Network Engineer Salary, Skills & Requirements (2026)
Advertised pay, starting pay, skills and experience from 6,409 US job postings by 2,022 employers. Data as of October 2026.
What US employers post for network engineers: advertised pay, the skills and experience they ask for, and the job titles they use, from 6,409 open job postings (October 2026).
- The median advertised pay for network engineers in US job postings is $134,000 a year (1,454 postings from 535 employers, October 2026).
- The middle half of those postings offer $105,000 to $165,000.
- The skills that most set network engineer postings apart are bgp, ospf, cisco.
- Postings that state a minimum ask for a median of 5 years of experience.
Network Engineer job postings in the US, October 2026
- $134,000
- Median advertised pay (1,454 postings)
- $105,000–$165,000
- Middle 50% of postings
- 6,409
- US job postings from 2,022 employers
- 5 years
- Median experience asked
How much does a network engineer make?
The median advertised pay is $134,000 a year, from 1,454 US job postings by 535 employers that state pay. One in ten postings offers $197,000 or more.
Advertised pay in 1,454 US network engineer job postings: median $134,000 a year, middle half $105,000 to $165,000.
- Median: $134,000
- 25th percentile: $105,000
- 75th percentile: $165,000
The figures as a table
| Annual pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| $30K–$40K | 0.3% |
| $40K–$50K | 0.7% |
| $50K–$60K | 0.9% |
| $60K–$70K | 3.1% |
| $70K–$80K | 3.0% |
| $80K–$90K | 5.8% |
| $90K–$100K | 5.9% |
| $100K–$110K | 8.5% |
| $110K–$120K | 6.9% |
| $120K–$130K | 10.6% |
| $130K–$140K | 9.5% |
| $140K–$150K | 7.8% |
| $150K–$160K | 7.3% |
| $160K–$170K | 5.9% |
| $170K–$180K | 4.9% |
| $180K–$190K | 5.4% |
| $190K–$200K | 4.2% |
| $200K–$210K | 2.4% |
| $210K–$220K | 1.5% |
| $220K–$230K | 2.2% |
| $230K–$240K | 0.9% |
| $240K–$250K | 0.4% |
| $250K–$260K | 0.2% |
| $260K–$270K | 0.7% |
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 | $110K–$170K | 1,019 |
| All pay postings, annualised | $134,000 | $105K–$165K | 1,454 |
What is the starting salary for a network engineer?
Figure withheld: fewer than 250 US postings list pay. How we decide.
Network engineer levels and pay
Levels as they appear in job titles, ordered by the median experience asked. Senior network engineers have a median advertised pay of $148,000 a year.
| Level in title | Share of postings | Median experience asked | Median pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| No level in title | 77.0% | 4 years | $130,000 |
| Senior | 14.9% | 5 years | $148,000 |
Highest-paying network engineer jobs
Specializations with at least 250 postings that state pay.
| Specialization | Median pay | Postings with pay | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Network Engineer (general) | $135,000 | 803 | 332 |
Network engineer pay by state
Single-location US postings; states with at least 100 postings that state pay. States with pay-transparency laws (such as California, Colorado, New York and Washington) are over-represented among postings that state pay.
| State | Median pay | Middle 50% | Postings with pay | Share of postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland | $158,000 | $127,000–$180,000 | 110 | 7.4% |
| Virginia | $150,000 | $128,000–$190,000 | 133 | 10.6% |
| California | $135,000 | $116,000–$173,000 | 166 | 11.6% |
Skills employers ask for in network engineer job postings
| Skill | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| Communication | 32% |
| Bgp | 26% |
| Ospf | 22% |
| Cisco | 18% |
| Troubleshooting | 18% |
| Firewalls | 17% |
| TCP/IP | 16% |
| Routing | 16% |
| Problem-solving | 16% |
| Dns | 15% |
Skills named in the posting text; at most 20 postings per employer; US, October 2026. Methodology.
Skills that set network engineers apart
- Bgp194.8× as often as in all postings · 26%
- Ospf203.7× as often as in all postings · 22%
- Cisco128.8× as often as in all postings · 18%
- Firewalls79× as often as in all postings · 17%
- Routing86.9× as often as in all postings · 16%
- TCP/IP66.2× as often as in all postings · 16%
- Switching128.7× as often as in all postings · 13%
- Dns49× as often as in all postings · 15%
- Vlans113.2× as often as in all postings · 12%
- Mpls183.5× as often as in all postings · 10%
- Dhcp64.8× as often as in all postings · 12%
- Eigrp220.5× as often as in all postings · 8%
Skills named in at least 5% of these postings and at least 3 times as often as in job postings overall.
