2027 Salary Guide · Technology
BLS data put the database administrator median at $104,620 in May 2025, or about $111,000 in 2027 terms. Pay is solid, but BLS expects employment to stay roughly flat through 2035 as cloud services let fewer DBAs support more systems. For many DBAs the bigger pay question is the next move: database architects, the occupation that includes data engineers, had a median about $35,000 higher.
Outlook
BLS projects little or no change in DBA employment through 2035, with about 3,300 openings a year, mostly from people retiring or changing occupations. Openings are steady, but fewer of them are new positions than in most data occupations.
BLS Employment Projections via O*NET OnLine. Projections cover Database Administrators as a whole.
Outlook explained
The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook projects database administrator employment to be essentially unchanged, 0%, from 2025 to 2035. Its explanation is cloud adoption: managed database services let fewer administrators support more companies at once. BLS also expects some DBAs to move into roles such as database architect or software developer.
Over the same period BLS projects database architect employment to grow 9%, driven by organizations adopting AI and needing sturdy data infrastructure. The skills overlap heavily, which is why the DBA-to-architect or DBA-to-data-engineer move is common.
None of this means DBA pay is falling. The May 2025 median of $104,620 is close to the computer systems analyst median, and production DBAs who run large, regulated or high-availability databases remain hard to replace.
Pay distribution
BLS percentiles for about 75,000 database administrators. The title covers junior admins through senior production DBAs, so the shaded band is the middle half, $79,610 to $135,460.
Typical for the Database Administrator title: $79,610 to $135,460 (25th to 75th percentile of Database Administrators)
| Percentile | BLS, May 2025 | 2027 planning estimate |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $60,230 | $64,000 |
| 25th percentile | $79,610 | $84,500 |
| Median | $104,620 | $111,000 |
| 75th percentile | $135,460 | $144,000 |
| 90th percentile | $163,320 | $173,500 |
Next moves
Medians are BLS May 2025 figures for the occupation each move leads to.
| Move | BLS occupation | Median, May 2025 | Gap vs. DBA median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Data engineer or database architect | Database Architects | $139,500 | |
| Cybersecurity analyst (database and access security) | Information Security Analysts | $129,180 | |
| Cloud or platform engineer | Computer Occupations, All Other | $116,580 | |
| Systems administrator | Network and Computer Systems Administrators | $99,130 |
The cloud engineer figure is the median for a broad BLS group; see the cloud engineer page for where that title typically falls in it.
Local pay
Seattle ($133,180) and Boston ($132,370) lead the 29 metros, with the Bay Area third. Tampa and Nashville both rank in the top five, near $124,000. Washington, DC and New York have the most DBA jobs, about 3,700 and 3,600, but Washington's median, $108,750, is close to the national figure. Buffalo is lowest at $76,820.
| Metro area | Median | 10th – 90th | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $133,180 +27% | $71,080 – $181,520 | 1,010 |
| Boston | $132,370 +27% | $72,510 – $176,570 | 1,910 |
| San Francisco Bay Area | $127,760 +22% | $66,750 – $210,810 | 1,470 |
| Tampa | $124,560 +19% | $57,850 – $156,850 | 670 |
| Nashville | $123,920 +18% | $61,580 – $163,600 | 750 |
| Austin | $123,830 +18% | $62,550 – $162,800 | 1,110 |
| Baltimore | $123,730 +18% | $75,570 – $170,850 | 1,190 |
| Raleigh | $122,950 +18% | $76,360 – $163,550 | 510 |
| Dallas-Fort Worth | $122,390 +17% | $65,300 – $163,320 | 2,430 |
| New York City | $121,550 +16% | $70,890 – $185,400 | 3,630 |
| Metro area | Median | 10th – 90th | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denver | $120,120 +15% | $67,040 – $165,190 | 800 |
| Houston | $116,030 +11% | $60,730 – $159,890 | 1,090 |
| Charlotte | $113,890 +9% | $64,770 – $164,220 | 550 |
| Los Angeles | $112,540 +8% | $60,900 – $168,050 | 2,280 |
| Atlanta | $110,950 +6% | $52,580 – $163,430 | 1,780 |
| Detroit | $110,160 +5% | $63,450 – $153,710 | 510 |
| Chicago | $109,680 +5% | $60,150 – $164,050 | 1,870 |
| Washington, DC | $108,750 +4% | $66,560 – $171,170 | 3,730 |
| Hartford | $108,270 +3% | $65,790 – $157,350 | 310 |
| San Diego | $106,820 +2% | $59,300 – $171,120 | 730 |
| Miami | $105,590 +1% | $53,880 – $164,430 | 860 |
| Philadelphia | $104,930 +0% | $65,150 – $166,960 | 1,580 |
| Phoenix | $104,280 +-0% | $59,900 – $158,930 | 810 |
| Portland | $103,110 -1% | $62,400 – $140,810 | 730 |
| Providence | $102,310 -2% | $58,600 – $158,450 | 320 |
| Albany | $102,160 -2% | $58,940 – $130,880 | 400 |
| Pittsburgh | $102,070 -2% | $58,340 – $165,250 | 470 |
| Minneapolis-St. Paul | $101,610 -3% | $61,600 – $151,590 | 790 |
| Buffalo | $76,820 -27% | $52,610 – $141,420 | 210 |
BLS metro estimates, May 2025. Percent compares the metro median with the national median. "Jobs" is BLS estimated employment in the metro; blank where BLS does not publish it.
Compare
Data engineers (database architects) and cybersecurity analysts have the largest pay gaps over DBAs at the median. Cloud engineers sit somewhat higher, and systems administrators a little lower.
| Role | BLS median | 2027 estimate | Outlook |
|---|---|---|---|
| Database Administrator | $104,620 | $111,000 | Little or no change |
| Data Engineer | $139,500 | $148,500 | Much faster than average |
| Cybersecurity Analyst | $129,180 | $137,500 | Much faster than average |
| Cloud Engineer | $116,580 | $124,000 | Faster than average |
| Systems Administrator | $99,130 | $105,500 | Decline |
FAQ
BLS reports a median of $104,620 for database administrators in May 2025. The middle half earned $79,610 to $135,460, and the top tenth more than $163,320. With two years of wage growth at 3.1% a year, the 2027 planning median is about $111,000.
BLS has no starting figure for junior DBAs. The 10th percentile for database administrators was $60,230 in May 2025 and the 25th percentile $79,610. Junior DBA roles often go to people who have already worked in IT support, development or systems administration.
Database administrators' median works out to $50.30 an hour. The 10th percentile was $28.96 and the 90th $78.52. Contract DBAs, common for migrations and upgrades, typically bill hourly at rates above employee pay, since contractors pay for their own benefits.
No, but it is not growing. BLS projects little or no change in DBA employment from 2025 to 2035 and still expects about 3,300 openings a year. It attributes the flat outlook to cloud services letting fewer DBAs support more companies, and expects some DBAs to move into database architect roles.
BLS says DBA certifications usually come from database software vendors or vendor-neutral providers, and that some employers require certification in the specific products they use. Experience with the employer's platform usually counts for more than any single certificate. Cloud database skills are increasingly useful as more databases move to managed services.
Careerscape recruiters can fill database roles on a contract, contract-to-hire or direct hire basis, starting with a pre-screened shortlist.
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