Network Administrator
Information Technology
Keep networks, servers, and connections running safely.
Why it matters here: Federal contractors around the Beltway need cleared network staff.
Labor Market — DMV Region
Sourced from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS releases (DMV metro and nationwide) plus MD, VA, and D.C. workforce agencies.
Local cost of living is why DMV pay often differs from the national median.
- DMV & state figures: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — OEWS wage & employment estimates and Employment Projections, with OEWS area pay relatives for the Washington–Arlington–Alexandria metro, Maryland, D.C., and Northern Virginia · View source
- Occupation profiles & skills: O*NET OnLine (U.S. Department of Labor) · onetonline.org
All salary figures are published estimates for groups of workers, not offers or guarantees for any individual role.
Education & Career Pathways
Multiple ways to get here — pick the one that fits your life.
Career Progression
How you can grow — with expected salary at each step.
- Entry-level Network AdministratorLearning the role, supervised work, building core skills.$81,750
- Network Administrator (experienced)Independent work, mentoring newer team members.$105,510
- Senior / Lead Network AdministratorOwning projects, specialization, higher responsibility.$132,980
- Manager or specialist trackSupervising a team or moving into a high-demand specialty.$159,576
Skills Required
What you'll actually do — and how you'll be judged.
Server rooms and IT offices, weekday hours plus after-hours work
Where you work
An IT office with a server room or data closet nearby; you'll be in racks and cable trays regularly.
Hours and schedule
Weekdays, but upgrades and cutovers happen at night and on weekends when nobody's using the network.
Pace and pressure
Quiet when things work, all-hands when they don't. Outages define the hard days.
Who you work with
A small infrastructure team, with the whole organization as your customer.
Physical demands
Some lifting of equipment, crawling under desks, cold noisy server rooms.
What people wear
Business casual; jeans on maintenance days.
Remote reality
Partly remote, but physical hardware keeps you tied to a site.
Workplace culture: what's normal here
- Change control is real — you write the plan and the rollback before you touch production.
- Nobody blames you for a slow network; they blame you for not communicating during the outage.
- On-call rotations are shared fairly and taken seriously.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook — Work Environment, with regional detail for the DMV.
Official data behind this career
Federal statistics for DMV Region, translated into plain language.
Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV metro area
Source: U.S. Census Bureau — ACS 2019–2023 5-year estimates (tables DP03, DP02, DP05)
- The DMV functions as one labor market: workers routinely cross state lines to get to work.
- The largest employment destinations are D.C., Fairfax County and Montgomery County.
Top places these workers go to work
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — BEA regional GDP and personal income, most recent published year
Private-sector payroll data from ADP. It is a supplemental near-real-time indicator and does not replace BLS government employment statistics.
Source: ADP National Employment Report — Most recent monthly ADP National Employment Report
- 1U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OOH, OEWS, Employment Projections, CES) — Primary source for occupation wages, outlook, projected openings, education and training.
- 2U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey — Primary source for income, educational attainment, labor force and demographic context by place.
- 3Census LEHD (LODES / OnTheMap) — Primary source for where workers live versus where they work, and local workforce flows.
- 4U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — Primary source for regional GDP, industry contribution, compensation and personal income.
- 5ADP National Employment Report — Supplemental near-real-time private-sector employment and pay indicator. Not a replacement for BLS.
Figures describe groups of workers, not any one person. Where an official figure is not published for a category, this page says “Data unavailable for this category.” rather than estimating.
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