Air traffic controller salary by country
Of the 3 countries that publish pay for this job, the United States pays a air traffic controller the most in real terms — about 1.7× what the same job is worth in Canada.
Side by side
| Country | Local median | At today's FX | Adjusted for prices |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 United States | $144,580 | $144,580 | $144,580 |
| 🇦🇺 Australia | $184,750 | $128,218 | $126,144 |
| 🇨🇦 Canada | $108,443 | $76,883 | $86,033 |
The same job, what it really buys
Bars show purchasing-power-adjusted pay in international dollars. This is not what the salary converts to at the bank — it is what it buys at home, which is the only fair way to compare a wage in Singapore with one in India.
Why the two dollar columns disagree
Exchange rates are set by trade and capital flows, not by what a loaf of bread costs. A salary converted at the market rate tells you what you could wire abroad. A salary converted at purchasing power parity tells you how well you live on it. For countries with low price levels the second number is far higher than the first — which is why a salary that looks small in US-dollar terms can support a comfortable life locally.
Exchange rates: European Central Bank via Frankfurter, 2026-07-29. Purchasing power parity: World Bank, indicator PA.NUS.PRVT.PP.
How each country measured it
| Country | What the figure is |
|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 United States | Employer payroll survey of ~1.1m establishments |
| 🇦🇺 Australia | Individual tax returns — includes part-year and part-time filers |
| 🇨🇦 Canada | 2021 Census wage distributions by NOC and economic region |
These are not the same measurement. Australia's figure comes from tax returns and includes part-year workers; the United States' comes from an employer payroll survey of full-time-equivalent jobs. Treat gaps of a few percent between countries as noise.
Not shown
United Kingdom, Singapore, New Zealand, India do not publish a directly comparable figure for this occupation — either it is folded into a broader group, or the statistical agency suppressed it. We leave it out rather than substitute a near-enough occupation.