It’s hard to know your worth. When a potential employer asks you for your expected salary range, it’s very easy to stumble and spit out an arbitrary number, hoping that it matches the recruiter’s expectation.
There are different websites online that estimate salary expectations for tech professionals online, but many of them are inaccurate and limited to areas with the most submissions, usually software engineers in San Francisco or Seattle, but this isn’t inclusive to all tech workers. How do you know your worth if you’re a systems administrator working in a rural area of the United States?
This interactive map shows salary and employment data for systems administrators in the U.S. according to labor data from the U.S. BLS’s latest Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. It is published on a semi-yearly basis and is the most credible source for labor insights.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys over 1 million establishments for 800 occupations in 580 areas of the United States and have made the dataset available with employment numbers, wages, and other details on the labor market.
System Administrator Job Description
System administrators are defined by the U.S. BLS with the following responsibilities:
Install, configure, and maintain an organization’s local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), data communications network, operating systems, and physical and virtual servers. Perform system monitoring and verify the integrity and availability of hardware, network, and server resources and systems. Review system and application logs and verify completion of scheduled jobs, including system backups. Analyze network and server resource consumption and control user access. Install and upgrade software and maintain software licenses. May assist in network modeling, analysis, planning, and coordination between network and data communications hardware and software.
It includes similar job titles such as:
- Information Analyst
- Information Systems Manager (IS Manager)
- Information Technology Specialist (IT Specialist)
- LAN Specialist (Local Area Network Specialist)
- Local Area Network Administrator (LAN Administrator)
- Network Administrator
- Network Coordinator
- Network Manager
System Administrator Labor Statistics
In 2021 the median income for system administrators throughout all of the US was $38.75 hourly, $80,600 annual.
The highest employment for network and system administrators was in the following areas:
| Rank | Area | Total Employment |
| 1. | New York – Newark – Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | 23,220 |
| 2. | Washington – Arlington – Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 13,470 |
| 3. | Dallas – Fort Worth – Arlington, TX | 11,100 |
| 4. | Los Angeles – Long Beach – Anaheim, CA | 8,490 |
| 5. | Denver – Aurora – Lakewood, CO | 7,450 |
| 6. | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI | 7,050 |
| 7. | Atlanta – Sandy Springs – Roswell, GA | 6,690 |
| 8. | San Francisco – Oakland – Hayward, CA | 6,560 |
| 9. | Boston – Cambridge – Nashua, MA-NH | 6,360 |
| 10. | Houston – The Woodlands – Sugar Land, TX | 5,880 |
The highest annual salaries for network and system administrators was in the following areas:
| Rank | Area | Median Salary |
| 1. | San Jose – Sunnyvale – Santa Clara, CA | $128,320 |
| 2. | San Francisco – Oakland – Hayward, CA | $122,040 |
| 3. | Bridgeport – Stamford – Norwalk, CT | $106,390 |
| 4. | Olympia – Tumwater, WA | $101,910 |
| 5. | Washington – Arlington – Alexandria, DC – VA – MD – WV | $101,760 |
| 6. | Vallejo – Fairfield, CA | $101,620 |
| 7. | Baltimore – Columbia – Towson, MD | $101,450 |
| 8. | Santa Maria – Santa Barbara, CA | $100,870 |
| 9. | Boston – Cambridge – Nashua, MA – NH | $100,670 |
| 10. | New York – Newark – Jersey City, NY – NJ – PA | $100,450 |
The data is out there, but sometimes it can be overwhelming. With data analysis you can expose areas of opportunity and increase your chances of making the write decision.
At 0SBS.com you can find data, tools, and tutorials on tech, security, and other insights that may also aid your search.