Pay Range. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, architects earned an average annual income of $79,300 in 2011. Workers in the occupation earned $38.13 an hour on average.Architects in the top 10 percent of the pay scale earned more than $119,410 a year, and those in the bottom 10 percent made less than $44,030. Fifty percent of architects had annual incomes between $56,180 and $93,350.op Industries. The majority of architects work for architectural firms that provide design services to clients. The bureau reports that 71,460 of the 83,590 architects surveyed were engaged in providing architectural, engineering and related services in 2011 and averaged $78,710 a year.