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Network Engineer Salary
The closest official figure for a network engineer salary is $134,050 a year, or $64.45 an hour. That is the Bureau of Labor Statistics median for computer network architects, the nearest match to network engineers. Pay runs from $79,900 at the 10th percentile to $202,680 at the 90th.
- Median pay
- $134,050
- Median hourly
- $64.45
- Low end (bottom 10%)
- $79,900
- High end (top 10%)
- $202,680
Key Points
- BLS has no network engineer occupation. The $134,050 median is for computer network architects, the closest match, and an entry-level engineer will often start below it.
- Network and systems administrators have a median of $99,130. Engineers earn more because they design and plan networks, while administrators mostly keep them running.
- BLS projects a 7.7% change from 2025 to 2035, with about 9,600 openings a year, faster than the administrator occupation.
- The CCNA is the common starting point, and certifications open interviews, but design experience is what moves pay.
Computer Network Architects (SOC 15-1241). Pay: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Outlook: BLS Employment Projections, 2025-35.
What Is a Network Engineer Salary?
If you search for a network engineer salary, you will find a lot of numbers, and most of them come from job boards and self-reported surveys. This page starts from the one federal source instead, and it is upfront about how that source maps to the title.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not have a code for network engineers. Its closest occupation is computer network architects, code 15-1241, who design and build data communication networks such as local area networks, wide area networks and intranets. That is the work most network engineers do, so we use it here. It is a mapping and not an exact match. A network engineer in the first few years of the job will often earn less than the architect median, and a principal engineer will earn more.
With that caveat, the median is $134,050 a year, which is $64.45 an hour. The source is the OEWS survey, May 2025 release, at bls.gov/oes.
Network Engineer Salary Range From the 10th to the 90th Percentile
The 10th percentile for network architects is $79,900. The 90th percentile is $202,680. Between those two numbers sit about 179,740 workers, and the middle of that group earns the median.
Read the low end as what a newer engineer at a smaller company might earn, and the high end as what a senior engineer or architect at a large company, a carrier or a cloud provider earns when responsibility for the design of a big network sits with them. The range is wide enough that your own pay will depend on three things you control more than the job title: the scope of what you design, the years behind you and the industry you work in.
What Moves Network Engineer Pay
Scope of the design. Configuring a branch office is one job. Designing connectivity for fifty branches, a data center and a cloud environment is another. The more money and risk riding on your design, the more you are paid.
Experience with failure. Networks fail in strange ways. Engineers who have diagnosed a routing loop at two in the morning, or recovered from a bad configuration push, are worth more than those who have only built things in a lab. This is why experience matters more than any credential.
Certifications. The CCNA is where most engineers begin. The professional and expert levels from Cisco and equivalent credentials from other vendors show deeper design skill, and they matter more for engineers than for administrators because design is what is being sold. In recent years, cloud networking and security credentials have added value as companies move traffic to the cloud.
Industry. Telecommunications carriers, large technology companies, financial firms and cloud providers tend to pay the most, because their business depends on the network. Schools, local governments and small businesses pay less.
Automation skill. Engineers who write code to build and check networks, using tools such as Python and infrastructure-as-code, are moving into the best-paid roles. Manual configuration is the part of the job most likely to be automated.
Network Engineer Salary Compared with Network Administrator Salary
The comparison is one of the most useful on the site. Network and computer systems administrators earn a median of $99,130. Network architects earn $134,050. The difference is the premium employers pay for design over upkeep.
That is why many administrators aim at engineering. The move is natural: you already know how the network behaves, and now you decide how it should be built. If you are weighing it, the network administrator salary page explains the administrator side of the comparison in full.
The gap also explains why engineers cluster around bigger employers. Large organizations have enough network complexity to justify a person who only designs, and they pay accordingly.
The Network Engineer Salary Outlook
BLS projects network architect employment to change by 7.7% from 2025 to 2035. It also expects about 9,600 openings a year, including replacement of workers who leave. Compared with the administrator occupation, which BLS projects to shrink, design work looks more secure.
The reasoning is straightforward. Routine tasks such as provisioning and monitoring can be automated. Deciding how a network should be built for a particular business, with its security needs, its cloud providers and its growth plans, is harder to hand to software. Demand for that judgment is rising as networks span offices, data centers and several clouds at once.
For the full projection tables, see the BLS Employment Projections and the Occupational Outlook Handbook.
The Degree Behind a Network Engineer Salary
BLS lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry education for network architects, and it expects several years of related experience as well. In other words, this is not a first job. Most engineers spend time as network support specialists or administrators before they design anything.
A bachelor’s in information technology, networking or computer science gives you the fundamentals, and it is the credential most large employers filter for. A master’s degree can help later if you want to move into architecture or management, though experience usually counts for more.
Our ranking of online network administration degrees is a good place to start if you want a program that builds network skills from the first term. When you compare programs, look for hands-on labs and a certification track. And read the network engineer career guide to see how the first five years usually go.
How to Raise Your Network Engineer Salary
Work toward design responsibility early. Ask to sit in on the planning for a new site, a firewall replacement or a cloud connection, and volunteer to write the design document. Keep that document. It is evidence of the skill employers pay for.
Learn one automation tool well. An engineer who can describe a network in code and test it before deployment is more productive and harder to replace.
Move between employers when it makes sense. Engineering salaries move quickly with the market, and a new job is the fastest way to catch up. Aim at employers whose business runs on the network, because those are the ones that pay for design.
