IT Manager Salary, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 1,839 US job postings by 1,191 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for IT managers: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 1,839 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for IT managers in US job postings is $134,000 a year (409 postings from 269 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $115,000 to $173,000.
- The skills that most set IT manager postings apart are microsoft 365, ServiceNow, itil.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 5 years of experience.
IT Manager job postings in the US, October 2026
- $134,000
- Median advertised pay (409 postings)
- $115,000–$173,000
- Middle 50% of postings
- 1,839
- US job postings from 1,191 employers
- 5 years
- Median experience asked
How much does an IT manager make?
The median advertised pay is $134,000 a year, from 409 US job postings by 269 employers that state pay. One in ten postings offers $205,000 or more.
Advertised pay in 409 US IT manager job postings: median $134,000 a year, middle half $115,000 to $173,000.
- Median: $134,000
- 25th percentile: $115,000
- 75th percentile: $173,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $50K–$60K | 0.8% |
| $60K–$70K | 4.7% |
| $70K–$80K | 3.9% |
| $80K–$90K | 5.2% |
| $90K–$100K | 3.1% |
| $100K–$110K | 4.4% |
| $110K–$120K | 9.1% |
| $120K–$130K | 12.4% |
| $130K–$140K | 11.4% |
| $140K–$150K | 6.0% |
| $150K–$160K | 4.2% |
| $160K–$170K | 6.7% |
| $170K–$180K | 7.0% |
| $180K–$190K | 2.6% |
| $190K–$200K | 6.2% |
| $200K–$210K | 3.6% |
| $210K–$220K | 2.3% |
| $220K–$230K | 0.8% |
| $230K–$240K | 1.3% |
| $240K–$250K | 0.3% |
| $250K–$260K | 0.3% |
| $260K–$270K | 0.3% |
| $270K–$280K | 0.5% |
| $290K–$300K | 0.3% |
| $300K–$310K | 0.8% |
| $310K–$320K | 0.3% |
| $320K–$330K | 0.3% |
| $330K–$340K | 0.8% |
Midpoint of each posting's pay range, hourly pay × 2,080 hours; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
| Median | Middle 50% | Postings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postings that state an annual salary | $136,000 | $118K–$176K | 366 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $134,000 | $115K–$173K | 409 |
For comparison, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the national median annual wage of Computer and Information Systems Managers (11-3021) at $175,000 (May 2025). Postings advertise pay; the BLS measures what people earn, across all employers and levels.
What is the starting salary for an IT manager?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Skills employers ask for in IT manager job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 47% |
| Problem-solving | 20% |
| Leadership | 17% |
| Analytical skills | 16% |
| Organizational skills | 14% |
| Interpersonal skills | 11% |
| Microsoft 365 | 11% |
| Azure | 10% |
| ServiceNow | 8% |
| Project management | 8% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set IT managers apart
- Microsoft 36536.7× as often as in all postings · 11%
- ServiceNow41× as often as in all postings · 8%
- Itil73× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Active directory28.9× as often as in all postings · 7%
- Azure9.8× as often as in all postings · 10%
- Incident management71.8× as often as in all postings · 5%
- Cybersecurity29.2× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Leadership3.4× as often as in all postings · 17%
- Networking13.1× as often as in all postings · 6%
- Project management4.9× as often as in all postings · 8%
- Automation10.2× as often as in all postings · 5%
- Windows9.4× as often as in all postings · 5%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a IT manager job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does an IT manager do?
Employers post these jobs as IT Manager, Director of IT, Service Delivery Manager, Chief Information Officer, Director of Information Technology and other titles. The largest specializations are IT Manager (49%), IT Infrastructure Manager (8%), Service Desk Manager (9%), Service Delivery Manager (8%), Incident Manager (8%), ITSM Consultant (3%), Supervisory Information Technology Specialist (1%).
The closest official occupation is Computer and Information Systems Managers (11-3021.00). Its most important tasks:
- Direct daily operations of department, analyzing workflow, establishing priorities, developing standards and setting deadlines.
- Meet with department heads, managers, supervisors, vendors, and others, to solicit cooperation and resolve problems.
- Review project plans to plan and coordinate project activity.
- Assign and review the work of systems analysts, programmers, and other computer-related workers.
- Provide users with technical support for computer problems.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (CC BY 4.0).
How much experience do you need to be an IT manager?
Among 995 postings that state a minimum, the median is 5 years. Under 1% say 0 years and 3% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 995 US IT manager job postings: median 5 years, and 3% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | under 1% |
| 1 yr | 3% |
| 2 yrs | 16% |
| 3-4 yrs | 28% |
| 5-7 yrs | 38% |
| 8-9 yrs | 4% |
| 10+ yrs | 10% |
Postings that state a minimum (required or preferred); at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026.
We do not show a degree figure: in our checks, degree requirements in posting text were found too rarely to publish one. Why.
Other names for an IT manager: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| IT Manager | 184 (15.4%) |
| Director of IT | 58 (4.9%) |
| Service Delivery Manager | 40 (3.4%) |
| Chief Information Officer | 39 (3.3%) |
| Director of Information Technology | 38 (3.2%) |
| IT Operations Manager | 37 (3.1%) |
| Manager, IT | 36 (3.0%) |
| Incident Manager | 35 (2.9%) |
| Information Technology Manager | 32 (2.7%) |
| IT Infrastructure Manager | 29 (2.4%) |
| IT Business Partner | 22 (1.8%) |
| Service Desk Manager | 21 (1.8%) |
| IT Director | 21 (1.8%) |
| IT Supervisor | 20 (1.7%) |
| Senior IT Manager | 19 (1.6%) |
| Help Desk Manager | 18 (1.5%) |
| IT Asset Manager | 17 (1.4%) |
| Head of IT | 16 (1.3%) |
| Data Center Manager | 14 (1.2%) |
| Information Systems Manager | 14 (1.2%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
IT Manager compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IT Manager | $134K | 5 years | 1,839 | – |
| IT Support Specialist | $27.00/hr | 2 years | 10,572 | 13 |
| Systems Administrator | $125K | 4 years | 8,047 | 13 |
| Sales Engineer | $140K | 4 years | 4,954 | 10 |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $157K | 5 years | 11,153 | 9 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| IT Support Specialist | 13 | $27.00/hr |
| Systems Administrator | 13 | $125K |
| Sales Engineer | 10 | $140K |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | 9 | $157K |
| Solutions Architect | 8 | $175K |
| Implementation Consultant | 10 | $112K |
Applying for IT manager jobs?
- IT manager resume examples: one-page examples for these roles
- Match your resume to a job: paste a posting and see the skills your resume is missing
- Check your resume: see how an applicant tracking system reads it
- Find IT manager jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does an IT manager make?
Source and method
Open US job postings collected from employers' applicant tracking systems, de-duplicated, counted only when their job title was read in our audit. Shares count at most 20 postings per employer, and franchise locations of one brand count as one employer. Pay uses hourly and annual figures only; a figure is shown when leaving out the largest employer moves it by 10% or less. Every figure states its number of postings. Methodology and measured accuracy.
Accuracy check: we read 20 randomly chosen postings counted on this page in full; 18 of them were this career or a closely related one (October 2026).
Download the figures on this page (CSV): every number above with its count of postings. Aggregate figures are licensed CC BY 4.0; cite the page when you reuse them.