Side-by-side distribution
Platform Engineer
$195,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 44.3%
- Live roles
- 4,041
System Administrator
$114,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 36.3%
- Live roles
- 408
Highest-paying jobs
Platform Engineer
Senior Staff+ Software Engineer, Kubernetes Platform
Staff+ Infrastructure Engineer, Cluster Infrastructure
Software Engineer, Research Infrastructure
Senior Security Platform Engineer I
Principal .NET Software Engineer- Cloud Payments Platform
Principal .NET Software Engineer - Cloud Payments Platform
Staff+ Software Engineer, Safeguards Infrastructure
SOC Emulation Engineer - Hardware Emulation Infrastructure
Infrastructure Engineer
Highest-paying jobs
Experienced/Lateral - Linux Systems Administrator
Systems Administrator 1 - Linux
Systems Administrator 1 - Linux/IP/Docker/AWS/Crypto/STE/STN/SSP
Systems Administrator 0-3 - Linux/Ansible/SSP/AWS
Systems Administrator 0-3 - Linux/KVM/Ansible/Slat/SSP/STE/STN/Scripting/AWS
Windows Systems Administrator - McLean, VA - TS/SCI
System Administrator (SF)
GTM Systems Administrator
Senior System Administrator II (Storage Engineer)
IT System Administrator – SOC/NOC Support
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Speechify
|
$170,000 | 103 |
OpenAI
|
$308,250 | 28 |
Nuro
|
$200,450 | 24 |
Palantir
|
$167,500 | 24 |
Databricks
|
$225,000 | 21 |
Coinbase
|
$202,483 | 20 |
Reddit
|
$244,500 | 18 |
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 18 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Saalex
|
$105,000 | 13 |
Air Apps
|
$62,856 | 10 |
|
Anduril Industries
|
$138,500 | 8 |
| GR GRVTY | $144,000 | 7 |
|
Accenture Federal Services
|
$156,525 | 6 |
SMX
|
$104,250 | 5 |
|
Captivation Software
|
$200,000 | 4 |
SpaceX
|
$107,500 | 3 |
Platform Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $228,500 | 413 |
| Seattle | $214,250 | 110 |
| New York | $210,000 | 320 |
| Austin | $202,500 | 39 |
| Los Angeles | $187,500 | 31 |
| Boston | $185,000 | 64 |
| Toronto | $185,000 | 61 |
| Chicago | $183,000 | 22 |
| Denver | $180,000 | 29 |
| Atlanta | $170,000 | 10 |
System Administrator salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $161,500 | 6 |
| San Francisco | $148,500 | 8 |
| Los Angeles | $96,250 | 4 |
| Dublin | $67,677 | 4 |
Platform Engineer vs System Administrator: which pays more?
The median for Platform Engineer is $195,000 per year (typically $166,525–$230,000), versus $114,000 for System Administrator ($90,000–$144,500). That puts Platform Engineer about 71% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Platform Engineer 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.