Database Administrator.
Salt Lake City.
$103,000
median salary, 2% below the national average
$74,000 to $130,000. Last updated August 2026.
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Data points to own the conversation.
Orbyt estimates Database Administrator pay in Salt Lake City at $103,000, within a range of $74,000 to $130,000. That is 2% below the national average. Salt Lake City anchors the Silicon Slopes tech corridor, home to companies like Qualtrics, Pluralsight, and Domo. These figures are Orbyt estimates, computed rather than measured, and must not be cited as Bureau of Labor Statistics figures; the published BLS wage for the occupation this role maps to is shown separately on this page.
Salary range.
Where do you fall?
Orbyt estimate for Database Administrator in Salt Lake City, modelled from national occupation wages adjusted for local cost of living. The published government benchmark for this occupation is below.
Government benchmark for this occupation
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $129,010 for Database Administrators (SOC 15-1242) in the Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT metropolitan area, based on 160 employed workers (May 2025 release).
10th percentile
$70,400
25th percentile
$100,530
Median
$129,010
75th percentile
$164,690
90th percentile
$164,690
Workers surveyed
160
BLS publishes wages by occupation code, not by job title, so this figure covers every role mapped to Database Administrators (SOC 15-1242) rather than Database Administrator specifically. The Salt Lake City range at the top of this page is Orbyt’s role-level estimate, which is a different thing and is labelled as such.
View the BLS source for SOC 15-1242Salary by experience.
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $93,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$67,000
to $82,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$88,000
to $108,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$113,000
to $134,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$129,000
to $160,000
Total compensation.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $21,000 to the total package.
Base
$103,000
Equity
$11,000
Bonus
$8,000
Signing
$2,000
Estimated total: $124,000
How Salt Lake City compares.
Salt Lake City, UT
$103,000
Cost of living: 2% below average
National Average
$105,000
Salt Lake City is $2,000 below
Database Administrator salary by city.
Salary by role in Salt Lake City.
What you should know.
Before you negotiate a Database Administrator offer in Salt Lake City, understand the terrain. Salt Lake City anchors the Silicon Slopes tech corridor, home to companies like Qualtrics, Pluralsight, and Domo. The region has attracted significant venture investment and tech relocations. Utah's business friendly environment, young educated workforce, and outdoor lifestyle make it a rising destination for tech professionals seeking affordability without sacrificing career growth. DBAs managing mission-critical Oracle, SQL Server, or PostgreSQL clusters for Fortune 500 companies earn the highest base salaries. Expertise in performance tuning, disaster recovery design, and database migration to cloud-managed services adds 15 to 20% over general administration. Financial and healthcare data compliance knowledge commands additional premiums.
Junior DBAs start at $58,000 to $75,000, progressing to mid-level at $82,000 to $115,000 within three to four years. Senior DBAs earn $120,000 to $145,000, while database architects and directors of data infrastructure reach $155,000 to $210,000 at enterprise organizations. In Salt Lake City, cost of living sits near the national average, so the numbers you see are roughly what you keep.
Base salary is not the full picture. Annual bonuses of 8 to 12% are standard, with on-call stipends adding $5,000 to $10,000. Many employers cover Oracle or Microsoft certification costs, and senior DBAs at large enterprises receive retention bonuses of $10,000 to $25,000. And on the tax side: utah has a flat 4.65% state income tax. Salt Lake City imposes no additional city income tax. The moderate rate combined with affordable living costs results in strong net compensation. When someone quotes you $103,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Reference Silicon Slopes growth when negotiating. Local employers are increasingly matching 85 to 95% of Seattle or Bay Area salaries to compete for tech talent. The range for Database Administrators in Salt Lake City runs from $74,000 to $130,000. That is not a narrow window. Where you land inside it depends almost entirely on whether you negotiate and how well you prepare.
Sources: BLS OES, H-1B LCA (DOL). COL: BEA Regional Price Parities (2025). Data verified by Justin Bartak, Founder & Chief AI Officer. Last verified July 1, 2026. Full methodology
Considering a related role?
- A Design Engineer in Salt Lake City earns $104,000 (1% more)
- The highest-paying role in Salt Lake City is CTO at $306,000
Common questions.
Database Administrator salary in other cities.
Other salaries in Salt Lake City.
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Cite this data
Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
"Database Administrator Salary in Salt Lake City, UT." Orbyt Salary Explorer, August 2026. https://www.orbytlabs.ai/orbyt-jobs/salaries/database-administrator/salt-lake-city
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