Median 2010 income for information technology and electro-technology professionals rose nearly 4 percent from the previous year, a newly released annual survey says.

The survey is called the IEEE-USA Salary & Fringe Benefit Survey. As an organizational unit of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., the IEEE-USA says it "advances the public good and promotes the careers and public policy interests of 210,000 engineering, computing, and technology professionals who are U.S. members of IEEE."

Median incomes from primary sources for U.S. IEEE members working full time in their primary area of technical competence, or job specialty, climbed to $118,000 in the 2010 tax year from $113,500 in the 2009, the organization's latest study found. Primary income sources counted in that figure include salary, commissions, bonuses, and net self-employment income, it said.

Of the record 17,030 U.S. IEEE members who responded to the Internet-based survey, 12,877 were employed full time in their job specialty. Those working in communications technology reported the highest median income, at $135,000, while workers in circuits and devices were second, at $125,252. Those in signals and applications and engineering and human environment tied for third, at $125,000.

On the other end of the spectrum, energy and power engineering professionals reported a median income of $107,000, followed by industrial applications, at $109,350, and systems and control, at $110,000.

The IEEE-USA Salary & Fringe Benefit Survey, 2011 Edition, is the 24th compensation survey the organization has conducted since 1972. It also includes income data based on factors such as age, ethnicity, gender, experience, and years with current employer.