The Highest IT Salaries (And The Lowest) In 2020
Robert Half Technology recently released its salary guide with a look at IT industry salaries as a way to help businesses try to make sense of a world characterized by a shortage of engineers, analysts, administrators and managers.
IT Salaries Across The Board
Robert Half Technology, the staff consulting and recruiting business of Menlo Park, Calif.-based business consulting and recruiting company Robert Half International, has for over 60 years been reporting on staffing and compensation trends, and provides an annual salaries guide that breaks the IT industry down into several key areas.
For businesses looking for key IT personnel in areas ranging from security to operations, finding the right people is difficult given a shortage of some of the key people needed to make IT work. A good place to start before making hiring decisions is to look at potential salary ranges. Robert Half Technology has done so, breaking the IT salaries into several large categories, each with a number of key positions with their own salary ranges at the 25th, 50th, 75th, and 95th percentiles. The company also took into account differences between major metropolitan areas, and included a separate section looking at IT salary ranges across Canada.
For a look at some of the details from the U.S. side, click through our slideshow.
Executive leadership
This includes executives at the director level and above, including the chief information officer (CIO), the chief technology officer (CTO), the chief security officer (CSO), the vice president of information technology, and the director of technology.
These executives are bringing in salaries on the average of:
* CIOs -- $174,750 to $298,750 per year
* CTOs -- $152,250 to $266,000 per year
* CSOs -- $155,250 to $278,000 per year
* Vice president of IT -- $143,750 to $239,250 per year
* Director of technology -- $123,750 to $205,500 per year
Software and application development
This category includes 20 different positions including managers, Scrum master, engineers and developers, and technical writers. It is the largest category by number of positions in the study.
This category is also one of only a handful where the managers are not at the top of the salary scale. Instead, mobile applications developers and applications architects command higher salaries.
At the 50th percentile, salaries range from a high of $146,500 for mobile applications developers to a low of $68,500 for technical writers.
Personnel in the top five positions in the technical services and operations category are making, on the average:
* Mobile applications developers -- $121,750 to $206,500 per year
* Applications architects -- $117,500 to $197,250 per year
* Managers -- $110,500 to $188,750 per year
* Lead applications developers -- $107,000 to $183,250 per year
* Software engineers -- $105,750 to $178,000 per year.
Web development
This category includes five positions related to developing and administration of a company's web presence, including e-commerce analysis.
Salaries for the 50th percentile for employees in web development range from $123,000 for senior web developers to $81,750 for front-end web developers.
Employees in the web development part of a business are making, on the average:
* Senior web developers -- $102,750 to $174,000 per year
* Web developers -- $86,000 to $146,250 per year
* E-commerce analysts -- $85,250 to $142,250 per year
* Front-end web developers -- $67,000 to $132,000 per year
* Web administrators -- $70,000 to $119,500 per year
Consulting and systems integration
This is the smallest category in terms of number of job positions included at only four positions ranging from director to staff consultant.
At the 50th percentile, annual salaries range from $71,250 for staff consultants to $145,000 for directors
Employees in consulting and systems integration are making, on the average:
* Director -- $121,000 to $206,000 per year
* Manager -- $97,250 to $164,500 per year
* Senior consultants -- $85,250 to $125,000 per year
* Staff consultants -- $60,000 to $92,000 per year
Data and database administration
This category includes 12 different professions in a wide range of some of the hottest technologies around, including positions related to big data; data science, architecting, and modeling; AI; and business intelligence.
Salaries for employees in the 50th percentile for data and database administration range from $163,250 for big data engineers to $78,500 for data reporting analysts.
For the top five positions in data and data base administration salary-wise, employees can expect to make, on the average:
* Big data engineers -- $130,000 to $222,000 per year
* AI architects -- $120,250 to $189,000 per year
* Data architects -- $119,750 to $193,500 per year
* Database managers -- $111,250 to $186,500 per year
* Database developers -- $101,250 to $172,750 per year
Quality assurance and testing
This category has only four positions, making it the smallest in terms of number of possible careers. It is also among the lowest in terms of annual salaries.
Professionals who focus on quality assurance and testing for a living can expect salaries at the 50th percentile ranging from $103,250 for QA testing managers to $76,000 for manual QA engineers.
Overall, employees who move into quality assurance and testing can expect to make, on the average:
* QA and testing managers -- $88,750 to $143,250 per year
* QA engineers, automated -- $74,250 to $124,000 per year
* QA associates or analysts -- $64,000 to $109,000 per year
* QA engineers, manual -- $63,750 to $109,000 per year.
Networking and telecommunications
This category actually goes beyond network and telecom to embrace a wide range of networking professions centered around the cloud, including cloud architects, managers, engineers, and administrators.
Annual salaries at the 50th percentile for employees focusing on networking and telecommunications range from $141,750 for network cloud architects to $64,500 for NOC (network operations center) technicians.
Salaries for personnel in the top five positions in network and telecommunications based on total pay are, on the average:
* Network/cloud architects -- $117,500 to $196,250 per year
* Wireless network/cloud engineers -- $105,000 to $178,750 per year
* Network/cloud managers -- $97,500 to $169,750 per year
* Network/cloud engineers -- $94,750 to $159,000 per year
* Telecommunications managers -- $83,750 to $140,000 per year
Security
Security is the career where professionals with the right skills across six different possible positions ranging from administrators to engineers to information system managers can most likely command the highest average salaries in all of IT.
At the 50th percentile, annual salaries range from $143,250 for information systems security managers to $113,500 to network security administrators.
Overall, employees who move into security can expect to make, on the average:
* Information systems security managers -- $119,500 to $205,750 per year
* Security architects -- $116,250 to $181,500 per year
* Data security analysts -- $108,250 to $183,500 per year
* Network security engineers -- $101,500 to $168,500 per year
* System security engineers -- $96,500 to $162,750 per year
* Network security administrators -- $94,750 to $160,500 per year
Technical services and operations
This category includes such positions as managers, engineers, analysts, technicians, help desk support, and operators all focused on ensuring a company’s IT systems are providing the services a business and its clients require.
Salaries for the 50th percentile of employees in technical services and operations range from $130,250 for managers down to $40,250 for PC technicians.
Personnel in the top five positions in the technical services and operations category are making, on the average:
* Managers -- $107,500 to $185,250 per year
* Site reliability engineers -- $99,750 to $197,000 per year
* IT auditors -- $95,250 to $162,500 per year
* Business continuity analysts -- $89,750 to $152,750 per year
* Systems engineers -- $88,750 to $148,000 per year
Note On The Salaries: Not All States Are Created Equal
The salary ranges determined by Robert Half Technology surveys represent an average across the U.S. However, there are geographical variances in salary.
The six U.S. cities where IT salaries are the highest above average:
* San Francisco -- +41%
* New York -- +40.5
* San Jose, Calif. -- +40%
* Boston, Mass and Oakland, Calif. -- +34%
* Washington, D.C. -- +33%
The six U.S. cities where IT salaries are most below the average:
* El Paso, Texas -- (-28%)
* Youngstown, Ohio -- (-24%)
* Duluth, Minn. -- (-20.4%)
* Kalamazoo, Mich. -- (-20%)
* Macon, Geo. and Canton, Ohio -- (-18%)