Systems Administrator salary
What a systems administrator actually earns, from 388 live job postings blended with the official US OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) wage anchor. Pick a market for its median and range, then read the seniority split, the trend, and the country comparison below. Updated 2026-07-23.
Switch the market above to see systems administrator pay in the 3 countries our sources cover, each with its own cost of living. The trend, seniority, and state detail below are United States data, where the official record runs deepest.
What the number means
A systems administrator earns a blended US median near 103,608 dollars, with the typical middle running from 83,424 dollars to 128,267 dollars. The official OEWS median is 96,800 dollars, under the posted figure, because the advertised roles skew senior or well-funded. The official trend has moved up about 16 percent since 2019. By seniority, posted pay runs from roughly 75,652 dollars to 84,099 dollars. Demand is rated high, and 1% of postings are fully remote. The nearest adjacent move on our skill graph is it support specialist, at 25 percent coverage; the instrument maps the rest.
Open systems administrator roles
Live openings tagged to this occupation, from company career pages and remote boards. Apply at the source.
- Health Systems Administrator (Assistant Director) Lexington VA (Detail NTE 12 months)Veterans Health Administration · Lexington, Kentucky$126k–$164kJul 21
- IT-Systemadministrator / Local IT Administrator (m/w/d)Yanmar Energy System Europe GmbH · MarlJul 17
- Senior IT-Administrator (m/w/d) in der Workplace-VerwaltungprettyTELCO GmbH · EhingenJul 17
- Senior IT Administrator (m/w/d)think about IT GmbH · BochumJul 17
- Health System Administrator (Deputy Director) - (Detail/Temporary Promotion Not to Exceed 1 Year)Veterans Health Administration · West Palm Beach, Florida$158k–$197kJul 17
- Senior System Administrator II (Ceph Engineer)Adyen · Chicago; San FranciscoJul 17
By seniority
Posted-median pay by seniority signal in the title, from our corpus. Noisy at the edges where sample sizes are small.
By country
- United States$83,424 – $128,267 · median $103,608
- Canada$60,627 – $83,808 · median $70,970
- United Kingdom$45,735 – $67,217 · median $55,790
Top-paying US states
OEWS median by state, highest first.
- Marylandmedian $112,080
- Californiamedian $106,620
- New Yorkmedian $104,050
- Washingtonmedian $103,990
- North Carolinamedian $97,590
- Minnesotamedian $96,560
Is your offer fair?
Run a specific number through FairElephant, which weighs it against this data, your location, and remote market rates.
Related salaries
- IT Support Specialist salary$80,178 median
- DevOps Engineer salary$134,499 median
- Network Engineer salary$130,060 median
Quick answers
How much does a systems administrator make?
The blended US median is about 103,608 dollars, with a typical range from 83,424 dollars to 128,267 dollars, against an official OEWS median of 96,800 dollars.
Is systems administrator a good career in 2026?
Demand for the role is rated high in our July 2026 corpus, with 1% of postings fully remote. The pay is shown above by seniority and by country.
What can a systems administrator move into?
The nearest adjacent role on our skill graph is it support specialist, at 25 percent skill coverage. Run the instrument for the full set of reachable moves.
Method: bands are the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of live US postings with stated pay, shrunk toward the official OEWS anchor by sample size (the “blended” figure). Trend is the OEWS annual median for SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) code 15-1244. Live corpus 388 observations, 2026-07-23. Definitions in the glossary.