TLDR
DevOps Engineer Salary by City can mean a $36,640 gap for the exact same job. Built In shows San Francisco averaging $174,390 and Houston $137,750, before anyone has negotiated a single dollar. Sometimes your zip code matters as much as your title.
The trouble is that every source tells a different story. Glassdoor and ZipRecruiter sit more than $18,000 apart on the national average, and a recruiter will quote you something else entirely. Picking a number starts to feel like guessing.
I lined up the 2026 data from every major source, so you can judge an offer by what you keep, not the headline number. Use it with the salary guides on WhatIsTheSalary and you will know exactly where your metro stands.
Average DevOps Engineer Salary in the US, and Why Sources Disagree
Start with the national number, because every city figure gets measured against it. Glassdoor reports an average total pay of $144,341 from 17,110 submitted salaries as of June 2026, with most people between $116,292 and $180,912. Indeed shows $134,507 and ZipRecruiter shows $125,908. PayScale’s base average is $114,611.
That is a $30,000 spread for one job title. Some of it is definition. Built In reports a $126,498 base average, $16,538 in additional cash and $150,355 in average total compensation. Levels.fyi leans toward tech employers that pay stock, and its median total comp is $145,500, with the top 10 percent at $239K (last updated July 2025).
My rule is simple. Compare base to base and total comp to total comp. For the full national picture, I laid it out in our DevOps engineer salary in the US guide.
DevOps Engineer Salary by City: Highest Paying US Metros
Here is how the big metros look with the sources side by side. Treat each row as a range, because no single site owns the truth.
| Metro | Reported range or average | Source |
| San Francisco Bay Area | $167,910 to $174,390 | Built In, Salary.com |
| Seattle | $145,000 to $175,000 | KORE1, Underdog.io |
| New York City | $140,444 to $154,975 | Indeed, Built In, Salary.com |
| Los Angeles | $142,896 to $148,717 | Built In, Salary.com |
| San Diego | $139,088 to $145,245 | Built In, Salary.com |
| Washington DC area | $137,259 to $142,615 | Built In, Indeed |
| Chicago | $139,677 | Indeed |
| Houston | $137,750 | Built In |
| Denver | $120,000 to $140,000 | KORE1, Salary.com |
| Minneapolis and St. Paul | $135,429 | Built In |
| Dallas | $134,448 | Indeed |
| Atlanta | $133,450 | Built In |
| Austin | $130,000 to $150,000 | KORE1 |
San Francisco Bay Area: still the ceiling
Built In puts San Francisco at $174,390, about 27 percent above its national average. ZipRecruiter’s top cities are mostly Bay Area suburbs, led by Cupertino at $155,339, which sits 23.4 percent above its $125,908 national figure.
ComputingForGeeks notes a senior DevOps engineer can clear roughly $185,000 in San Francisco for work that pays closer to $120,000 in a lower-cost metro.
Seattle: Amazon and Microsoft set the pace
KORE1 lists Seattle at $145K to $165K in base pay and credits Amazon and Microsoft for moving the market. Underdog.io stretches the range to $175K. Washington has no state income tax on wages, so take-home math looks friendlier than the sticker price.
New York, Los Angeles and San Diego
New York averages $140,444 on Indeed and $143,138 on Built In, while Salary.com data cited by EC-Council shows $154,975. Los Angeles runs $142,896 to $148,717, and San Diego $139,088 to $145,245.
New York pay comes from finance and media as much as tech. One Two Sigma DevOps entry on Levels.fyi shows a $341K median package, with $175K base and $166K in bonus (updated mid 2025). Finance bonuses can rewrite the whole picture.
Washington DC and the Maryland pocket
Built In shows $137,259 for Washington DC and Indeed shows $142,615. The surprise on Indeed’s list is Annapolis Junction, Maryland, at $181,970, ahead of every other city on it.
The town sits next to Fort Meade, where one posting I found listed $218,000 to $267,000. I suspect security clearance requirements push that number, so check whether a role needs one before you compare.
