Salary by Category:
Circulation Manager
Unlike circulation executives (their pay stayed flat) and audience development manager/directors (their pay declined) circulation managers have seen average salaries rise modestly over the last five years, landing at $55,000 in 2013.
Differences between those at b-to-b and consumer publishers have been minor over that time—they were just $1,700 apart last year and not more than $6,700 apart before that—but spike considerably in this year’s survey. Interestingly, the disparity was due in part to a 16-percent jump in pay for circulation managers at consumer magazines—a contrast to the mid-level salary cuts at consumer publications.
Size also matters more than it has in the past. Circulation managers working for companies with over $10 million in revenue, and those at publications with over $3 million in revenue earned about $24,000 (33 percent) more than contemporaries of smaller employers. The average difference had been $17,000 to $18,000 over the last five years.
Demographic differences mattered less in circulation manager compensation than elsewhere in the department. A glaring disparity of 20 to 25 percent at higher levels, male circ managers made 13-percent more than females in a similar role (females actually reported a higher average salary than males in the 2012 survey).
Age, too, ran counter to the more executive circulators. Employees under age 40 out-earned their over-40 colleagues for the first time in five years. As recently as 2011, older circulation managers made $16,500 more. 