Average Salary

• For the purposes of its May 2010 analysis of national employment trends, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics classified Visual Basic programmers alongside programmers working with other codes. It reported that the mean annual salary across the computer programming profession was $74,400. Those in the top 10 percent of earners achieved wages in excess of $114,180, while those in the bottom 10 percent received less than $40,820. At the time of publication, wage comparison website Indeed.com listed the average annual pay for a Visual Basic programmer as $77,000.
  
  

Salary by Industry

• The bureau's survey also showed how salary rates for computer programmers such as those working with Visual Basic can vary across different sectors of the IT industry. The largest number of practitioners was reported to work within computer system design and related services, which had a mean yearly pay rate of $75,720. This is similar to the annual salary for data processing, hosting and related services, at $75,420. Programmers employed by computer and peripheral equipment manufacturers received a mean salary of $105,750, while those working for software publishers earned a mean salary of $81,440 per annum.
  
  

Salary by Geography

• Salaries for computer programmers also differ depending on an individual's geographical location. The bureau listed Massachusetts and Washington as the states in which wages for the profession were highest, with means of $90,620 and $90,090, respectively. California completed the top three with a mean yearly salary of $84,470, while New Jersey and Vermont were listed with similar rates -- $82,800 and $81,090, respectively. Among the states with the lowest means were Florida at $65,100 and Idaho at $53,020.
  
  

Outlook

• The bureau predicts that employment opportunities for computer programmers such as those working with Visual Basic will decline by around 3 percent over the decade from 2008 to 2018. This contrasts with expectations for the nation across all occupations, estimated to grow by between 7 and 13 percent over the same time. Increases in offshore outsourcing of programming -- relatively easy to do given the digital nature of the job -- and increased programming abilities among everyday users will by key factors in this decline. As such, pay rate are unlikely to rise significantly in the immediate future.