Texas, Denver, Chicago and Atlanta
Indeed shows Chicago at $139,677 and Dallas at $134,448. Built In shows Houston at $137,750 and Atlanta at $133,450. Salary.com figures put Denver at $137,223.
Posted pay runs higher. Scanrole counted 363 Texas postings averaging $157,231 as of May 2026, but about 86 percent were senior roles. For a side by side look at another tech role, see our data scientist salary by city breakdown.
The Fine Print Most City Rankings Skip
Tiny towns distort the lists. ZipRecruiter’s top ten includes Jewett, Texas, at $154,381 and Sitka, Alaska, at $151,679. Places like that have few salary reports. ZipRecruiter itself says its top ten cities differ by only about 4 to 5 percent, so I would not move for a $2,000 premium.
BLS has no DevOps category. The closest groups, software developers and network architects, show median pay in the low $130Ks in the May 2024 data, but both include plenty of non-DevOps work. That is why most city figures come from job postings and user reports.
Raises are small, so location matters more. Motion Recruitment’s 2026 Tech Salary Guide says base pay for IT workers rose just 0.8 percent in 2025. A better city or employer beats waiting for a raise.
DevOps Engineer Salary by Experience Level
City is half the story. In any DevOps engineer salary by city comparison, experience moves the number just as much, and our DevOps engineer salary by experience level guide goes year by year.
Entry level (0 to 2 years)
ERI SalaryExpert’s 2026 average is $80,988 for entry-level DevOps roles, and Built In shows $84,510 for people with under one year of experience.
Mid-level (3 to 6 years)
ERI SalaryExpert shows $114,014. Motion Recruitment’s 2026 guide puts mid-level DevOps engineers at $128,829 to $159,260, which tells you how much the source changes the answer.
Senior (7 or more years)
ERI SalaryExpert shows $131,642, Built In shows $149,027 for seven years or more, and Motion Recruitment shows $141,716 to $168,283.
Lead and manager
Orbyt’s modeled estimate for a Seattle DevOps manager is $190,000, with a range of $149,000 to $248,000. Many senior engineers eye architecture next, and our guides on cloud architect salary by experience level and cloud architect salary in the US show what that step pays.
How a DevOps Engineer Salary Grows Over Time
Stitch the experience numbers together and the path looks like this. You start near $81K to $84K, reach about $114K by years three to six, and land between $132K and $149K at seven years or more (ERI SalaryExpert and Built In).
The biggest jumps come from changing employers, getting the right level at hire and adding a skill that employers pay extra for. Scanrole lists CI/CD, Kubernetes and Terraform as the most requested skills in Texas postings. Staying put for years rarely keeps pace, especially when raises are small.
Total Compensation vs Base Salary
Picture two offers. One is $150,000 base at a Dallas insurance company. The other is $140,000 base plus RSUs at a Seattle tech company. The second looks smaller until you add stock, a signing bonus and the annual bonus.
Base pay is fixed cash. A signing bonus is a one-time payment. RSUs are company shares that vest on a schedule, often over four years, so only a slice lands each year.
KORE1 says total comp at big tech often clears $250K, and a senior DevOps engineer at AWS can reach $230K to $330K all in. At the other end, Levels.fyi median packages in 2025 for Fidelity ($103K, Salt Lake City), Optum ($110K, Boston) and USAA ($127K, Phoenix) carry little or no stock.
Industry matters too. Glassdoor’s top paying industries for DevOps are insurance ($146,369 median total pay), media and communication ($143,386) and financial services ($140,358).
Cost of Living, State Tax and What You Keep
Take Built In’s numbers: San Francisco at $174,390 and Houston at $137,750. The gap is $36,640. Texas has no state income tax, while California does. Run your rent and tax numbers before you decide the bigger figure wins, because a DevOps engineer salary by city table only tells half the story.
