Network Administrator

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Network Administrator manages the day-to-day operations of an organization's computer networks.

Job Outlook

There were 229 Network Administrator job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 8752 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Network / Systems Administrator industry, which includes the Network Administrator career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:

Salary

Many new Network Administrator jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $92,166.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $91,643.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Network Administrator postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $83,370.

Education and Experience

Posted Network Administrator jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education Level	Percentage
Associate's Degree	0%
Bachelor's Degree	56.02%
Master's Degree	7.1%
Doctoral Degree	2.18%
Other	10.48%

Posted Network Administrator jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of Experience	Percentage
0 to 2 years	19.63%
3 to 5 years	53.04%
6 to 8 years	15.79%
9+ years	11.54%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Network Administrator positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (59.61%)
Operations (40.62%)
Communication (40.04%)
Management (38.73%)
Problem Solving (27.61%)
Information Technology (24.26%)
Planning (23.11%)
Customer Service (15.61%)
Detail Oriented (12.42%)
Wireless Communications (10.42%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

Active Directory (17.7%)
Computer Science (26.93%)
Firewall (48.58%)
Operating Systems (26.65%)
Network Performance Management (23.55%)
Virtual Private Networks (VPN) (24.08%)
Local Area Networks (34.6%)
Wide Area Networks (32.85%)
Network Switches (45.39%)
Network Routing (45.25%)
Network Administration (76.55%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

Network Support (7.57%)
SolarWinds (7.88%)
Fortinet (3.9%)
Microsoft 365 (3.23%)
Network Infrastructure (27.96%)
Cisco Networking (7.58%)
IT Infrastructure (8.82%)
Technical Support (18.82%)
Telecommunications (9.42%)
Automation (8.13%)
Backup Devices (14.3%)
Auditing (9.6%)
Microsoft Azure (10.66%)
Help Desk Support (10.36%)
Computer Networks (19.44%)
System Administration (14.93%)
Border Gateway Protocol (12.2%)
Computer Hardware (8.78%)
Disaster Recovery (12.18%)
Information Systems (12.07%)
Linux (10.79%)
Hyper-V (5.66%)
Windows Servers (15.29%)
Cyber Security (12.19%)
Network Troubleshooting (17.93%)
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) (13.64%)
Network Planning And Design (7.21%)
Network Monitoring (14.02%)
Networking Hardware (30.78%)
Network Protocols (10.6%)
Network Security (25.46%)
Project Management (7.99%)
Network Engineering (13%)
Network Management (9.49%)
Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) (13.97%)
Microsoft SharePoint (3.32%)
Wireless Networks (8.93%)
Scripting (10.78%)
Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) (10.84%)
Windows PowerShell (5.45%)
TCP/IP (14.31%)
Virtualization (8.91%)
Microsoft Office 365 (4.26%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Network Administrator skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

Network Systems Administrator
Systems/Network Administrator
Network and Computer Systems Administrator
Provider Network Administrator
Network Engineer/Network Administrator
Network and Systems Administrator
Unified Communications Administrator
IT Systems and Network Administrator
Lead Network Administrator

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Network Administrator jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

Robert Half (364)
GovCIO (288)
Leidos (225)
General Dynamics (194)
Molina Healthcare (148)
Logicalis (136)
TEKsystems (127)
Allegis Group (126)
Insight Global (125)
Peraton (91)

North Carolina

General Dynamics (31)
Peraton (10)
Arma Global Corporation (10)
ASGN (9)
Booz Allen Hamilton (7)
Motion Recruitment (7)
Robert Half (7)
GovCIO (4)
Insight Global (4)
TEKsystems (4)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!

Computer Networking Master's Degrees

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.

Information Technology