There are lessons to be learned from the latest survey of technology executive salaries: Be careful what you call your IT chief:

That’s because, while salaries for these folks vary widely across industries, the titles conferred on them often determine their going rate.

So which IT leaders make the most?

It depends on how you do your calculations. The highest average salary is that of a senior IT exec in the wholesale and retail industries at $193,077. The average salary of someone with that position in health care is $175,293. But if you look at the median salary for that title in health care, the salary is $170,00, while median salaries in wholesale/retail are lower, at $165,000.

The survey, conducted among readers of SearchCIO.com and SearchCIO-Midmarket.com in the fourth quarter of 2009 via email, collected info from 952 IT execs in 21 industries and all regions of the U.S.

It defined a senior IT executive as having a title of vice president, executive vice president, senior vice president, CIO, chief technology officer or chief information security officer. Mid-level IT executives were defined as those at the director level, and IT managers were categorized as having one or more direct reports.

Mid-level IT execs and IT managers earned best in the financial services industry,

Who fared worst? That would be government workers with fancy titles.

In fact, the pay differential between a CIO or Senior level IT exec in the wholesale/retail industry and government was huge, with the former averaging total compensation of over $193,000 and the latter pulling down a mere $113,000.

However, in the lower ranks of mid-level and IT manager, government employees get much more competitive compensation. For example, IT managers in the Wholesale/Retail industry pulls down a total average compensation of $97,066, while their counterpart in government collects $97,782.

Worst paid of all: IT managers in education.

To take a look at the survey’s results, visit here.