Orbyt’s modeled estimate puts Denver’s cost of living about 8 percent above average, so $143,000 there buys roughly what $132,407 buys in an average market. For the architect track, our cloud architect salary by state guide shows how pay shifts across states.
Remote DevOps Pay and Location Bands
Built In lists a remote DevOps average of $161,468, above New York. Underdog.io shows $140K to $180K for remote US roles. Motion Recruitment shows $132,408 to $163,684 for mid-level remote and $145,653 to $172,958 for senior.
Some employers pay by where you live, and others use one national band. ComputingForGeeks flags that split as a major source of confusion. Ask which one applies before you discuss a number.
What Moves Your DevOps Salary More Than the City
Certifications. KORE1 says AWS, Azure and Google Cloud certifications add 15 to 25 percent, while other guides quote $8K to $25K. The estimates differ, but all point up. AWS Certified DevOps Engineer Professional, Azure AZ-400 and Google Cloud Professional DevOps Engineer are the usual picks.
Job title. A site reliability engineer averages $173,000 on Glassdoor per Coursera, versus $132,583 on ZipRecruiter in August 2026. Same title, different method.
Security skills. Salary.com puts DevSecOps engineers at $137,478 on average, with top earners at $153,467. Our cybersecurity career path guide maps the move, and cybersecurity analyst without a degree covers entry routes. The CISO salary guide shows what security leadership pays.
Architecture. Senior engineers often ask whether to switch tracks. Our cloud architect vs DevOps engineer salary comparison lays out the gap.
When to Stop Researching and Start Negotiating
At some point, more tabs only delay your answer. Two sources for your metro and one for your level is enough. Then do these four things.
- Get a competing offer. Even credible interest from a second company changes the conversation.
- Negotiate the whole package. Ask about level, signing bonus and RSUs, not just base.
- Ask, do not demand. Try: “Based on what I am seeing for this level in Seattle, I was hoping for something closer to $165K. What flexibility is there?”
- Time it right. Wait for a written offer, then negotiate before you accept.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Which US city pays DevOps engineers the most?
The San Francisco Bay Area leads most 2026 lists, with averages from $167,910 to $174,390. Seattle and New York follow. Indeed is the exception, ranking Annapolis Junction, Maryland, first at $181,970.
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How much does a DevOps engineer make in Seattle?
Recruiter ranges in 2026 run about $145K to $175K in base pay. Total compensation at big tech can climb well past that once stock is counted.
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Is DevOps pay higher in San Francisco or New York?
San Francisco, by about $13K to $31K depending on the source. The $13K comes from Salary.com data, and the $31K comes from Built In.
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Do remote DevOps engineers earn less?
Not always. Built In shows a remote average of $161,468, above New York. Some employers pay by your location and others use a national band, so ask early.
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Which cities give the best pay after cost of living?
No source I found ranks this directly. I would look at Houston, Dallas, Denver and Atlanta, where averages sit between $133K and $138K, and run your own rent math.
Share Your Experience
Got a DevOps offer, a raise story or a number that surprised you? Tell me in the comments. Include your city, level and whether the figure was base or total comp. Real numbers from readers help the next person more than any average.
How This Article Was Created
I pulled figures from Glassdoor (June 2026), Indeed (October 2026), ZipRecruiter (September 2026), Built In, Levels.fyi, Salary.com, ERI SalaryExpert, Motion Recruitment, KORE1 and Underdog.io, plus Scanrole and Orbyt for posted and modeled data. I invented no figures.
Where a number came from a recruiter range or a modeled estimate, I said so. Most data comes from 2026 publications, with a few Levels.fyi entries from 2025. I wrote this to inform job seekers, not to recruit or advertise.
Shahzada Muhammad Ali Qureshi (Leeo)
I’m Shahzada — a software engineer by education and an SEO professional by trade. I built WhatIsTheSalary.com to go beyond just showing salary numbers — every page is manually researched across sources like BLS, Glassdoor, LinkedIn Salary, and PayScale to give you the full picture in one place. If you found what you were looking for here, that’s exactly the point.
