Network engineer salary in the US
What network engineers are paid in the US, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with how your own pay compares. Figures from the BLS OEWS release dated May 2025.
Median annual pay
$134,050
Middle half earn
$104,620 to $168,200
People in this job, US
179,740
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Computer Network Architects, national, annual pay, May 2025
- 10th percentile
- $79,900
- 25th percentile
- $104,620
- Median
- $134,050
- 75th percentile
- $168,200
- 90th percentile
- $202,680
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025, SOC 15-1241. Percentiles across everyone employed in the occupation, not experience levels.
At a glance
What network engineers earn across the US
- About 179,740 people are employed in this occupation across the US.
- Pay varies widely within the job: the 90th percentile earns 2.5 times the 10th.
Worked from BLS OEWS, May 2025. Not adjusted for the cost of living.
Skills
What employers look for in a network engineer
The skills our network engineer resume example leads with, written for US employers.
- BGP
- OSPF
- VLANs and trunking
- Cisco IOS
- Juniper Junos
- Firewall policy
- Palo Alto
- SD-WAN
- MPLS
- VPN and IPsec
See the full network engineer resume example, with bullets and keywords.
Negotiating
Using these numbers
Below $104,620 puts you in the bottom quarter for network engineers in the US. That is worth raising, with evidence of what you deliver.
The median, $134,050, is the middle of the market, not a ceiling. An offer at or near it is a fair starting point to negotiate from.
Asking for $168,200 or more puts you in the top quarter, so it needs a reason an employer will accept: a wider scope, a competing offer, or a skill that is hard to hire for.
Percentiles are not experience levels. They describe everyone doing the job, so a senior hire can sit at the median of a market full of senior people.
About the numbers
What these figures are
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys employers for its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, and these figures are from the release dated May 2025. They cover wage and salary workers in Computer Network Architects, a category that is often broader than a single job title. Self-employed people are not included.
They are base pay: bonuses, equity and overtime are not included, and they are not adjusted for the cost of living.
Questions
Questions about network engineer pay in the US
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