Side-by-side distribution
AWS
$155,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 32.9%
- Live roles
- 2,731
System Administrator
$116,052
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 50.8%
- Live roles
- 1,207
Highest-paying jobs
AWS Cloud Engineer (Infrastructure and Application)
Cloud Platform Engineer
Software Engineer, Cloud Infrastructure
Staff + Sr. Software Engineer, Cloud Inference Launch Engineering
Staff + Sr. Software Engineer, Cloud Inference
Software Engineer, Cloud Computer
Software Engineer, Cloud Agents
Senior Principal Presales Systems Engineer, Cloud and AI Networking
Member of Technical Staff (Software Engineer, Cloud Infrastructure)
Senior Software Engineer, Cloud Infrastructure
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Cyber Systems Administrator
Federal HPC Linux System Administrator, (Clearance required TS/SCI with Poly) On-Site, Maryland
Systems Administrator 3
Oracle Linux Systems Administrator - TS/SCI with Polygraph
Windows Systems Administrator - TS/SCI w/Polygraph
Systems Administrator 3 (On-Call) - Linux/Bash/Python/STE/STN/Docker/Kubernetes
Systems Administrator 2 - Linux/CI/CD/Ansible/Terraform/DevOps
System Administrator, Senior
Linux Systems Administrator
Systems Administrator - Level 5 Active Polygraph Required
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$142,400 | 66 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$153,050 | 51 |
|
CACI
|
$168,100 | 31 |
|
Captivation Software
|
$200,000 | 27 |
|
GDIT
|
$148,282 | 23 |
Leidos
|
$151,475 | 18 |
Travelers
|
$144,750 | 17 |
Crusoe
|
$158,750 | 16 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
GDIT
|
$115,000 | 60 |
|
Leidos
|
$129,575 | 50 |
|
CACI
|
$116,650 | 41 |
|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$126,800 | 24 |
Amentum
|
$142,500 | 22 |
|
Northrop Grumman
|
$117,700 | 21 |
Saalex
|
$92,500 | 20 |
| PA Parsons | $142,300 | 17 |
AWS salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $211,000 | 54 |
| London | $206,653 | 5 |
| Seattle | $202,000 | 21 |
| Los Angeles | $175,000 | 21 |
| Chicago | $171,250 | 24 |
| New York | $170,000 | 59 |
| Boston | $166,250 | 26 |
| Austin | $162,050 | 21 |
| Berlin | $160,998 | 4 |
| Atlanta | $156,100 | 14 |
System Administrator salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Denver | $152,500 | 3 |
| Seattle | $139,410 | 6 |
| San Francisco | $130,000 | 8 |
| Boston | $124,252 | 5 |
| Los Angeles | $112,500 | 5 |
| Atlanta | $102,860 | 3 |
| Chicago | $102,500 | 11 |
| New York | $97,500 | 13 |
| Austin | $95,000 | 3 |
| Toronto | $89,065 | 6 |
AWS vs System Administrator: which pays more?
The median for AWS is $155,000 per year (typically $126,875–$185,000), versus $116,052 for System Administrator ($94,800–$139,260). That puts AWS about 34% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so AWS and System Administrator are compared on equal terms regardless of the currency each role was originally posted in. Only roles that publish a salary range feed the medians; numbers refresh every few hours as new roles post and older ones close, so this comparison reflects the market right now rather than a fixed survey. Use it as a directional benchmark when weighing one path against the other.