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Data center engineer salary
Average data center engineer salary
$102,788
Data Center Engineer Salary Overview
As of October 2025, the average salary for a Data Center Engineer in the United States is $102,788 per year, translating to about $49 per hour. Salaries can significantly differ based on factors such as geographic location, years of experience, and the specific industry of employment.
Salary by State
Data Center Engineers in states like California, New York, and Washington tend to earn higher salaries due to a concentration of technology firms and data centers. For instance, in California, the average salary may exceed $120,000, showcasing the premium placed on these professionals in tech-centric regions.
Factors Influencing Salary
Experience plays a crucial role in determining salary. Entry-level positions typically start lower, around $70,000, while seasoned engineers with specialized skills can command salaries above $150,000. Additionally, industries such as cloud computing and cybersecurity are known to offer competitive compensation packages.
Conclusion
Understanding these aspects can empower job seekers in their career trajectories, allowing them to negotiate better salaries and choose opportunities that align with their financial goals.
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Where can a Data Center Engineer earn more?
Data center engineer salary estimates from across the web
Average data center engineer salary by state
The highest-paying states for data center engineers are California, Washington, and Oregon. The lowest average data center engineer salary states are Arkansas, Montana, and South Carolina.
- State view
- County view
Highest paying states for data center engineers
| Rank | State | Avg. salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | $125,906 | $60.53 |
| 2 | Oregon | $122,001 | $58.65 |
| 3 | Pennsylvania | $104,050 | $50.02 |
| 4 | Washington | $124,053 | $59.64 |
| 5 | Massachusetts | $105,575 | $50.76 |
| 6 | Ohio | $106,037 | $50.98 |
| 7 | Nebraska | $99,214 | $47.70 |
| 8 | Nevada | $110,305 | $53.03 |
| 9 | Maryland | $104,072 | $50.03 |
| 10 | Idaho | $101,382 | $48.74 |
| 11 | Virginia | $102,340 | $49.20 |
| 12 | Hawaii | $113,671 | $54.65 |
| 13 | New Hampshire | $101,251 | $48.68 |
| 14 | Arizona | $96,769 | $46.52 |
| 15 | South Dakota | $91,678 | $44.08 |
| 16 | Connecticut | $103,529 | $49.77 |
| 17 | Alaska | $97,713 | $46.98 |
| 18 | Vermont | $99,858 | $48.01 |
| 19 | Wyoming | $89,947 | $43.24 |
| 20 | Wisconsin | $98,040 | $47.13 |
| 21 | Kentucky | $91,167 | $43.83 |
| 22 | Maine | $99,621 | $47.89 |
| 23 | North Carolina | $92,859 | $44.64 |
| 24 | North Dakota | $88,546 | $42.57 |
| 25 | Delaware | $100,629 | $48.38 |
| 26 | Indiana | $93,698 | $45.05 |
| 27 | New York | $99,704 | $47.93 |
| 28 | Rhode Island | $93,433 | $44.92 |
| 29 | New Jersey | $95,799 | $46.06 |
| 30 | Louisiana | $93,077 | $44.75 |
| 31 | West Virginia | $90,722 | $43.62 |
| 32 | New Mexico | $86,830 | $41.75 |
| 33 | Georgia | $90,195 | $43.36 |
| 34 | Mississippi | $89,083 | $42.83 |
| 35 | Illinois | $87,643 | $42.14 |
| 36 | Texas | $84,855 | $40.80 |
| 37 | District of Columbia | $83,654 | $40.22 |
| 38 | Alabama | $85,507 | $41.11 |
| 39 | Tennessee | $86,422 | $41.55 |
| 40 | Minnesota | $86,566 | $41.62 |
| 41 | Kansas | $83,761 | $40.27 |
| 42 | Montana | $81,328 | $39.10 |
| 43 | Oklahoma | $86,385 | $41.53 |
| 44 | Florida | $88,821 | $42.70 |
| 45 | Utah | $78,372 | $37.68 |
| 46 | Iowa | $85,547 | $41.13 |
| 47 | Colorado | $73,496 | $35.33 |
| 48 | Michigan | $82,295 | $39.56 |
| 49 | Arkansas | $81,983 | $39.41 |
| 50 | Missouri | $76,916 | $36.98 |
| 51 | South Carolina | $79,087 | $38.02 |
Highest paying cities for data center engineers
The highest-paying cities for data center engineers are San Francisco, CA, Seattle, WA, and Salem, OR.
| Rank | City | Avg. salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco, CA | $136,468 | $65.61 |
| 2 | Seattle, WA | $125,658 | $60.41 |
| 3 | Salem, OR | $122,399 | $58.85 |
| 4 | Urban Honolulu, HI | $113,979 | $54.80 |
| 5 | Columbus, OH | $106,015 | $50.97 |
| 6 | Boston, MA | $105,605 | $50.77 |
| 7 | Annapolis, MD | $104,078 | $50.04 |
| 8 | Springfield, VA | $102,844 | $49.44 |
| 9 | Dover, DE | $100,529 | $48.33 |
| 10 | New York, NY | $99,830 | $48.00 |
| 11 | Phoenix, AZ | $96,976 | $46.62 |
| 12 | Raleigh, NC | $93,749 | $45.07 |
| 13 | Indianapolis, IN | $93,553 | $44.98 |
| 14 | Tallahassee, FL | $90,489 | $43.50 |
| 15 | Atlanta, GA | $90,253 | $43.39 |
| 16 | Chicago, IL | $87,987 | $42.30 |
| 17 | Saint Paul, MN | $86,668 | $41.67 |
| 18 | Oklahoma City, OK | $86,487 | $41.58 |
| 19 | Austin, TX | $86,323 | $41.50 |
| 20 | Huntsville, AL | $85,460 | $41.09 |
Data center engineer salary details
A data center engineer's salary ranges from $71,000 a year at the 10th percentile to $147,000 at the 90th percentile.
