Top Metros for Network and Computer Systems Administrators in 2026, All Paying Above the National Median

Across the top 10 metros for network and computer systems administrators in 2026, LaborCove’s data shows that no single metric dominates the rankings. New York–Newark–Jersey City leads the list with the highest Geography Score and the largest employment count among the top metros, but it does not have the highest median salary. San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara records the highest median pay in the top 10 and sits above the national salary benchmark, yet two other metros rank ahead of it overall. Nationally, network and computer systems administrators show a median annual salary of $99,130 and employment of 314,340, with a projected national employment decline of 4.2%. Within that context, every metro in the top 10 has a higher median salary than the national figure, and three of them have employment counts above 10,000. The Geography Scores highlight how these metros balance salary, employment, and other factors in LaborCove’s scoring framework, producing different combinations of pay levels and market size at the top of the rankings.

Before looking at individual metros, it helps to anchor the occupation nationally. For 2026, LaborCove’s data shows a national median annual salary of $99,130 for network and computer systems administrators and national employment of 314,340. National projected employment growth for the occupation stands at -4.2%, indicating a projected decline in total employment when measured across the entire U.S. labor market for this role. This projected change is a national figure only and is not supplied for any specific state or metro area. Against that backdrop, the top 10 metros for this occupation all post median annual salaries above the national number. That means every metro in the LaborCove top 10 list combines its own local employment count and Geography Score with a pay level that exceeds the national median for network and computer systems administrators.

New York–Newark–Jersey City holds the #1 position in LaborCove’s 2026 metro rankings for network and computer systems administrators with a Geography Score of 82.23. Its median annual salary is $119,390, and its employment count of 17,690 matches the largest supplied employment market figure. Compared with the national benchmark, New York’s median salary of $119,390 is higher than the national median of $99,130, and its employment count exceeds any other metro in the top 10 list. Its Geography Score also stands above all other listed metros, with the second‑ranked Washington–Arlington–Alexandria posting a Geography Score of 66.66. New York does not have the highest median salary in the top 10 — San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara leads on that measure at $133,360 — yet New York ranks higher overall in LaborCove’s system. This illustrates that the highest median pay does not automatically correspond to the highest Geography Score or the top rank in the metro list.

Several metros in the top 10 post median salaries well above the national median of $99,130 for this occupation. San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara has the highest supplied median salary at $133,360, with San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont close behind at $129,680 and Washington–Arlington–Alexandria at $125,430. Baltimore–Columbia–Towson also sits above the national benchmark with a median salary of $122,950, and Boston–Cambridge–Newton shows $116,770. Even metros with somewhat lower top‑10 salaries, such as Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington at $103,260 and Chicago–Naperville–Elgin at $103,170, still post median salaries above the national figure. Despite these high salary levels, the Geography Scores show different overall rankings. San Jose, with the highest median salary, has a Geography Score of 62.87, which is lower than New York’s 82.23 and Washington’s 66.66. San Francisco’s median salary of $129,680 is also higher than New York’s, yet its Geography Score of 61.65 is below New York’s score and Washington’s score. This reinforces that in LaborCove’s methodology, salary is one of several elements contributing to the final Geography Score.

Employment counts for network and computer systems administrators vary significantly across the top 10 metros. New York–Newark–Jersey City has the highest employment among the list at 17,690, while Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington shows 11,740 and Washington–Arlington–Alexandria has 9,920. At the other end of the top‑10 range, San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara has an employment count of 2,460, which is smaller than the counts in New York, Washington, San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont at 3,910, and Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim at 8,770. Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue’s employment of 5,530 sits in the middle of the pack relative to the largest and smallest listed markets. These employment figures represent the number of jobs captured in the supplied data for each metro. They show the relative size of each local market in LaborCove’s dataset but do not indicate the number of job openings, employer counts, or the likelihood of finding a position.

LaborCove’s Geography Scores reveal how the top metros differ when salary and employment are considered together with other factors in the scoring framework. New York–Newark–Jersey City’s score of 82.23 is the highest in the top 10, placing it ahead of Washington–Arlington–Alexandria’s 66.66 and San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara’s 62.87. San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont, with a Geography Score of 61.65, ranks just behind San Jose and ahead of Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, which has a score of 60.30. Boston–Cambridge–Newton’s Geography Score is 59.05, followed by Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim at 58.26 and Baltimore–Columbia–Towson at 55.60. Chicago–Naperville–Elgin and Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue have Geography Scores of 51.76 and 51.37, respectively, rounding out the top 10. These scores, taken together with salary and employment, highlight that metros can rank near one another while still presenting different numeric profiles in LaborCove’s data.

The national median salary of $99,130 and national employment of 314,340 for network and computer systems administrators provide a backdrop for interpreting metro‑level values. Every metro in the top 10 exceeds the national median salary, and three metros — New York–Newark–Jersey City, Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, and Washington–Arlington–Alexandria — have employment counts above 9,000, which is visibly larger than the lower‑end counts within the same list. LaborCove’s related state‑level Insight for this occupation highlights how states such as Texas, California, Maryland, and New Jersey perform in 2026. This metro‑level article complements that view by focusing on specific urban and regional markets, showing how places like New York, Dallas, San Jose, and others compare when you look at median salaries, employment counts, and Geography Scores together. Because the projected -4.2% national employment change applies only at the national level, it should be read as overall occupational context rather than a forecast for any specific metro. The metro results here provide a comparative snapshot of how key markets rank in LaborCove’s data at the 2026 reference point.

LaborCove’s rankings draw on authoritative labor‑market sources combined with our proprietary Geography Score. For each metro area, we incorporate supplied measures such as median annual salary, employment counts, and other factors into a composite score that allows us to rank locations for a given occupation. For this article, we use the 2026 national data for network and computer systems administrators alongside metro‑level salary, employment, and LaborCove Geography Scores for the top 10 metros. National projected employment growth of -4.2% is presented as an overall occupational context and is not applied to any specific metro. The Geography Score reflects LaborCove’s methodology, but the internal weight of each component is not disclosed here. Rankings should be considered alongside your own priorities — for example, how you weigh national context, local salary levels, and the relative size of the employment market — rather than treated as a prescription for where any individual should work or relocate.