Systems Engineer salary

Q: What state pays Systems Engineers the most?

California pays Systems Engineers the most in the United States, with an average salary of $94,433 per year, or $45.40 per hour.

Q: How do I know if I'm being paid fairly as a Systems Engineer?

You know if you are being paid fairly as a Systems Engineer if your pay is close to the average pay for the state you live in. For example, if you live in Washington you should be paid close to $90,725 per year.

Q: What is a good starting salary for a Systems Engineer?

A good starting salary for a systems engineer is $68,000 in the United States. That puts you in the 10th percentile of annual income for a systems engineer in the U.S., which is about what you would expect if you were new to the field. The average salary for systems engineers is $90,107, but that normally requires some level of experience to achieve. Furthermore, a good starting salary for a systems engineer can vary by state.

Q: Are systems engineers well paid?

Yes, systems engineers are well paid. In fact, the average system engineer earns $95,000 a year. Over 80% of system engineers feel that their salary is high enough to cover the cost of living.

Q: How much money do system engineers make?

System engineers make an average of $95,000 a year. However, what a system engineer can earn varies, with a range as low as $48,000 a year to as high as $160,000 a year. Factors such as location and job title impact how much a systems engineer can earn.

Q: What is the average salary of a computer systems engineer?

The average salary of a computer systems engineer is $90,000 a year. However, the earning potential of a computer systems engineer can vary, starting as low as $47,000 to as high as $145,000 a year.

Q: What is the typical starting salary for a systems engineer?

The starting salary for a systems engineer is $78,818 per year. However, the starting pay for a systems engineer can vary, starting as low as $63,000 a year to as high as $101,000 a year. Factors such as educational experience, industry or company, and location impact how much a systems engineer can earn just starting out.

Quoted Expert

Michael Rudisill

Average systems engineer salary

$82,834

$39.82 hourly rate

Entry-level systems engineer salary

$62,000 yearly salary

Updated January 8, 2025

How much does a systems engineer make?

The average systems engineer salary in the United States is $82,834. Systems engineer salaries typically range between $62,000 and $109,000 yearly. The average hourly rate for systems engineers is $39.82 per hour.

Systems engineer salary is impacted by location, education, and experience. Systems engineers earn the highest average salary in California.

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Systems engineer salary by:

Where can a Systems Engineer earn more?

Compare salary by location

126k

106k

86k

66k

46k

Ashburn, VA$102,767

Alpharetta, GA$76,082

Compare salary by company

181k

161k

141k

121k

101k

The Citadel$161,812

CrowdStrike$130,973

Systems Engineer salary estimates from across the web

Based on the latest salary information compiled by Zippia, Salary.com, Glassdoor, Ziprecruiter, SalaryExpert and CareerExplorer, the average salary for a systems engineer typically falls between $76,035 and $127,620.

zippia

$82,834yearly

glassdoor[1]

$76,035yearly

Salary.com[2]

$115,894yearly

ZipRecruiter[3]

$127,620yearly

SalaryExpert[4]

$120,645yearly

CareerExplorer[5]

$90,270yearly

Average systems engineer salary by state

The average systems engineer salary in California, Washington, and Maryland are the highest in the U.S. The lowest average systems engineer salary states are South Dakota, Alaska, and Montana.

State View
County View

Average Salary:

