Network engineering salary: $178K median
The median advertised Network engineering salary is $178K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $145K to $220K: counted from 676 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range: about $85 an hour or $14,792 a month. A tenth of the postings offer $266K or more. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
Check an offer against these figuresAll Network engineering jobs
$178Kmedian advertised salary
$145K – $220Kmiddle half of roles
$187Kaverage advertised salary
676roles counted
Network engineering salary by level
Lead roles advertise a median of $239K, 26% more than senior roles ($190K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.
| Level | Median salary | Middle half | Roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior | $190K | $170K–$218K | 241 |
| Lead and above | $239K | $210K–$280K | 104 |
| No level in the title | $148K | $134K–$194K | 322 |
Network engineering salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $225K | 187 |
| 🇺🇸Denver, CO | $195K | 24 |
| 🇺🇸California | $194K | 368 |
| 🇺🇸New York, NY | $184K | 77 |
| 🇺🇸Seattle, WA | $184K | 93 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $177K | 639 |
| 🇺🇸Washington, DC | $177K | 24 |
| 🇺🇸Chicago, IL | $172K | 16 |
| 🇺🇸Los Angeles, CA | $160K | 87 |
| 🇺🇸Texas | $155K | 26 |
| 🇺🇸Dallas, TX | $142K | 15 |
Skills that pay more for Network engineering roles
| Skill | Median with it | Above the median | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|
| High-performance computing | $217K | +$40K | 72 |
| Go | $200K | +$22K | 129 |
| BGP | $200K | +$22K | 109 |
| CI/CD | $200K | +$22K | 70 |
| Terraform | $195K | +$18K | 108 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | $328K | 11 |
| Roblox | $318K | 11 |
| OpenAI | $292K | 15 |
| Harvey | $260K | 4 |
| Baseten | $248K | 3 |
| Pure Storage | $246K | 9 |
| Nuro | $242K | 3 |
| Together AI | $240K | 4 |
| Waymo | $238K | 7 |
| Zoox | $225K | 7 |
| Crusoe | $223K | 18 |
| Skydio | $220K | 4 |
| CoreWeave | $207K | 21 |
| Muon Space | $206K | 7 |
| xAI | $205K | 5 |
| Cloudflare | $203K | 18 |
| Coinbase | $202K | 3 |
| True Anomaly | $200K | 14 |
| Apex Technology | $200K | 7 |
| Databricks | $196K | 5 |
| Tailscale | $194K | 5 |
| Metropolis | $194K | 6 |
| Twenty | $188K | 4 |
| MongoDB | $187K | 4 |
| Fastly | $185K | 4 |
Highest-paying open Network engineering roles
All Network engineering jobs- Network EngineerOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$347K - $510KHybridGoPythonTerraform
- Vice President, Platform OperationsNetskope · 🇺🇸United States$298K - $500KLead and aboveCDNNetwork engineeringData centers
- Hardware Systems ArchitectAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | Seattle, WA$320K - $485KNetwork engineeringFirmwareHigh-performance computing
- Staff+ Software Engineer, Infrastructure (Distributed Systems)Anthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | Seattle, WA$320K - $485KLead and aboveRustGoPython
- Compute Electrical Engineer, RoboticsOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$318K - $485KLinuxShell scriptingNetwork engineering
- Staff HPC Network ArchitectLambda · 🇺🇸San Jose Office (First St)$284K - $420KHybridLead and aboveMachine LearningDistributed trainingNetwork engineering
- Member of Technical Staff, Performance and ScaleInferact · 🇺🇸San Francisco$200K - $400KRustGoC++
- Senior Software Engineer - SDNLambda · 🇺🇸San Francisco Office (Fremont St)$266K - $395KHybridSeniorGoPythonTerraform
- Mission Systems LeadAnduril Industries · 🇺🇸Costa Mesa, California, United States$298K - $395KLead and aboveComputer VisionSecurity clearanceNetwork engineering
- Principal Network Security EngineerRoblox · 🇺🇸San Mateo, CA, United States$326K - $385KLead and aboveGoC++Load balancing
- Chief Information Security OfficerAnduril Industries · 🇺🇸Costa Mesa, California, United States$252K - $382KLead and aboveCI/CDComputer VisionSecurity clearance
- Infrastructure LeadIntelligence Security Laboratories · 🇺🇸Washington, D.C.$205K - $375KHybridLead and aboveDockerLinuxCI/CD
- Staff Software Engineer, EdgePinterest · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA, US; Remote, US$177K - $365KRemoteLead and aboveGoPythonC++
- Principal Security Software Engineer (Starlink)SpaceX · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$235K - $355KLead and aboveGoPythonC++
- ASIC Network ArchitectSambaNova · 🇺🇸Austin, Texas, United States; Remote - US; San Jose, Cali…$250K - $350KRemoteRustPythonC++
- Researcher, ModelsCartesia · 🇺🇸*HQ - San Francisco, CA$180K - $350KPyTorchTensorFlowDatabricks
- Principal Network EngineerRoblox · 🇺🇸San Mateo, CA, United States$295K - $345KLead and aboveGoPythonC++
- Principal Security Software Engineer (Starlink)SpaceX · 🇺🇸Redmond, WA$225K - $345KLead and aboveGoPythonC++
- Staff Software Engineer, Production EngineeringHarvey · 🇺🇸New York$231K - $340KHybridLead and aboveTerraformGCPAzure
- Staff Software Engineer, Production EngineeringHarvey · 🇺🇸San Francisco$231K - $340KHybridLead and aboveTerraformGCPAzure
Questions about Network engineering pay
- What is the average Network engineering salary?
- $187K a year on average and $178K at the median, across 676 open Network engineering postings at companies that state pay (November 2026). The median is the better guide: a few very high offers pull the average up.
- What is the typical range?
- The middle half of the postings offer $145K to $220K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest Network engineering pay?
- Anthropic ($328K), Roblox ($318K), OpenAI ($292K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- Is a network engineering a high-paying job?
- The median Network engineering posting advertises $178K a year, more than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 2% above the middle of the market.
- How much can you earn as a network engineering?
- A tenth of the postings offer $266K a year or more; the highest open Network engineering role advertises up to $510K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.
- What is the Network engineering salary per hour and per month?
- The median of $178K a year is about $85 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $14,792 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $70 to $106 an hour.
- Which skills pay more for Network engineering roles?
- Postings that ask for High-performance computing (+$40K, 72 postings), Go (+$22K, 129 postings), BGP (+$22K, 109 postings) advertise more than the $178K median of all Network engineering postings with pay.
- What does an entry-level network engineering make?
- 9 junior and intern Network engineering postings state pay, with a median of $145K a year ($70 an hour).
- Where do these figures come from?
- From the pay ranges employers print in their own job postings, read from their careers pages every hour. The midpoint of each range is counted. These are advertised ranges for open roles, mostly in the United States and in US dollars, not what people are actually paid.
Writing about this? A sentence you can quote
The median advertised salary for Network engineering roles at companies is $178K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $145K to $220K. Counted from 676 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Jobs Every Hour, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/network-engineering/
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