TL;DR
Most DevOps engineers are underpaid by $20,000 or more, and they don’t even realize it. The average DevOps Engineer Salary in the US 2026 looks impressive on paper, but one number hides huge gaps between cities, skills, and company types.
The problem? Job boards give vague ranges, and recruiters never share the real figures. You walk into negotiations blind and settle for less than you’re worth.
Here’s the solution: we break down exact pay by experience level, state, and tech stack, plus the certifications and skills that push salaries past $150K. Want to check pay for other careers too? Explore real numbers on WhatIsTheSalary.com and negotiate with confidence.
What Is the Average DevOps Engineer Salary in the US in 2026?
The honest answer is a range. Glassdoor, using 17,110 submitted salaries as of June 2026, shows an average total pay of $144,341 for a DevOps engineer, with most people between $116,292 and $180,912. PayScale tracks base pay and lists an average of $114,611, with the bottom 10% near $76,000 and the top 10% near $162,000.
ZipRecruiter, which reads job postings, reported a national average of $125,908 in July 2026. SalaryExpert landed at $116,360 in August 2026, including an average bonus of $4,294. Levels.fyi leans toward larger tech companies and lists a median total compensation of $145,500, with the 90th percentile at $239,000. That page was last updated in July 2025, so treat it as a snapshot.
| Source | What it measures | Average or median | Range shown |
| Glassdoor (June 2026) | Total pay | $144,341 | $116,292 to $180,912 (25th to 75th percentile) |
| PayScale (2026) | Base pay | $114,611 | $76K to $162K (10th to 90th percentile) |
| ZipRecruiter (July 2026) | Job postings and estimates | $125,908 | $105,500 to $144,500 (25th to 75th percentile) |
| SalaryExpert (Aug 2026) | Gross salary | $116,360 | $81,561 to $132,573 (entry to senior) |
| Levels.fyi (July 2025) | Total comp, self-reported | $145,500 median | $112K to $183K (25th to 75th percentile) |
Why Every Salary Site Gives You a Different Number
Here is how I use them. I treat PayScale and SalaryExpert as the floor, Glassdoor and Levels.fyi as the ceiling for total comp, and ZipRecruiter as a check on what employers advertise. Most real offers land in between.
For context, the BLS does not track DevOps as its own occupation. Its closest category, software developers, had a median wage of $133,080 in May 2024. BLS also projects 15% growth for software developers, QA analysts, and testers from 2024 to 2034.
DevOps Engineer Salary by Experience Level
| Level | Experience | Typical range (2026) | Main sources |
| Entry-level | 0 to 2 years | $81,000 to $95,000 | EC-Council, SalaryExpert, ZipRecruiter |
| Mid-level | 3 to 6 years | $114,000 to $159,000 | EC-Council, Motion Recruitment |
| Senior | 7+ years | $130,000 to $175,000+ | ZipRecruiter, Motion Recruitment, KORE1 |
| Lead and principal | Varies | Higher, with thin public data | Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter |
Entry-Level DevOps Engineer Salary (0 to 2 Years)
EC-Council’s 2026 guide puts the entry-level average at $80,988. SalaryExpert lists $81,561 for one to three years of experience. ZipRecruiter shows associate DevOps engineers averaging $82,636, with the 75th percentile at $95,000.
So a junior DevOps engineer salary usually starts between $80,000 and $95,000. Many first roles sit close to sysadmin, build, or release work with some CI/CD duties.
Mid-Level DevOps Engineer Salary (3 to 6 Years)
EC-Council reports a mid-level average of $114,014. Motion Recruitment’s 2026 guide puts national mid-level pay at roughly $129,000 to $159,000. The gap comes from scope. The first figure blends many job titles, while the second tracks active tech hiring.
At this stage you own pipelines, Terraform modules, Kubernetes clusters, and monitoring. That ownership separates a $115,000 offer from a $150,000 one.