Highest paying states for systems engineers

Rank	State	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
1	Washington	$90,725	$43.62
2	California	$94,433	$45.40
3	Nebraska	$84,333	$40.54
4	Virginia	$84,865	$40.80
5	Maryland	$87,332	$41.99
6	Oregon	$83,353	$40.07
7	Nevada	$84,252	$40.51
8	Delaware	$83,883	$40.33
9	Texas	$80,940	$38.91
10	District of Columbia	$87,802	$42.21
11	Michigan	$80,612	$38.76
12	Vermont	$79,971	$38.45
13	Pennsylvania	$80,584	$38.74
14	Arizona	$77,825	$37.42
15	Massachusetts	$81,550	$39.21
16	West Virginia	$80,166	$38.54
17	Idaho	$79,905	$38.42
18	Alabama	$76,777	$36.91
19	Ohio	$77,774	$37.39
20	New Jersey	$82,728	$39.77
21	Arkansas	$77,376	$37.20
22	Colorado	$77,473	$37.25
23	New York	$81,979	$39.41
24	New Hampshire	$76,834	$36.94
25	Utah	$74,971	$36.04
26	New Mexico	$75,452	$36.27
27	Tennessee	$76,517	$36.79
28	Iowa	$76,265	$36.67
29	Hawaii	$80,120	$38.52
30	Connecticut	$76,235	$36.65
31	Georgia	$75,964	$36.52
32	North Carolina	$74,307	$35.72
33	Minnesota	$75,506	$36.30
34	Indiana	$74,910	$36.01
35	Mississippi	$74,909	$36.01
36	Illinois	$75,914	$36.50
37	Kansas	$73,434	$35.30
38	Rhode Island	$72,522	$34.87
39	Florida	$73,249	$35.22
40	Wyoming	$70,006	$33.66
41	Alaska	$70,556	$33.92
42	Oklahoma	$73,227	$35.21
43	South Carolina	$73,856	$35.51
44	Kentucky	$72,464	$34.84
45	Wisconsin	$72,800	$35.00
46	South Dakota	$70,593	$33.94
47	North Dakota	$69,310	$33.32
48	Louisiana	$73,095	$35.14
49	Montana	$70,491	$33.89
50	Missouri	$71,725	$34.48
51	Maine	$70,466	$33.88

Top systems engineer jobs near you

Highest paying cities for systems engineers

The highest-paying cities for systems engineers are San Francisco, CA, Seattle, WA, and Washington, DC.

Rank	City	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
1	San Francisco, CA	$102,767	$49.41
2	Seattle, WA	$91,195	$43.84
3	Washington, DC	$87,893	$42.26
4	Annapolis, MD	$87,485	$42.06
5	Reston, VA	$85,319	$41.02
6	Bellevue, NE	$84,510	$40.63
7	Middletown, NJ	$82,817	$39.82
8	New York, NY	$82,152	$39.50
9	Austin, TX	$81,705	$39.28
10	Middletown, PA	$80,951	$38.92
11	Dearborn, MI	$80,813	$38.85
12	Phoenix, AZ	$77,924	$37.46
13	Columbus, OH	$77,833	$37.42
14	Colorado Springs, CO	$77,689	$37.35
15	Bentonville, AR	$77,175	$37.10
16	Huntsville, AL	$76,756	$36.90
17	Cedar Rapids, IA	$76,707	$36.88
18	Middletown, CT	$76,221	$36.64
19	Chicago, IL	$76,091	$36.58
20	Alpharetta, GA	$76,082	$36.58

Systems Engineers are the most in-demand in these five cities:

Systems Engineer salary details

A systems engineer's salary ranges from $62,000 a year at the 10th percentile to $109,000 at the 90th percentile.

Average Systems Engineer Salary Graph, Trends, and Summary

What is a systems engineer's salary?

Percentile	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate
90th Percentile	$109,000	$9,083	$52
75th Percentile	$95,000	$7,917	$46
Average	$82,834	$6,903	$40
25th Percentile	$71,000	$5,917	$34
10th Percentile	$62,000	$5,167	$30

Highest paying systems engineer jobs

The highest paying types of systems engineers are principal systems engineer, senior systems software engineer, and lead systems engineer.

Job Title	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
Information Engineer	$105,003	$8,750	$50.48	151,357
Systems Consultant	$99,659	$8,305	$47.91	134,337
Systems Administrator	$77,156	$6,430	$37.09	134,500
Systems Integrator	$102,867	$8,572	$49.46	98,466
Engineer	$92,076	$7,673	$44.27	618,207
Systems Developer	$97,230	$8,102	$46.75	322,419

How would you rate the starting salaries for Systems Engineers, as well as the prospects for salary advancement?

