Salaries

Database Administrator Salary.

Across 81 U.S. cities.

$105,000

estimated national base salary

$76,000 to $133,000. Last updated September 2026.

Orbyt prices 15 titles at this same figure, including Database Administrator, Database Reliability Engineer, and SQL Developer. Orbyt does not hold title-level wage data that would separate them.

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Government benchmark for this occupation

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $104,620 for Database Administrators (SOC 15-1242) across the United States, based on 69,990 employed workers (May 2025 release).

10th percentile

$60,230

25th percentile

$79,610

Median

$104,620

75th percentile

$135,460

90th percentile

$163,320

Workers surveyed

69,990

What BLS published in each release

May 2024 release

$104,620

May 2025 release

$104,620

These are two separate published estimates, not a time series. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not encourage the use of OEWS data for time-series analysis. Differences between releases reflect changes in occupational classification, survey methodology, and the three-year pooled sample as well as any change in pay, so the two figures should not be read as a rate of wage growth.

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 national 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 15-1242

Highest Paying

$145,000

San Jose, CA

Best Purchasing Power

$110,000

North Charleston, SC

Lowest Paying

$80,000

Jackson, MS

The salary figures on this page are computed estimates, not observed wages. Each one is a national role baseline scaled by a Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity cost-of-living multiplier (2025 index) and rounded to the nearest $1,000. No published wage percentile is consulted and no wage survey response enters the calculation, so an Orbyt estimate must not be cited as a Bureau of Labor Statistics figure or as measured pay. The published wage data Orbyt holds is Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, and Department of Labor H-1B Labor Condition Application filings, which record a filed minimum visa base wage rather than market pay. Where BLS publishes a wage for the occupation a role maps to, it is shown on that role's page as a separate benchmark, labelled with its occupation code, metro area and the number of employed workers it covers. Last updated September 2026. This role maps to BLS occupation code 15-1242. Full methodology.

Orbyt estimates the average Database Administrator salary in the United States at $105,000 in 2026, within a range of $76,000 to $133,000. 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. This figure is not specific to this title: Orbyt prices 15 titles at the same estimate. San Jose is the highest of the 81 cities at $145,000, while North Charleston offers the best purchasing power after cost-of-living adjustments. DBAs managing mission-critical Oracle, SQL Server, or PostgreSQL clusters for Fortune 500 companies earn the highest base salaries.

Database Administrator salary by city.