Senior DevOps Engineer Salary (7+ Years)
EC-Council lists a senior average of $131,642. ZipRecruiter shows most senior DevOps engineer roles between $130,000 and $167,000. Motion Recruitment puts senior pay at $142,000 to $168,000, and KORE1 says senior base pay reaches $175,000 and above in 2026.
Pay climbs fastest when you own reliability targets, cloud costs, and incident response, not just deployments.
Lead, Staff, Principal, and Manager Tiers
Public data gets thin here, so I distrust exact figures. Glassdoor’s trajectory estimate for DevOps titles reaches about $346,000 at the highest seniority level. That tells you the ceiling exists, mostly for staff and principal engineers at employers that pay in stock.
ZipRecruiter’s Renton, WA data shows principal DevOps engineers earning about 16.5% above the local DevOps average. Treat that as a read on the first step up, not the top.
Total Compensation vs. Base Salary
Base salary is the number recruiters mention first. Total compensation is the number that actually shapes your year. It adds the annual bonus, stock (RSUs or options), any signing bonus, and benefits like a 401(k) match.
The gap shows up in the data. Glassdoor’s total pay of $144,341 sits about $30,000 above PayScale’s base average of $114,611. PayScale lists bonuses from $2,000 to $18,000, and SalaryExpert shows an average bonus of $4,294. Those are modest next to equity at a public tech company.
Here is a made-up example to show the math. Offer A is a $135,000 base at a mid-size insurer with a 10% bonus, so about $148,500 in total. Offer B is a $150,000 base at a public tech company with RSUs worth $60,000 a year, so about $210,000 in total.
Offer B looks far better, but the stock can fall, and the vesting schedule matters. I always ask about the cliff, the refresh grant policy, and on-call pay before I compare two offers.
DevOps Engineer Salary by City and State
Location still moves the number. EC-Council’s 2026 figures show San Francisco at the top, with New York and Los Angeles close behind. ZipRecruiter shows how much local markets differ, even inside one state or region.
| City | Average DevOps salary | Source |
| San Francisco, CA | $167,910 | EC-Council (2026) |
| New York City, NY | $154,975 | EC-Council (2026) |
| Los Angeles, CA | $148,717 | EC-Council (2026) |
| San Diego, CA | $145,245 | EC-Council (2026) |
| Renton, WA | $142,202 | ZipRecruiter (2026) |
| Denver, CO | $137,223 | EC-Council (2026) |
| Reston, VA | $130,801 | ZipRecruiter (2026) |
| Rochester, MN | $127,985 | ZipRecruiter (2026) |
A $155,000 offer in New York does not feel like $155,000 in Denver. Washington has no state income tax on wages, which helps take-home pay in places like Renton. Many employers also set remote pay by location band, so ask which band applies to you before you assume a national rate.
The same pattern shows up in other tech careers. If you are comparing paths, this data scientist salary by city breakdown shows how much geography can matter outside DevOps too.
How Industry and Employer Type Change Your Offer
Glassdoor’s industry medians for DevOps engineers show where the money sits. Insurance leads at $146,369 in median total pay, followed by media and communication at $143,386, financial services at $140,358, government at $139,535, and pharmaceuticals and biotech at $138,690.
Employer type can matter even more. Levels.fyi lists a median reported total compensation of $371,250 for DevOps engineers at Two Sigma, with a top report of $426,000. Vanguard’s median there is $80,000, with a top report of $139,000. Those are small samples, so read them as a spread, not a promise.
DevOps vs. SRE vs. Platform and Cloud Engineer Pay
These titles overlap, but the pay does not always match. KORE1’s 2026 guide puts DevOps engineers at $130,000 to $143,000 in base pay, cloud engineers at $128,000 to $148,000, and data engineers at $125,000 to $135,000.
Site reliability engineers often report more. Coursera cites a Glassdoor average of $173,000 for SREs, while ZipRecruiter shows $132,583 for site reliability engineering in August 2026. The gap is the same base versus total pay problem again. DevSecOps engineers average $137,478 per EC-Council, which cites Salary.com.
