What does it cost to hire a cartographer in Detroit?

Tier I to Tier VI, $6,240 to $54,340 per search, set by the seniority of the role and never by salary or location. A contingency firm billing 20 to 30% of this role's $77,830 median wage in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI area (BLS OEWS, May 2025) would charge roughly $15,566 to $23,349 on the first year salary alone.

What should an offer for a cartographer in Detroit look like?

Employers in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI area pay cartographers and photogrammetrists a median of $77,830, with the middle half of the market between $73,870 and $89,820 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A band set below $73,870 competes for the bottom quarter of that market.

Is the talent for this role already in Detroit?

This is a job zone 4 occupation, which usually calls for a bachelor's degree, and 17.6% of Detroit adults hold one or higher (Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501). That is a thin local pool, so expect the search to run across the metro rather than inside the city.

Hiring a cartographer in Detroit, MI

Employers in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI area pay cartographers and photogrammetrists a median of $77,830 a year, with the middle half of the market between $73,870 and $89,820 (BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 17-1021). Filling it through recruitlocalpros runs Tier I to Tier VI, $6,240 to $54,340 per search, set by the seniority of the role rather than by salary or location, and our vetted recruiting partner handles sourcing, screening and placement end to end.

Do Detroit residents in architecture and engineering work earn more than employers in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI area pay?

Detroit residents working in architecture and engineering occupations earn a median of $79,678 (Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011), against $80,740 as the median of the 32 wages BLS publishes for that same occupation group in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI area (BLS OEWS, May 2025), a difference of 1%, with the employers figure the higher of the two.

Both sides of that figure describe the whole architecture and engineering group, not this one role. In the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI area the group covers 32 occupations BLS publishes a wage for, from surveying and mapping technicians at $49,950 to petroleum engineers at $135,630 (BLS OEWS, May 2025), with cartographers and photogrammetrists at $77,830 inside it.

That comparison is between two different measures, not a pay gap. The two weight the same occupation group differently: the Census figure is the midpoint across the people who actually hold those jobs, so a group carrying a few very well paid occupations is pulled toward them, while the BLS figure is the midpoint across the 32 published occupation wages, which counts each of those occupations once whatever its headcount. Census also counts where people live and BLS counts where the jobs are, and the two cover different populations, Census the civilian employed population 16 and over, BLS wage-and-salary jobs only. Read the number against other cities, where the same definitional difference applies on both sides, rather than as a shortfall.

The two sit within 10% of each other, so residents of Detroit and employers across the metro are priced about the same in this field, and pay alone is unlikely to be what wins or loses this hire.

What does a cartographer earn here?

Place of work

What employers pay

Annual wages paid to cartographers and photogrammetrists by employers in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI area. BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 17-1021.
25th percentile	$73,870
Median	$77,830
75th percentile	$89,820

Half of cartographers and photogrammetrists in this area earn between $73,870 and $89,820 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A band set below $73,870 competes for the bottom quarter of the market. Occupation detail for SOC 17-1021 at O*NET OnLine.

Place of residence

What Detroit residents earn

$79,678

Median annual earnings of Detroit residents working in architecture and engineering occupations, 3,055 people (Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011). An occupation group rather than this one role, and where people live rather than where they work, so it is not the same measurement as the wages beside it.

What does the role actually involve?

Core tasks

Compile data required for map preparation, including aerial photographs, survey notes, records, reports, and original maps.
Delineate aerial photographic detail, such as control points, hydrography, topography, and cultural features, using precision stereoplotting apparatus or drafting instruments.
Prepare and alter trace maps, charts, tables, detailed drawings, and three-dimensional optical models of terrain using stereoscopic plotting and computer graphics equipment.
Study legal records to establish boundaries of local, national, and international properties.
Inspect final compositions to ensure completeness and accuracy.

Task statements for SOC 17-1021, O*NET OnLine 29.1.

Tools and technologies in demand

ESRI ArcGIS software, Geographic information system GIS systems, Python, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop.

Flagged in demand or hot for SOC 17-1021 by O*NET OnLine 29.1. Useful as a screen, not as a checklist.

Is the talent actually in Detroit?

This is a job zone four: considerable preparation needed occupation. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not. O*NET OnLine, SOC 17-1021.

That matters here, because 17.6% of Detroit adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher. That is a thin local pool for a degree-requiring role, so expect to recruit across the metro rather than inside the city. Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501, residents of Detroit aged 25 and over.

The average Detroit commute runs 25.4 minutes, which is roughly how far your catchment reaches before candidates start saying no. 10.1% of Detroit workers already work from home, so a fully onsite requirement here is competing against that. Census ACS 5-year 2023, place-level commuting characteristics for Detroit.

How big is this industry in Wayne County?

Architectural, engineering and related services in Wayne County employs 13,938 people across 385 establishments, at an average wage of $2,352 a week. BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2024 Q1, private ownership, NAICS 5413.

Michigan does not release to the Census LEHD Quarterly Workforce Indicators, so this county carries QCEW instead. QCEW counts jobs and payroll and publishes no hires, separations or turnover rate, so there is no local churn figure for Wayne County and none is implied here. The employment count tells you how deep the local employer base is: concentrated in relatively few employers, which narrows where a candidate can move and makes passive outreach the whole game.

What does the search cost?

The fee is set by the seniority of the role, never by salary and never by location. Across all six tiers it runs $6,240 to $54,340 per search. A contingency firm hiring at this role's $77,830 median in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI area (BLS OEWS, May 2025) would bill roughly $15,566 to $23,349 on the first year salary alone.

One owner runs the search from market map to signed offer. Searches typically fill in 23 to 35 days, which is a typical window rather than a promise, and the replacement guarantee runs 45 days at 50% off.

Questions employers ask about hiring a cartographer in Detroit

What does it cost to hire a cartographer in Detroit?: Tier I to Tier VI, $6,240 to $54,340 per search, set by the seniority of the role and never by salary or location. A contingency firm billing 20 to 30% of this role's $77,830 median wage in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI area (BLS OEWS, May 2025) would charge roughly $15,566 to $23,349 on the first year salary alone.
What should an offer for a cartographer in Detroit look like?: Employers in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI area pay cartographers and photogrammetrists a median of $77,830, with the middle half of the market between $73,870 and $89,820 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A band set below $73,870 competes for the bottom quarter of that market.
Do Detroit residents in architecture and engineering work earn more than employers in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI area pay?: Detroit residents working in architecture and engineering occupations earn a median of $79,678 (Census ACS 5-year 2023, tables S2401 and B24011), against $80,740 as the median of the 32 wages BLS publishes for that same occupation group in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI area (BLS OEWS, May 2025), a difference of 1%. Both figures cover the whole occupation group rather than this one role, and one counts where people live while the other counts where the jobs are, so the percentage is not a pay gap.
Is the talent for this role already in Detroit?: This is a job zone 4 occupation, which usually calls for a bachelor's degree, and 17.6% of Detroit adults hold one or higher (Census ACS 5-year 2023, table S1501). That is a thin local pool, so expect the search to run across the metro rather than inside the city.

Price this search

Eight questions about the role. Your tier range appears on screen.

Hiring a cartographer somewhere else?

Same role, different market. The wage band moves with the metro.

Other architecture and engineering roles in Detroit

Detroit is the largest of 2 Michigan cities in this dataset.