Salary comparison across 81 cities
CityMedianRangeCOLAdjustedRank
San Jose, CA$145,000$105,000 to $184,0001.38x$105,000#2914 of 3445
San Francisco, CA$142,000$103,000 to $180,0001.35x$105,000#2927 of 3445
Honolulu, HI$137,000$99,000 to $173,0001.30x$105,000#2918 of 3445
New York, NY$136,000$98,000 to $172,0001.28x$106,000#2900 of 3445
Washington DC, DC$134,000$97,000 to $170,0001.25x$107,000#2881 of 3445
Seattle, WA$129,000$93,000 to $163,0001.24x$104,000#2951 of 3445
Boston, MA$128,000$93,000 to $162,0001.22x$105,000#2933 of 3445
San Diego, CA$128,000$92,000 to $162,0001.17x$109,000#2835 of 3445
Arlington, VA$127,000$92,000 to $161,0001.22x$104,000#2958 of 3445
Jersey City, NJ$125,000$90,000 to $158,0001.20x$104,000#2953 of 3445
Los Angeles, CA$123,000$89,000 to $155,0001.18x$104,000#2962 of 3445
Anchorage, AK$121,000$88,000 to $153,0001.13x$107,000#2880 of 3445
Philadelphia, PA$119,000$86,000 to $151,0001.09x$109,000#2827 of 3445
Portland, OR$119,000$86,000 to $151,0001.10x$108,000#2861 of 3445
Newark, NJ$119,000$86,000 to $151,0001.18x$101,000#3051 of 3445
Hartford, CT$118,000$85,000 to $149,0001.08x$109,000#2842 of 3445
Boulder, CO$118,000$86,000 to $150,0001.15x$103,000#2977 of 3445
Chicago, IL$116,000$84,000 to $147,0001.07x$108,000#2856 of 3445
Burlington, VT$116,000$84,000 to $147,0001.06x$109,000#2845 of 3445
Princeton, NJ$116,000$84,000 to $147,0001.15x$101,000#3049 of 3445
Sacramento, CA$116,000$84,000 to $146,0001.10x$105,000#2926 of 3445
Denver, CO$115,000$83,000 to $145,0001.08x$106,000#2898 of 3445
Manchester, NH$115,000$83,000 to $145,0001.06x$108,000#2865 of 3445
Miami, FL$114,000$83,000 to $144,0001.12x$102,000#3006 of 3445
Minneapolis, MN$112,000$81,000 to $142,0001.05x$107,000#2880 of 3445
Atlanta, GA$110,000$80,000 to $140,0001.02x$108,000#2865 of 3445
Baltimore, MD$109,000$79,000 to $138,0001.08x$101,000#3058 of 3445
Portland, ME$109,000$79,000 to $138,0001.05x$104,000#2960 of 3445
Wilmington, DE$108,000$78,000 to $137,0001.02x$106,000#2913 of 3445
Ann Arbor, MI$108,000$78,000 to $137,0001.02x$106,000#2904 of 3445
Austin, TX$107,000$77,000 to $136,0001.03x$104,000#2972 of 3445
Providence, RI$107,000$77,000 to $136,0001.04x$103,000#2977 of 3445
Dallas, TX$106,000$77,000 to $134,0001.01x$105,000#2933 of 3445
Houston, TX$105,000$76,000 to $133,0000.97x$108,000#2855 of 3445
Las Vegas, NV$105,000$76,000 to $133,0000.96x$109,000#2835 of 3445
Reno, NV$105,000$76,000 to $133,0000.96x$109,000#2830 of 3445
Tampa, FL$104,000$75,000 to $132,0000.96x$108,000#2858 of 3445
Richmond, VA$104,000$75,000 to $132,0001.01x$103,000#2975 of 3445
Nashville, TN$103,000$74,000 to $130,0001.00x$103,000#2998 of 3445
Raleigh, NC$103,000$74,000 to $130,0000.99x$104,000#2956 of 3445
Salt Lake City, UT$103,000$74,000 to $130,0000.98x$105,000#2929 of 3445
North Charleston, SC$103,000$74,000 to $130,0000.94x$110,000#2833 of 3445
Charlotte, NC$102,000$74,000 to $129,0000.97x$105,000#2935 of 3445
Boise, ID$102,000$74,000 to $129,0000.95x$107,000#2877 of 3445
Charleston, SC$101,000$73,000 to $128,0000.98x$103,000#2985 of 3445
Virginia Beach, VA$101,000$73,000 to $128,0000.98x$103,000#2988 of 3445
Phoenix, AZ$99,000$72,000 to $125,0000.96x$103,000#2977 of 3445
Kansas City, MO$99,000$71,000 to $125,0000.93x$106,000#2896 of 3445
New Orleans, LA$99,000$72,000 to $126,0000.92x$108,000#2860 of 3445
Orlando, FL$99,000$71,000 to $125,0000.95x$104,000#2952 of 3445
Madison, WI$99,000$71,000 to $125,0000.95x$104,000#2957 of 3445
Columbus, OH$98,000$71,000 to $124,0000.93x$105,000#2913 of 3445
Albany, NY$98,000$71,000 to $124,0000.96x$102,000#3026 of 3445
Columbus, OH$98,000$71,000 to $124,0000.93x$105,000#2919 of 3445
San Antonio, TX$98,000$71,000 to $125,0000.91x$108,000#2864 of 3445
Milwaukee, WI$97,000$71,000 to $123,0000.91x$107,000#2880 of 3445
Louisville, KY$96,000$70,000 to $122,0000.88x$109,000#2835 of 3445
St. Louis, MO$95,000$69,000 to $121,0000.90x$106,000#2905 of 3445
Baton Rouge, LA$95,000$69,000 to $121,0000.88x$108,000#2853 of 3445
Spokane, WA$95,000$69,000 to $120,0000.92x$103,000#2974 of 3445
Detroit, MI$94,000$68,000 to $119,0000.90x$104,000#2947 of 3445
Pittsburgh, PA$94,000$68,000 to $119,0000.92x$102,000#3004 of 3445
Indianapolis, IN$94,000$68,000 to $119,0000.91x$103,000#2997 of 3445
Des Moines, IA$93,000$67,000 to $118,0000.86x$108,000#2853 of 3445
Albuquerque, NM$93,000$68,000 to $118,0000.88x$106,000#2900 of 3445
Des Moines, IA$93,000$67,000 to $118,0000.86x$108,000#2862 of 3445
Knoxville, TN$92,000$66,000 to $116,0000.89x$103,000#2985 of 3445
Omaha, NE$91,000$66,000 to $116,0000.88x$103,000#2968 of 3445
Cincinnati, OH$91,000$66,000 to $115,0000.90x$101,000#3043 of 3445
Columbia, SC$91,000$66,000 to $115,0000.90x$101,000#3058 of 3445
Sioux Falls, SD$90,000$65,000 to $114,0000.85x$106,000#2902 of 3445
Cheyenne, WY$90,000$65,000 to $113,0000.87x$103,000#2974 of 3445
Lexington, KY$90,000$65,000 to $114,0000.86x$105,000#2926 of 3445
Little Rock, AR$89,000$64,000 to $112,0000.82x$109,000#2851 of 3445
Oklahoma City, OK$89,000$64,000 to $113,0000.84x$106,000#2909 of 3445
Fargo, ND$88,000$64,000 to $112,0000.85x$104,000#2940 of 3445
Wichita, KS$86,000$62,000 to $109,0000.82x$105,000#2930 of 3445
Birmingham, AL$85,000$61,000 to $107,0000.84x$101,000#3045 of 3445
Tulsa, OK$85,000$62,000 to $108,0000.83x$102,000#2987 of 3445
Charleston, WV$82,000$59,000 to $104,0000.78x$105,000#2924 of 3445
Jackson, MS$80,000$58,000 to $101,0000.79x$101,000#3036 of 3445