Michael Rudisill

Department Head and Professor of Engineering Technology, Northern Michigan University

From what we've seen, salaries haven't been reduced, even though demand is down. I would expect wages and salary progression to remain strong as the need for engineering will only continue to grow.

Top companies hiring systems engineers now:

Which companies pay systems engineers the most?

Systems engineer salaries at The Citadel and Meta are the highest-paying according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, the average systems engineer salary at companies like Airbnb and Cloudflare are highly competitive.

Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate
1	The Citadel	$161,812	$77.79
2	Meta	$148,883	$71.58
3	Airbnb	$143,102	$68.80
4	Cloudflare	$140,774	$67.68
5	ByteDance	$139,398	$67.02
6	Apple	$139,178	$66.91
7	Twitter	$139,011	$66.83
8	Google	$138,823	$66.74
9	First Republic Bank	$136,305	$65.53
10	PayPal	$136,280	$65.52
11	Lyft	$134,932	$64.87
12	Palo Alto Networks	$134,056	$64.45
13	Mixpanel	$133,560	$64.21
14	Waymo	$133,246	$64.06
15	Atlassian	$133,122	$64.00
16	eBay	$132,781	$63.84
17	Snowflake Computing	$132,430	$63.67
18	NVIDIA	$131,959	$63.44
19	Practice Fusion	$131,919	$63.42
20	CrowdStrike	$130,973	$62.97

Wage gap by gender, race and education

$82,000$80,800$79,600$78,400$77,200$76,000

MaleFemale

Systems Engineer salary by industry

The average systems engineer salary varies across industries:

The average systems engineer salary in the automotive industry is $96,218, the highest of any industry.
The average systems engineer salary in the finance industry is $93,414.
Systems engineers in the government industry earn an average salary of $71,845, the lowest of any industry.

Highest paying industries for systems engineers

Rank	Industry	Average Salary	Hourly Rate
1	Automotive	$96,218	$46.26
2	Manufacturing	$93,414	$44.91
3	Telecommunication	$92,759	$44.60
4	Technology	$90,298	$43.41
5	Finance	$86,348	$41.51
6	Government	$71,845	$34.54

High Paying Systems Engineer Jobs

Systems Engineer salary trends

The average systems engineer salary has risen by $14,080 over the last ten years. In 2014, the average systems engineer earned $68,754 annually, but today, they earn $82,834 a year. That works out to a 9% change in pay for systems engineers over the last decade.

Compare systems engineer salaries for cities or states with the national average over time.

Average systems engineer salary over time

Compare systems engineer salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.

Systems Engineer salary by year

Year	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate	% Change
2025	$82,800	$39.82	+3.3%
2024	$80,100	$38.51	+2.3%
2023	$78,300	$37.64	+2.2%
2022	$76,600	$36.82	+0.7%
2021	$76,100	$36.57	+1.2%

Recently added systems engineer salaries

Company	Job	Location	Date Added	Salary
Noblis, Inc.	Systems Engineer	San Diego, CA	12/18/2024	$61,600
Serco	Model-Based Systems Engineer (Mbse)	Washington, DC	12/18/2024	$76,542
Links Technology Solutions, Inc.	Systems Engineer	Linthicum, MD	12/17/2024	$133,000
3M	Systems Engineer*	Springfield, MO	12/16/2024	$95,825
Adtalem Global Education	Systems Engineer	Columbia, MD	12/16/2024	$74,065
Ametek Inc.	Systems Engineer	Noble, LA	12/16/2024	$140,000
Avangrid Inc.	Aveva Osisoft PI System Engineer	Fine, NY	12/16/2024	$83,804
Oracle Corporation	Systems Engineer II-HL7 (ONE of The Following Locations: Kansas City-MO, Columbia-MD, Orlando-F	Orlando, FL	12/16/2024	$56,391
Delta Dental	Systems Engineer	Hope, ME	12/16/2024	$80,500
Knott's Berry Farm	Systems Engineer	Buena Park, CA	12/16/2024	$53,813