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Airline Captain Salary in the United States

How much does an Airline Captain make in the United States? The salary range for an Airline Captain job is from $122,580 to $145,717 per year in the United States. Click on the filter to check out Airline Captain job salaries by hourly, weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, monthly, and yearly.

Average base salary
updated at March 01, 2025
$134,710
Per Year
The average salary for an Airline Captain is $134,710
per Year in the United States.
Individually reported data submitted by users of our website

HOW SHOULD YOU USE THIS DATA?

Employees: Use this as a guide for salary expectations, but be aware that responsibilities can change across companies for the same job title, so there may be differences between this data, other free site and our subscription products bought by employers.

Employers: This data could be used as reference point in your market pricing, but not the only source, due to differences across jobs locations, and sizes of companies.Consider additional sources like our Employer reported data.

Base Salary
$122,580
$134,710
Medium
$145,717

Highest Paying Cities for Airline Captain in the United States

Airline Captain salaries in the United States will pay differently by cities. Below following are the eight cities with the highest income for Airline Captain jobs in the United States. The city with the highest salary is San Jose. Click on the Airline Captain salary in cities you are interested in to view detailed job salary information.

States with Higher Salaries for Airline Captain

The five states where Airline Captain jobs get higher salaries in the United States are: District of Columbia, California, New Jersey, Alaska, and Massachusetts. Compared with the average salary of an Airline Captain in the United States, the state of District of Columbia with the highest job income for this job. The second and third states are California and New Jersey respectively. The high or low salary paid to Airline Captain by the US has a greater relationship with the demand for jobs and the cost of living.

How Much Do Similar Professions Get Paid in the United States?

There are some different titles for Airline Captain jobs, and the job title of Airline Captain will vary in different companies. The job title has a lot to do with the department and responsibilities, and the same job title will vary in different departments. The following list is the salary of jobs similar to Airline Captain, start to view Airline Captain-related jobs you are interested in.
Airline Co-Pilot
Average salary
United States
$162,801
per Year
Captain
Average salary
United States
$169,400
per Year
Airline Pilot
Average salary
United States
$200,901
per Year
Airline Analyst
Average salary
United States
$75,750
per Year
Airline Manager
Average salary
United States
$45,475
per Year
Airline Supervisor
Average salary
United States
$59,745
per Year

How Much Should You Be Earning?

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What Does an Airline Captain Do?

Here’s a look at the traditional path a career-seeking pilot might take if they keep their eyes on the end goal—becoming a captain at a major airline.

December 16, 2021

Like all other factors up to this point, how long it takes to go from first officer to captain depends more on the airline you work for and the condition of the industry.

December 06, 2021

As a result, the airline will normally look to employ pilots with previous command experience straight in as a captain.

December 04, 2021

As a result, a two-stripe pilot could have thousands of hours of experience as a captain at their old airline or be fresh out of flight school.

November 28, 2021

This normally only happens at new airlines in a rapidly developing market where there are not enough experienced co-pilots to upgrade to captain.

November 16, 2021

Most Common Benefits for Airline Captain

Social Security
Healthcare
401(k)
Pension
Disability
Time Off (days)

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about salaries for an Airline Captain
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Here’s a look at the traditional path a career-seeking pilot might take if they keep their eyes on the end goal—becoming a captain at a major airline.
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Check the below career pages for detailed pay ranges for similar professions to Airline Captain:
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Explore our personal salary report to know the Airline Captain market value in the United States. And find out if any places are having a higher Airline Captain salary.
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The highest Airline Captain salary is $145,717, while the lowest is $122,580 in the United States.
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