Side-by-side distribution
Network Engineer
$137,950
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 43.6%
- Live roles
- 1,921
SRE
$158,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 37.5%
- Live roles
- 2,035
Highest-paying jobs
Network Engineer
RTL Design Engineer – Interconnect & Network Datapath
Network Infrastructure Engineer, Global Network Infra (WAN)
Software Engineer, Network (C++)
Network Engineer, High-Speed Interconnects (ML Infrastructure)
Principal Network Sales Engineer
Principal Network Sales Engineer – Service Provider
Principal Network Security Engineer
Senior Network Engineer
Network Engineer
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Software Engineer (Database Reliability)
Staff Software Engineer, AI Reliability
Staff+ Site Reliability Engineer, Safeguards ML Infra
Forward Deployed Site Reliability Engineer - TS/SCI (CI Poly)
Forward Deployed Site Reliability Engineer - TS/SCI (Full Scope Poly)
Member of Technical Staff (Site Reliability Engineer, Cloud Infrastructure)
Data Center Engineer, Reliability & Infrastructure Management – Compute Supply
Member of Technical Staff, Production Site Reliability Engineer
Software Engineer, Site Reliability (SRE)
Principal Site Reliability Engineer, Platform Engineering: Dedicated
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Leidos
|
$129,575 | 73 |
GDIT
|
$127,305 | 56 |
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$126,800 | 55 |
CACI
|
$134,200 | 47 |
Northrop Grumman
|
$129,500 | 36 |
SpaceX
|
$185,000 | 25 |
Amentum
|
$138,750 | 16 |
|
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
|
$181,750 | 15 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
SpaceX
|
$143,750 | 46 |
Anduril Industries
|
$191,500 | 23 |
| SE Sezzle | $87,000 | 15 |
|
Northrop Grumman
|
$117,875 | 14 |
Okta
|
$206,500 | 13 |
Vast
|
$171,250 | 12 |
Air Apps
|
$68,929 | 11 |
Cisco
|
$217,500 | 9 |
Network Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $210,000 | 51 |
| Seattle | $195,000 | 36 |
| New York | $174,228 | 46 |
| Austin | $160,681 | 22 |
| Boston | $160,375 | 16 |
| London | $159,933 | 4 |
| Los Angeles | $159,500 | 18 |
| Chicago | $159,500 | 21 |
| Atlanta | $152,000 | 11 |
| Denver | $141,100 | 32 |
SRE salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $213,725 | 80 |
| New York | $200,000 | 67 |
| Los Angeles | $188,162 | 23 |
| Atlanta | $188,000 | 9 |
| Austin | $187,000 | 23 |
| Chicago | $177,500 | 33 |
| Denver | $177,500 | 14 |
| Seattle | $174,525 | 31 |
| Boston | $174,525 | 26 |
| Toronto | $110,635 | 13 |
Network Engineer vs SRE: which pays more?
The median for Network Engineer is $137,950 per year (typically $113,610–$175,000), versus $158,500 for SRE ($122,744–$197,500). That puts SRE about 15% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Network Engineer and SRE 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.