Technology
What you can do with Network Engineering
The networks everything runs on. Design them, build them, keep them running.
- Careers
- 3
- Early career
- $67,000
- Mid-career
- $100,000
- Growing fast
- 1 of 3
How these numbers work: A major does not have its own salary. Early and mid-career pay is what people who hold this degree earn at the start of their careers and midway through them. Career pay comes from the 3 careers a Network Engineering degree commonly leads to, and counts everyone in those jobs, including people who have been doing them for thirty years. The two answer different questions, which is why they do not match.
The New York Fed does not report Network Engineering on its own. Its early and mid-career figures here are for Information Systems & Management, the broader group it places this major in.
1 of 3 careers this degree leads to is projected to grow faster than average from 2024 to 2034. Of those, Computer Network Architect has the most openings, about 11,200 a year.
Set on Network Engineering?
Save it as your major and PlanexAI will shape your dashboard, career matches, and study plan around it.
3 careers this degree leads to
Computer Network Architect
$134,050Design the data networks organizations run on, from office LANs to cloud and wide-area backbones.
- Middle half of workers
- $104,620 to $168,200
- Growth
- Much faster than average
- Openings a year
- 11,200
Work-life53Remote54- Network Design
- Routing and Switching
- Cloud Networking
- Security
Network Administrator
$99,130Install, configure, and maintain local and wide area networks, intranets, and other communication systems.
- Middle half of workers
- $78,010 to $126,640
- Growth
- Declining
- Openings a year
- 14,300
Work-life62Remote55Satisfaction67- Network Configuration
- Firewalls and VPNs
- Troubleshooting
- TCP/IP
Network Support Specialist
$76,220Keep networks healthy: test, troubleshoot, and tune LANs, WANs, and cloud connections.
- Middle half of workers
- $58,240 to $98,750
- Growth
- Slower than average
- Openings a year
- 9,600
Work-life60Remote33- Network Troubleshooting
- Routing and Switching
- Monitoring Tools
- Documentation
Related majors
Set on Network Engineering?
Save it as your major and PlanexAI will shape your dashboard, career matches, and study plan around it.
Where these pay figures come from
Early and mid-career pay is the median annual wage of full-time workers who hold a bachelor's degree in that major, ages 22 to 27 and ages 35 to 45, from 2024 data. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (IPUMS). Published as Outcomes by Major by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Career pay is the annual wage of everyone working in that occupation, not only recent graduates, so it includes people who have done the job for decades. The middle half is the 25th to the 75th percentile. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and O*NET OnLine (median and percentile annual wages May 2025; employment projections 2024-2034).
All figures are national. What you earn depends on where you work, who you work for, and how far you take the degree.