Average US Game Dev Made $83k in 2013; Females Made 14% Less Than Males

The average salaried game developer in the United States made $83,060 during 2013, according to Gamasutra's annual salary survey, which reflects data from more than 4,000 developers.

That's a small drop from 2012, when the number was $84,337, but it's also more than what was earned by female developers on average. Again, looking at salaried positions in the US, men made an average of $85,074, compared with $72,882 for women. In other words, women earned an average of 86 percent of what men did, although this figure varies depending on the position. For instance, women in the audio field made 68% of what men in that field do, while women designers earned 94% of what their male counterparts do.

The gender wage gap remains a problem not just for the games industry, but the economy as a whole. The report notes that 86 percent is actually a higher figure than the national average, which sees females make 77 percent of what their male counterparts earn.

Fourteen percent of those who participated in the survey indicated they were laid off during the course of the year. (That figure had been dropping each of the three prior years.) On the other hand, 60 percent saw their salary increase as compared with what they made during 2012.

Of the fields covered in the survey, "business and management" proved to be the best-paying area in the US ($101,572 average salary), followed by audio professionals ($95,682) and programmers ($93,251). Quality assurance ($54,833) was at the bottom of the list.

Also of note are salaries for independent developers who were surveyed. Leaving out those who made less than $10,000 or more than $200,000, non-salaried indies working on their own earned $11,812 on average. Those working on a team made significantly more, earning an average of $50,833.

You can check out the full report in this PDF. It's full of interesting facts, like a breakdown of the highest average salary by state--California was number one, followed by Washington and North Carolina.

What stands out to you most about these figures? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.