Skills, Certifications, and Education That Move Your Pay
Security skills are one of the clearest upgrades. A DevSecOps engineer averages $137,478, compared with $114,014 for the mid-level DevOps average in the same EC-Council guide. If that direction interests you, the cybersecurity career path lays out the steps. For a sense of where security leadership can end up, the CISO salary guide shows the far end of that road.
I could not find a reliable pay premium by certification for DevOps specifically, so I will not invent one. What I can say is that employers keep asking for the same stack: Kubernetes, Terraform, Docker, AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, Python, and monitoring tools.
Education matters less than proof of work. If you do not have a degree, this guide on how to become a cybersecurity analyst without a degree shows a path that carries over to DevOps.
DevOps Intern Salary
ZipRecruiter reports that most DevOps engineer intern roles pay between $33,500 and $43,500 a year when annualized. I did not find a verified, DevOps-specific figure for big tech internships, so I am leaving it out.
Salary Growth Timeline: Year 0 to Year 10
SalaryExpert’s model estimates $119,386 after one year and $132,297 after five, roughly 5.3% annual growth.
Changing employers, getting leveled correctly at hire, and specializing in areas like reliability or security speed this up. Staying years at one company without a promotion slows it down.
Common DevOps Salary Myths
When to Stop Researching and Start Negotiating
Past a certain point, more research is just delay. If you have three or four sources that agree within about $15,000, you have enough. Use these tactics.
- Bring a second number. A competing offer is the strongest lever, but a live interview process also works. Tell the recruiter you are in later rounds elsewhere, then ask if they can improve the package.
- Negotiate stock and the signing bonus, not just base. Ask about the vesting schedule, the cliff, and refresh grants. A signing bonus is often easier to approve because it is a one-time cost.
- Ask without risking the offer. Say you are excited, then ask: “Based on the market data I have seen, I was hoping for closer to $X. Is there room?” Stay friendly and name a specific number.
- Time it well. Negotiate after you have a written offer and before you accept. If they ask for your expectations early, give a range whose bottom you would happily take.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is the average DevOps engineer salary in the US in 2026?
It depends on the source. PayScale lists an average base of $114,611, ZipRecruiter shows $125,908, and Glassdoor shows $144,341 in total pay. A fair planning range is $115,000 to $145,000.
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How much does an entry-level DevOps engineer make?
Most sources put entry-level pay between $81,000 and $95,000. EC-Council reports $80,988, SalaryExpert $81,561, and ZipRecruiter’s associate DevOps average is $82,636.
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Do DevOps engineers make more than software engineers?
The ranges overlap heavily. BLS shows a $133,080 median wage for software developers, while DevOps engineers average $114,611 in base pay on PayScale and $144,341 in total pay on Glassdoor. Employer and level matter more than the title.
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Which US city pays DevOps engineers the most?
In the data I reviewed, San Francisco leads at $167,910 on average per EC-Council’s 2026 guide. New York follows at $154,975, then Los Angeles at $148,717.
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Is DevOps still a good career in 2026?
The pay and demand signals look healthy. BLS projects 15% growth for software developers, QA analysts, and testers from 2024 to 2034, and DevOps work sits close to that category. Entry roles are competitive, so hands-on cloud projects help.
Share Your Experience
Have you negotiated a DevOps offer lately, or been surprised by what a company paid? I would love to hear it. Drop your numbers, your city, and what worked in the comments.
How This Article Was Created
I pulled figures from Glassdoor, PayScale, ZipRecruiter, SalaryExpert, Levels.fyi, EC-Council, Motion Recruitment, KORE1, Coursera, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Data dates range from May 2024 for BLS to August 2026 for SalaryExpert, and the Levels.fyi page I used was last updated in July 2025. I did not invent any figures. The example offers in the total compensation section are made up and labeled that way. This article exists 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.