Skills that increase Database Administrator pay.

The premiums below are Orbyt's modelled scenarios for Database Administrators, not effects measured from job postings: each is a fixed percentage applied to the estimated base. At the top premium that works out to $14,700 a year.

LLM Fine-Tuning+14%

≈ +$14,700 per year

Reinforcement Learning+13%

≈ +$13,650 per year

CUDA+12%

≈ +$12,600 per year

RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation)+11%

≈ +$11,550 per year

Kubernetes+11%

≈ +$11,550 per year

Transformers+10%

≈ +$10,500 per year

Rust+10%

≈ +$10,500 per year

PyTorch+9%

≈ +$9,450 per year

What you should know.

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.

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.

Total compensation breakdown.

Base Salary
$105,000
Equity / Year
$9,000
Annual Bonus
8%
$8,000
Total Comp
$122,000

Salary by company size

Startup
< 50 employees
$84,000
Growth
50-500 employees
$95,000
Scale-up
500-5K employees
$105,000
Public
5K+ employees
$121,000

Remote salary adjustment

Remote Database Administrators typically earn $89,000 (15% less than on-site). This reflects location-adjusted pay policies at companies using geographic salary bands. Some companies pay flat national rates regardless of location.

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Related.

Common questions about Database Administrator pay.

Orbyt estimates the national median Database Administrator salary at $105,000 in 2026, within a range of $76,000 to $133,000. This is a computed estimate, not a measured wage. Where you land depends on your experience, skills, the company's size, and your location.

Entry level Database Administrators (0 to 2 years) typically earn $68,000 to $84,000. Mid level (3 to 5 years) run $89,000 to $110,000. Senior (6 to 9 years) reach $116,000 to $137,000, and lead level (10 plus years) $131,000 to $163,000.

Anchor your ask near the top of the range at $133,000 so you have room to settle around the $105,000 median. Bring specific data about your impact, and never accept the first number without a conversation.

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.

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.

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.

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