System administrator: salary 2026 at a glance
Salary at a glance: this is what System administrator earn in Germany – from 813 job ads with a stated salary and 66 salary data sets.
Median, gross
€48,218
€33,075 lower 10 %
€73,874 upper 10 %
How salaries are distributed
Each column = number of salary figures per €5,000 band · basis 879
You
- Between lower and upper 10 % (€33,075 – €73,874)
- Edges
Salary rises with experience
Median and middle 50 % per level · jobs + data sets
€41,000
Junior
39,000 – 45,000
80 values
€48,500
Mid-level
43,500 – 55,000
+18 % · 705 values
€52,500
Senior
48,500 – 54,500
+28 % · 62 values
€53,000
Lead/Principal
48,500 – 56,500
+29 % · 14 values
Salary by federal state
Median of the salary data sets for System administrator per federal state. The samples are small here – read the figures as a trend, not a guarantee.
- North Rhine-Westphalia €51,500 n = 5
- Hesse €50,500 n = 6
- Baden-Württemberg €48,500 n = 8
- Hamburg €47,000 n = 5
- Bavaria €45,500 n = 6
- Schleswig-Holstein €45,000 n = 6
- Berlin €44,500 n = 4
- Brandenburg €42,500 n = 5
- Lower Saxony €42,000 n = 4
- Rhineland-Palatinate €42,000 n = 4
- Thuringia €40,500 n = 4
- Saarland €39,000 n = 5
- Saxony €39,000 n = 4
What a skill is worth
Median of jobs with the technology compared with jobs without – both groups at least 20 jobs
- Ansible +12.5 % €54,000 n = 61
- Docker +9.4 % €52,500 n = 56
- Shell/Bash +9.3 % €53,000 n = 40
- Kubernetes +8.3 % €52,000 n = 32
- Azure +5.2 % €51,000 n = 81
- AWS +3.1 % €50,000 n = 27
- Linux +3.1 % €49,500 n = 252
- Python +1 % €49,000 n = 35
- MySQL −6.2 % €45,500 n = 25
Centre = same salary as jobs without the technology · bars up to ±13 %
Open positions as System administrator
All in the job search
IT-Systemadministrator / Application Manager (m/w/d)
€60,000 – €65,000
above median
IT-Systemadministrator / IT-Infrastruktur (m/w/d)
€50,000 – €55,000
above median
IT-Systemadministrator (w/m/d)
Salary not stated
IT Infrastruktur Administrator (m/w/d)
€36,000 – €51,000
below median
IT-Systemadministrator/-in (m/w/d)
€38,000 – €54,000
below median
DevOps-Engineer/Systemadministrator (m/w/d)
€60,000 – €90,000
above median
System administrator: job profile and outlook
System administrators ensure the smooth operation of a company's IT infrastructure. They install, configure and maintain servers, operating systems and network services, carry out updates and patches and solve technical problems during operation. Their work forms the foundation on which all business IT applications run and their core competencies include in-depth knowledge of Windows Server and Linux, experience with Active Directory, virtualisation technologies such as VMware or Hyper-V as well as network protocols and firewall configuration. Scripting skills in PowerShell or Bash for the automation of recurring tasks are also important. Certifications such as Microsoft MCSA, Red Hat RHCSA or CompTIA Server+ are proof of professional expertise. The salaries for system administrators offer a solid starting point with good opportunities for advancement. Experienced administrators with specialisations in cloud infrastructure, hybrid cloud environments or IT security achieve significantly above-average salaries. Positions with on-call duty and responsibility for critical systems are particularly well paid, with career paths leading from junior administrator to senior system administrator to IT infrastructure manager or cloud administrator. Further development opportunities exist in the direction of DevOps engineering, cloud engineering or IT management. Advancing digitalisation and the operation of hybrid IT environments ensure stable career prospects for system administrators.
Similarly paid roles
Same axis – directly comparable
- System administrator this role €48,218
- UX/UI Designer €48,179 Compare with UX/UI Designer
- Ruby developer €48,300 Compare with Ruby developer
- UX Designer €47,518 Compare with UX Designer
- UX Researcher €49,000 Compare with UX Researcher
- Performance Tester €49,750 Compare with Performance Tester
- Database developer €49,775 Compare with Database developer
€30,000 – €80,000 · bar = lower to upper 10 %, line = median
How we calculate
- Sources: job ads with a stated salary that are assigned to a role, plus recorded salary data sets. Currently 6,380 active IT jobs state their salary.
- Range: lower 10 % to upper 10 % (P10–P90), so that individual outliers do not shift the limits. The median splits the values into two equal halves.
- Plausible: only gross annual salaries between €15,000 and €250,000; placeholders and monthly values are excluded.
- Calculator: role median × experience factor × federal state factor. The factors come from 4,290 salary data sets – each as a ratio to the median of its role, so the mix of roles does not distort them.
- Minimum size: breakdowns by skill, city and work model only appear from 20 values; every figure states its basis.
Earning more starts with the right job.
Open positions as System administrator – with salary at a glance.