What is a data center engineer's salary?
| Percentile | Annual salary | Monthly salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90th Percentile | $147,000 | $12,250 | $71 |
| 75th Percentile | $124,000 | $10,333 | $60 |
| Average | $102,788 | $8,566 | $49 |
| 25th Percentile | $85,000 | $7,083 | $41 |
| 10th Percentile | $71,000 | $5,917 | $34 |
Highest paying data center engineer jobs
The highest paying types of data center engineers are senior systems engineer, systems integration engineer, and information engineer.
| Job title | Annual salary | Monthly salary | Hourly rate | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salesforce Administrator | $86,565 | $7,214 | $41.62 | 57,792 |
| Customer Support Engineer | $82,674 | $6,889 | $39.75 | 138,641 |
| Network Support Engineer | $86,406 | $7,200 | $41.54 | 113,476 |
| Systems Support Engineer | $82,561 | $6,880 | $39.69 | 182,434 |
| Technical Systems Engineer | $101,163 | $8,430 | $48.64 | 192,058 |
| Engineer | $92,076 | $7,673 | $44.27 | 618,207 |
Top companies hiring data center engineers now:
Which companies pay data center engineers the most?
Data center engineer salaries at Meta and Apple are the highest-paying according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, the average data center engineer salary at companies like Google and BGC Partners are highly competitive.
| Rank | Company | Average salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meta | $148,370 | $71.33 |
| 2 | Apple | $138,975 | $66.81 |
| 3 | $138,612 | $66.64 | |
| 4 | BGC Partners | $125,230 | $60.21 |
| 5 | Macy's | $121,350 | $58.34 |
| 6 | NVIDIA | $119,645 | $57.52 |
| 7 | IBM | $119,387 | $57.40 |
| 8 | The Judge Group | $118,150 | $56.80 |
| 9 | VMware | $118,121 | $56.79 |
| 10 | Columbia Advisory Group | $117,258 | $56.37 |
| 11 | CAI | $116,699 | $56.11 |
| 12 | TEKsystems | $115,399 | $55.48 |
| 13 | Open Systems Technologies | $114,744 | $55.17 |
| 14 | Accenture | $113,822 | $54.72 |
| 15 | MITRE | $113,593 | $54.61 |
| 16 | GoDaddy | $113,517 | $54.58 |
| 17 | Genuent | $112,840 | $54.25 |
| 18 | Hexaware Technologies | $112,711 | $54.19 |
| 19 | Boehringer Ingelheim | $112,403 | $54.04 |
| 20 | SAIC | $112,338 | $54.01 |
Wage gap by gender, race and education
Data Center Engineer salary by industry
The average data center engineer salary varies across industries:
- The average data center engineer salary in the technology industry is $113,789, the highest of any industry.
- The average data center engineer salary in the finance industry is $99,231.
- Data center engineers in the finance industry earn an average salary of $92,621, the lowest of any industry.
Highest paying industries for data center engineers
| Rank | Industry | Average salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Technology | $113,789 | $54.71 |
| 2 | Manufacturing | $99,231 | $47.71 |
| 3 | Internet | $95,956 | $46.13 |
| 4 | Telecommunication | $93,905 | $45.15 |
| 5 | Finance | $92,621 | $44.53 |
High paying data center engineer jobs
Data center engineer salary trends
The average data center engineer salary has risen by $18,756 over the last ten years. In 2014, the average data center engineer earned $84,032 annually, but today, they earn $102,788 a year. That works out to a 9% change in pay for data center engineers over the last decade.
Compare data center engineer salaries for cities or states with the national average over time.
Average data center engineer salary over time
Compare data center engineer salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.
Data center engineer salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $103,000 | $49.42 | +3.3% |
| 2024 | $99,400 | $47.79 | +2.3% |
| 2023 | $97,200 | $46.71 | +1.2% |
| 2022 | $96,000 | $46.17 | +1.7% |
| 2021 | $94,400 | $45.37 | +2.4% |
Recently added data center engineer salaries
| Company | Job | Location | Date added | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perspecta | Storage Data Center Engineer | Annapolis, MD | 06/29/2025 | $104,000 |
| Joyent | Data Center Engineer | Ashburn, VA | 06/28/2025 | $105,000 |
| Meta | Data Center Production Operations Engineer | Eagle Mountain, UT | 06/27/2025 | $69,226 |
| Servicenow | Staff Data Center Operations Engineer | Kirkland, WA | 06/27/2025 | $143,600 |
| Hilton | Engineer-Embassy Suites By Hilton DC Convention Center | Washington, DC | 06/26/2025 | $58,436 |
| Msccn | Data Center Critical Facilities V | Secaucus, NJ | 06/26/2025 | $72,000 |
| KBR | Data Center Engineer-Storage | Fulton, MD | 06/25/2025 | $130,000 |
| KBR | Data Center Engineer-Storage | Washington, DC | 06/25/2025 | $130,000 |
| Lambda | Data Center Operations Engineer | Kansas City, MO | 06/25/2025 | $76,000 |
| Schweitzer Engineering Labs | Data Center Project Engineer-Automation/Controls | Pullman, WA | 06/25/2025 | $120,000 |
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