Network Engineer Salary and the Career Path to Get There
Few people start as a network engineer. The usual path begins in support, moves into network support or administration, and reaches engineering after several years of hands-on work. Computer network support specialists earn a median of $76,220. Administrators earn $99,130. Architects earn $134,050. Each step reflects more responsibility for design and less for day-to-day fixes.
That is the reason pay jumps at the engineering stage. You are no longer asked only to keep a network running. You are asked to decide what it should look like next year, what it will cost, and what could go wrong. Employers pay for that judgment because mistakes in design are expensive to undo.
If you are early in the path, the best use of your time is to learn how traffic moves: addressing, routing, switching, wireless and security boundaries. These fundamentals outlast any one vendor, and they are what interviewers test. The CompTIA Network+ credential covers many of them without tying you to a vendor, and it pairs well with the CCNA.
Reading Network Engineer Salary Offers
When an employer offers you a network engineer salary, compare it to the BLS range for the work and not just to the median. An offer near the $79,900 mark means the employer is hiring for a junior role, whatever the title says. An offer near the median means they expect you to own a design. An offer near $202,680 means you are being hired to be the person who decides.
Ask what you will design, what you will only operate, and how much of the job is on-call. A role that is mostly operations with an engineer title will pay like operations over time. A role that includes design reviews and project ownership will pay like engineering. The title on the offer letter tells you less than the answers to those questions.
Network Engineer Salary by State
Washington pays network engineers the most, with a median of $168,070, 25% above the $134,050 national figure. Puerto Rico is the lowest of the 52 places BLS reports, at $78,200. Cost of living changes the order: adjusted for local prices, South Dakota leads at $173,154 in buying power, while Washington comes to $157,056.
| State | Median | Adjusted for local prices | Workers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | $168,070 | $157,056 | 4,730 |
| New Jersey | $162,350 | $149,212 | 5,660 |
| Maryland | $159,460 | $151,926 | 5,860 |
| California | $158,870 | $143,488 | 14,870 |
| Massachusetts | $155,060 | $146,619 | 6,270 |
| South Dakota | $153,390 | $173,154 | 420 |
| Delaware | $148,390 | $148,675 | 760 |
| Connecticut | $143,890 | $138,877 | 1,570 |
| Virginia | $141,340 | $139,797 | 9,380 |
| New York | $140,390 | $130,086 | 9,800 |
The 10 highest of 52. These figures are for computer network architects. The adjusted column divides the median by the BEA 2024 regional price parity for the state: an estimate of buying power, not what an employer pays.
Network Engineer Salary in Major Metros
Of the 49 metro areas in our city guides with a published figure, San Jose has the highest median at $186,110, and Fresno has the lowest at $98,680. A metro median covers the whole area, suburbs included, so it can differ from pay in the city itself.
| Metro area | Median | Compared with national | Workers |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose | $186,110 | +39% | 2,730 |
| Seattle | $172,650 | +29% | 3,710 |
| San Francisco | $166,760 | +24% | 3,350 |
| New York City | $163,010 | +22% | 10,230 |
| Boston | $160,650 | +20% | 5,240 |
| Baltimore | $160,340 | +20% | 2,480 |
| Washington, DC | $159,820 | +19% | 9,370 |
| San Diego | $157,700 | +18% | 1,490 |
| Orlando | $156,560 | +17% | 1,730 |
| Los Angeles | $147,510 | +10% | 3,500 |
The 10 highest of 49. These figures are for computer network architects, BLS May 2025.
IT Salaries Side by Side
Computer Network Architects rank 2 of 9 by median pay among the IT occupations we cover. The low and high ends show how much overlap there is: a strong earner in a lower-paid job can out-earn a new hire in a higher-paid one.
| Occupation | Median | Low end | High end |
|---|---|---|---|
| Computer and Information Systems Managers | $175,140 | $107,550 | $297,510 |
| Computer Network Architects | $134,050 | $79,900 | $202,680 |
| Information Security Analysts | $129,180 | $75,090 | $199,850 |
| Computer Systems Analysts | $105,850 | $67,340 | $167,710 |
| Database Administrators | $104,620 | $60,230 | $163,320 |
| Network and Computer Systems Administrators | $99,130 | $62,640 | $155,050 |
| Web Developers | $92,650 | $48,100 | $162,290 |
| Computer Network Support Specialists | $76,220 | $47,120 | $127,780 |
| Computer User Support Specialists | $61,860 | $40,980 | $100,540 |
Sorted by median pay. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, and Employment Projections, 2025-35.
Network Engineer Salary FAQ
What is the average network engineer salary?
BLS has no occupation called network engineer, so the closest source is computer network architects, with a median of $134,050 a year or $64.45 an hour. The 10th percentile is $79,900 and the 90th is $202,680. Job-board figures for the title will vary with seniority.
Why does this page use network architect data?
BLS groups jobs into standard occupations, and network engineer is not one of them. Network architects, code 15-1241, design and build data communication networks, which is the work most network engineers do. It is the closest official match, but an entry-level engineer will often start below the median.
How much more do network engineers make than network administrators?
Using BLS figures, network architects have a median of $134,050 and network and computer systems administrators have a median of $99,130. Engineers earn more because they design and plan networks, while administrators mostly keep them running. The gap is a reason to move up when you can.
Which certifications matter for a network engineer?
The CCNA is the common starting point, and Cisco's higher-level professional and expert certifications signal deeper skill. Security and cloud networking credentials add value as employers move traffic to cloud platforms. Certifications open interviews, but design experience is what moves pay.
Is network engineering a good career for the next decade?
BLS projects network architect employment to change by 7.7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 9,600 openings a year. That is faster than the administrator occupation, which is projected to shrink, because design work is harder to automate than routine upkeep.
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