Systems Administrator

Maintains servers, networks, and IT infrastructure.

Also known as:Administrator (Admin)AI Security Specialist (Artificial Intelligence Security Specialist)Application Security AdministratorApplication Systems AdministratorComputer Systems Security AdministratorE-Mail System Administrator

Compensation by seniority

Reported

Median

$99k

Mean

$104k

10th–90th pct

$63k–$155k

Employed (US)

314340

Confidence: 90% · based on real BLS OEWS data covering all experience levels (not broken out by seniority) · 314,340 employed nationally · last updated 9/24/2026

Historical trend & projection

Median total compensation at the typical seniority level for this role, 2021–2025, projected forward under three scenarios.

Simulated

Common skills

Linux Administration

Core

Networking

Core

Education requirements

Share of surveyed workers/experts reporting each education level as typical for this occupation (O*NET).

Reported

Bachelor's Degree

52% typical

Associate Degree

20% typical

Master's Degree

10% typical

Some College

10% typical

Explore education impact for related majors →

Common next roles

Infrastructure Manager+140.9%Cloud Engineer+4.3%Site Reliability Engineer+3.3%DevOps Engineer+5.9%Platform Engineer-0.4%

Common previous roles

Infrastructure Manager+58.5%Cloud Engineer+4.1%Platform Engineer-0.4%DevOps Engineer+5.6%Site Reliability Engineer+3.1%

Demand snapshot

Active openings (simulated)8,102

Posting growth (est. from real category-level trend)+24.4%

Median days to fill—

Estimated

Employed (US)314,340

Projected growth10.6%/yr

Reported

Role characteristics

Remote-friendliness55%

Automation exposure40%

Sources & freshness

Compensation and employment figures on this page are real, reported datafrom the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS survey (all experience levels combined — BLS doesn't break wages out by seniority). Education requirements and some alternate titles are real data from O*NET. Historical trend, projections, and demand figures below remain simulated demo data.

Read the full methodology