Project managers oversee a specific project related to the organization's business. They manage the whole project from inception to evaluation. They initiate planning with involved departments, follow-through on the plans, ensure smooth execution of the plans, and evaluate the project for further improvements should these be needed. In line with this, project managers also ensure that the project is cost-efficient and well within the budget. They also manage the different work teams involved in the project and ensure that things are running smoothly on this aspect as well.

Program administrator vs project manager salary

Program administrators and project managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Program Administrator	Project Manager
Average salary	$50,715	$91,578
Salary range	Between $34,000 And $73,000	Between $64,000 And $129,000
Highest paying City	Urban Honolulu, HI	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Hawaii	California
Best paying company	Meta	The Citadel
Best paying industry	Government	Technology

Differences between program administrator and project manager education

There are a few differences between a program administrator and a project manager in terms of educational background:

	Program Administrator	Project Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 68%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Stanford University	University of Pennsylvania

Program administrator vs project manager demographics

Here are the differences between program administrators' and project managers' demographics:

	Program Administrator	Project Manager
Average age	43	47
Gender ratio	Male, 30.6% Female, 69.4%	Male, 68.9% Female, 31.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 8.8% White, 64.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 7.7% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.9% Asian, 9.0% White, 65.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	9%	10%

Differences between program administrator and project manager duties and responsibilities

Program administrator example responsibilities.

Manage monetary, laptop and training supports for members living with HIV.
Manage overall document inventory and wiki updates via SharePoint.
Manage CRM and SharePoint systems for online recruiting technology company.
Manage co-op vendor and provide overall program direction for Toyota dealers and regional offices nationwide.
Develop and implement administrative procedures for new mental health management unit providing day services to elderly patients.
Invoice clients using QuickBooks software.

Project manager example responsibilities.

Schedule and manage the GCP audit process.
Define, develop and manage metrics and KPIs systems for new product business group.
Manage the application process for the FDA medical device, minority and small business certifications.
Manage multiple projects and resources simultaneously while mentoring, coaching and implementing best practices, SOX and HIPAA compliance standards.
Lead teams using the Informatica ETL tool for the design and development of multiple financial and risk enterprise data warehouses.
Administer and manage Salesforce requirements.

Program administrator vs project manager skills

Common program administrator skills

Customer Service, 7%
Oversight, 7%
Patients, 6%
Project Management, 6%
PowerPoint, 4%
Client Facing, 4%

Common project manager skills

Project Management, 23%
Project Scope, 6%
Customer Service, 6%
Infrastructure, 5%
Status Reports, 4%
Risk Management, 3%

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Program Administrator vs Project Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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