Computer Network Architects salary

SOC 15-1241 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$134,050

per year, nationally

Middle half

$104,620–$168,200

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

179,740

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+11.9%

11,200 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$79,900$202,680

10th: $79,900
25th: $104,620
Median: $134,050
75th: $168,200
90th: $202,680

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree
Related work experience: 5 years or more
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where computer network architects earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Washington	$168,070	107.0	4,730	1.15×
2	New Jersey	$162,350	108.8	5,660	1.14×
3	Maryland	$159,460	105.0	5,860	1.83×
4	California	$158,870	110.7	14,870	0.71×
5	Massachusetts	$155,060	105.8	6,270	1.49×
6	South Dakota	$153,390	88.6	420	0.80×
7	Delaware	$148,390	99.8	760	1.36×
8	Connecticut	$143,890	103.6	1,570	0.80×
9	Virginia	$141,340	101.1	9,380	1.97×
10	New York	$140,390	107.9	9,800	0.88×
11	Colorado	$139,230	103.1	16,380	4.93×
12	Nevada	$138,060	100.0	1,010	0.56×
13	District of Columbia	$137,670	109.9	1,490	1.84×
14	Oregon	$135,660	103.4	1,540	0.68×
15	South Carolina	$134,990	93.7	1,950	0.73×
16	Georgia	$133,890	96.3	7,690	1.36×
17	Texas	$133,310	97.1	13,650	0.84×
18	Minnesota	$133,270	98.6	2,040	0.60×
19	Florida	$132,800	103.4	9,370	0.82×
20	Illinois	$132,790	100.0	7,810	1.11×
21	Pennsylvania	$131,840	97.6	6,080	0.87×
22	Wisconsin	$131,720	94.1	2,170	0.64×
23	Rhode Island	$131,320	102.3	460	0.80×
24	Ohio	$131,070	92.8	5,150	0.80×
25	Arizona	$130,890	100.7	3,990	1.07×
26	Alabama	$130,810	88.8	4,200	1.72×
27	North Carolina	$127,320	94.3	8,350	1.46×
28	New Hampshire	$125,420	104.2	560	0.71×
29	Indiana	$124,190	93.3	2,030	0.55×
30	Tennessee	$123,860	91.9	4,330	1.14×
31	West Virginia	$122,520	89.5	360	0.44×
32	Utah	$121,000	98.9	1,330	0.66×
33	Alaska	$119,720	102.4	120	0.32×
34	Nebraska	$116,420	90.1	1,350	1.14×
35	Michigan	$112,040	96.2	3,210	0.63×
36	Vermont	$110,930	98.0	130	0.37×
37	Arkansas	$110,400	86.9	910	0.60×
38	Oklahoma	$109,450	87.8	1,320	0.67×
39	New Mexico	$109,080	92.2	420	0.42×
40	North Dakota	$108,990	89.0	230	0.46×
41	Maine	$108,570	97.0	570	0.77×
42	Hawaii	$108,000	110.0	320	0.44×
43	Idaho	$107,620	95.5	720	0.72×
44	Louisiana	$106,620	88.2	470	0.21×
45	Montana	$104,300	94.6	250	0.42×
46	Kentucky	$103,740	90.2	1,710	0.74×
47	Missouri	$103,130	90.8	3,360	0.99×
48	Iowa	$103,050	87.8	1,170	0.65×
49	Kansas	$100,610	90.1	1,770	1.06×
50	Wyoming	$100,520	92.7	50	0.16×
51	Mississippi	$90,990	87.0	—	—

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where computer network architects wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for computer network architects

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$186,110	110.4	2,730	2.08×
2	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$172,650	111.1	3,710	1.54×
3	Rochester, MN	$168,910	90.8	90	0.66×
4	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$168,720	105.6	40	0.34×
5	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$166,760	115.6	3,350	1.22×
6	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$165,570	109.4	220	0.71×
7	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$163,010	112.6	10,230	0.93×
8	Bloomington, IL	$161,780	93.5	240	2.32×
9	Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC	$161,170	93.3	390	0.77×
10	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$160,650	108.3	5,240	1.68×
11	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$160,340	104.5	2,480	1.58×
12	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$159,820	106.9	240	0.51×
13	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$159,820	108.9	9,370	2.58×
14	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$159,720	102.7	690	1.00×
15	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$157,700	111.9	1,490	0.84×
16	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	$156,560	101.4	1,730	1.06×
17	Boulder, CO	$156,360	105.2	2,000	9.00×
18	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$148,710	100.2	750	0.57×
19	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$147,510	113.6	3,500	0.48×
20	Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$144,990	97.6	970	2.43×
21	Peoria, IL	$144,680	91.2	260	1.38×
22	Springfield, MA	$144,600	96.1	120	0.53×
23	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$143,800	103.6	5,400	1.04×
24	Lexington Park, MD	$141,510	100.8	180	2.19×
25	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$141,350	106.7	580	0.47×
26	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$141,250	100.1	70	0.48×
27	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$140,340	103.2	350	1.25×
28	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$139,230	105.8	10,260	5.51×
29	Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL	$139,150	97.1	140	0.47×
30	Salem, OR	$138,930	103.6	180	0.82×
31	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$138,850	102.6	3,070	0.92×
32	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$138,770	99.8	90	0.51×
33	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	$137,930	101.0	480	1.04×
34	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$137,900	103.1	5,900	1.26×
35	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$137,350	110.5	180	0.48×
36	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$137,200	105.4	1,050	0.75×
37	New Haven, CT	$137,000	104.6	220	0.67×
38	Jacksonville, FL	$136,100	99.5	820	0.92×
39	Madison, WI	$135,490	97.3	340	0.72×
40	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	$135,010	100.4	70	0.51×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where computer network architects wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Software Developers$135,980
Computer User Support Specialists$61,860
Computer Systems Analysts$105,850
Computer Occupations, All Other$116,580
Network and Computer Systems Administrators$99,130
Information Security Analysts$129,180
Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers$104,300
Computer Network Support Specialists$76,220