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The differences between project leaders and project managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a project leader has an average salary of $98,559, which is higher than the $91,578 average annual salary of a project manager.
The top three skills for a project leader include project management, work ethic and C++. The most important skills for a project manager are project management, project scope, and customer service.
| Project Leader | Project Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $98,559 | $91,578 |
| Hourly rate | $47.38 | $44.03 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 8% |
| Number of jobs | 221,165 | 167,116 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4.17 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 44 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 6 | - |
A project leader is responsible for supervising the team and managing the distribution of tasks to ensure the project's success with the highest efficiency and accuracy. Duties of a project leader include motivating the team, managing the team's needs and concerns, providing effective strategies to improve the team's performance, creating reports, monitoring the team's progress, and maintaining the coordination between team members. A project leader should have exceptional leadership skills to handle the team's operation and identify areas of improvement to deliver excellent results.
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 leaders and project managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Project Leader | Project Manager | |
| Average salary | $98,559 | $91,578 |
| Salary range | Between $70,000 And $138,000 | Between $64,000 And $129,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Boston Consulting Group | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Technology |
There are a few differences between a project leader and a project manager in terms of educational background:
| Project Leader | Project Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between project leaders' and project managers' demographics:
| Project Leader | Project Manager | |
| Average age | 44 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 69.0% Female, 31.0% | Male, 68.9% Female, 31.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | 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 | 11% | 10% |