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The differences between project directors and project managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a project director has an average salary of $107,396, which is higher than the $91,578 average annual salary of a project manager.
The top three skills for a project director include project management, oversight and customer satisfaction. The most important skills for a project manager are project management, project scope, and customer service.
| Project Director | Project Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $107,396 | $91,578 |
| Hourly rate | $51.63 | $44.03 |
| Growth rate | - | 8% |
| Number of jobs | 116,968 | 167,116 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | 4.17 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A project director is an individual responsible for supervising workers from various departments given specific tasks to complete a given project. They create a budget to complete a job while monitoring the amount of money spent to ensure that overspending is avoided. They provide presentations to investors, business partners, and company executives to inform them about their progress and development. Project directors must have several years of experience and obtain at least a bachelor's degree in business economics or a related field to be hired.
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.
Project directors and project managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Project Director | Project Manager | |
| Average salary | $107,396 | $91,578 |
| Salary range | Between $70,000 And $162,000 | Between $64,000 And $129,000 |
| Highest paying City | Las Vegas, NV | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Nevada | California |
| Best paying company | Fried Frank | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a project director and a project manager in terms of educational background:
| Project Director | Project Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between project directors' and project managers' demographics:
| Project Director | Project Manager | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 56.2% Female, 43.8% | Male, 68.9% Female, 31.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 7.5% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 8.8% White, 65.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | 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 | 10% | 10% |