Have a network engineer job posting in front of you? See which of its skills your resume is missing.
What does a network engineer do?
Employers post these jobs as Senior Network Engineer, Network Administrator, Network Security Engineer, Sr. Network Engineer, Network Architect and other titles. The largest specializations are Network Administrator (14%), Network Security Engineer (7%), Network Architect (5%), Telecommunications Specialist (4%), Unified Communications Engineer (3%), Network Manager (2%).
The closest official occupation is Computer Network Architects (15-1241.00). Its most important tasks:
- Develop disaster recovery plans.
- Develop or recommend network security measures, such as firewalls, network security audits, or automated security probes.
- Develop and implement solutions for network problems.
- Maintain networks by performing activities such as file addition, deletion, or backup.
- Coordinate network operations, maintenance, repairs, or upgrades.
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 a network engineer?
Among 3,106 postings that state a minimum, the median is 5 years. 1% say 0 years and 7% ask for 1 year or less.
Minimum experience asked in 3,106 US network engineer job postings: median 5 years, and 7% ask for 1 year or less.
The figures as a table
| Minimum experience asked | Share of postings |
|---|---|
| 0 yr | 1% |
| 1 yr | 5% |
| 2 yrs | 15% |
| 3-4 yrs | 28% |
| 5-7 yrs | 34% |
| 8-9 yrs | 7% |
| 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.
Full-time 98% of the 506 postings that state working hours.
Other names for a network engineer: job titles employers use
| Job title | Employers using it |
|---|---|
| Network Engineer | 656 (32.4%) |
| Senior Network Engineer | 309 (15.3%) |
| Network Administrator | 248 (12.3%) |
| Network Security Engineer | 110 (5.4%) |
| Sr. Network Engineer | 90 (4.5%) |
| Network Architect | 73 (3.6%) |
| Network Technician | 71 (3.5%) |
| Network Specialist | 54 (2.7%) |
| Network Engineer II | 53 (2.6%) |
| Network Engineer III | 42 (2.1%) |
| Network Support Engineer | 38 (1.9%) |
| Senior Network Security Engineer | 37 (1.8%) |
| Telecom Engineer | 35 (1.7%) |
| Cloud Network Engineer | 34 (1.7%) |
| Network Operations Engineer | 32 (1.6%) |
| Principal Network Engineer | 32 (1.6%) |
| Lead Network Engineer | 30 (1.5%) |
| Voice Engineer | 29 (1.4%) |
| IT Network Engineer | 27 (1.3%) |
| VoIP Engineer | 27 (1.3%) |
Titles read in our audit and used by at least 3 employers.
Network engineer job titles compared
The titles people search for most, from the US job postings that use each exact title (October 2026).
| Job title | Open postings | Employers | Median pay | Median experience | Skills named most |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Network Administrator | 408 | 248 | – | – | communication, troubleshooting, vlans |
| Network Architect | 132 | 73 | – | – | – |
Network Engineer vs Network Administrator
| Network Engineer | Network Administrator | |
|---|---|---|
| Open US postings | 1,520 | 408 |
| Employers | 656 | 248 |
| Median advertised pay | $130K | – |
| Median experience asked | 4 years | – |
| Skills that stand out | – | network administration, active directory |
Network Engineer compared with similar careers
| Career | Median pay | Median experience | Postings | Shares N of top 25 skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Network Engineer | $134K | 5 years | 6,409 | – |
| Systems Administrator | $125K | 4 years | 8,047 | 14 |
| IT Support Specialist | $27.00/hr | 2 years | 10,572 | 11 |
| Sales Engineer | $140K | 4 years | 4,954 | 9 |
| IT Manager | $134K | 5 years | 1,839 | 9 |
Similar careers
| Career | Shares N of the top 25 skills | Median pay |
|---|---|---|
| Systems Administrator | 14 | $125K |
| IT Support Specialist | 11 | $27.00/hr |
| Sales Engineer | 9 | $140K |
| IT Manager | 9 | $134K |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | 8 | $157K |
| DevOps Engineer | 7 | $152K |
Applying for network engineer jobs?
- Network engineer 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 network engineer jobs: search open postings
Frequently asked questions
How much does a network engineer 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 19 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.