What is the upper limit of SQL Server DBA income?

  • I have been trying to figure out what the current range is for SQL Server DBA income.

    The salary ranges online just don't seem to fit what what I observe.

    For the purposes of this discussion, let's omit the exceptional examples that are a few deviations from the mean.

    I am not interested in the superstar that earns $250,000 at some job that I will likely never be offered.

    And I am certain there are also examples of stock options that exploded and created quite a few DBA millionaires.

    I am more interested in what the real fulltime salary range is for DBAs these days.

    I can only base my observations on what I currently earn and what jobs are telling me they pay when I followup on a recruiter contact.

    In a typical week I receive a 3-5 recruiters (local) telling me about a SQL Server DBA job opening. My standard response is to inquire about the salary.

    If the quoted salary is more than I currently earn, I save those emails to show during my annual review, so that I can make the case for a market adjustment.

    This has been my strategy for years and I think it keeps me in the upper areas of the DBA income range.

    From my observations, it seems like a DBA with a few years (5-10) experience can easily hit $95,000 to $110,000 plus benefits.

    I think the upper limit of DBA income (non-manager) is likely $120,000 these days.

    I have never seen a recruiter quote a salary range higher than that number.

    Does that fit with your observations?

    This is totally unscientific and I understand there are all sorts of exceptions.

    I am just seeking your observations on what you think the upper limit is for most experienced DBAs.

  • I've found salary.com is a reasonable approximation of what I find jobs listing for. Keep in mind that averages vary wildly by geography, and that some areas may offer much better/worse pay but scale differently with local cost-of-living data.

    (In the US, you can get average cost-of-living data from the census bureau website.)

    If, for example, average in your area is $85k/year, and average nationally is $95k/year, but cost-of-living is only 75% of average in your area, you're effectively earning higher than average pay, since you have to divide pay by .75 to offset CoL differences. (Ends up at about $113k/year.)

    On the other hand, if you live in the San Francisco, CA area, and CoL is 175% of the national average, and you earn $125k/year, you're really earning below average, in real buying power. (Comes out to only about $71k/year effective.)

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  • GSquared (7/5/2011)


    If, for example, average in your area is $85k/year, and average nationally is $95k/year, but cost-of-living is only 75% of average in your area, you're effectively earning higher than average pay, since you have to divide pay by .75 to offset CoL differences. (Ends up at about $113k/year.)

    On the other hand, if you live in the San Francisco, CA area, and CoL is 175% of the national average, and you earn $125k/year, you're really earning below average, in real buying power. (Comes out to only about $71k/year effective.)

    I get the cost of living differences, but I think the salary ranges don't really vary as much as the cost of living.

    I have worked as a DBA in Florida, North Carolina and Seattle Washington. If I were to go by those numbers, Seattle salaries would be 20% higher than Florida and North Carolina. In reality the differences don't seem that large. I cannot say that with any scientific proof.

    I am just going on my general incoming emails.

    Because my resume has Florida and North Carolina history on it, for some reason I still get inquiries for SQL Server DBA jobs in those areas.

    They seem to offer roughly the same amount of money that I get offered in the Seattle area. CoL and housing is certainly higher in Seattle.

    Perhaps let's leave aside the extreme high CoL areas like New York City and Palo Alto CA.

    For the 80% of DBAs out there in the real world, those with 5-10 years of solid experience on SQL Server 2000, 2005, 2008, etc, what is the upper salary range?

    Would you agree that $110,000 to $120,000 is about the upper range that most DBAs could achieve for these days?

  • Yes on the $110-$120k/year. I would agree that's primarily the upper bound, and in a lot of places breaking 100k is very difficult.

    There are significant exceptions, but for FTEs that seems to be about top of the road... that includes places like NY and California.

    You can get a lot more as a contractor but you lose a lot when you do it that way, in particular sick and vacation time, no pay for holidays, etc.


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  • Craig Farrell (7/5/2011)


    You can get a lot more as a contractor but you lose a lot when you do it that way, in particular sick and vacation time, no pay for holidays, etc.

    Yes, I agree that contract rates can get you above that amount. But in my experience, when the dollars get tight, the contractors are the first to be cut.

    It is not worth the risk to leave a fulltime job for a contract.

    The FTE jobs are much stickier.

    Even within the FTEs of a company, the DBA is one of the most protected jobs.

    Developers and project jobs are reduced before the DBA and server/network FTEs.

  • Agree on the $110-120K, but it's hard with the 5-10 year exp. bracket, if you are in the same job for long time.

    Assuming you start at ~$60K after graduating college with some technology degree, as a junior dba/sysadmin/data-analyst/report-writer etc.,

    it usually requires you to go through 3-4 jobs over 10 year period, and be a great DBA, with no-nonsense negotiating skills, to get up to $120K by the time you're 30.

    It helps a lot to have connections in industry by attending conferences like PASS Summit, SQL Saturday etc. It's almost like career days, and many sponsors collect resumes for hiring.

    Btw, I recently created a salary survey which Steve Jones ran on this site, and we got 400+ responses.

    I have the raw data, but just awaiting him to formally publish on the site for everyone after cleanup/formatting.

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