Computer Network Architects
What the pay figures show
- Washington pays computer network architects the most, $168,070. It still pays the most after tax. What it does not do is stay ahead once you count what living there costs. Level that out and South Dakota wins, at $131,799. Same work. A wage that goes further.
- For computer network architects, Washington leads both nominally at $168,070 and after tax — state income tax differentials are not large enough here to disturb the ordering. Regional price parity is: deflating take-home by each state's price level puts South Dakota first at $131,799. The adjustment that matters for this occupation is therefore cost of living rather than tax, which is the opposite of the assumption most relocation comparisons start from.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay by state · May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
National median
$134,050
People doing it
179,740
Highest paid
$168,070
WA
Best off, really
$131,799
SD, after tax and prices
Lowest tenth
$79,900
Highest tenth
$202,680
Lowest, really
$71,857
HI
States with data
51
National average
$139,580
mean, not median
Prices where it goes furthest
88.09%
SD, against a national 100
Where this job actually pays best
- Nationally, this job pays within a fairly narrow band. Adjust for tax and for local prices and the band tightens again, to between $71,857 and $131,799. Geography is not the main lever on pay here.
- Roughly 179,740 people hold this job nationally, earning $134,050 in the middle. A solid, ordinary-sized job.
- No gaps here — all 51 jurisdictions publish a number for this job, which sits at $134,050 in the middle.
- Wages for computer network architects cluster comparatively tightly across states, and the clustering strengthens after tax and price deflation — a real range of $71,857 to $131,799. Occupation-level factors such as specialisation and employer type therefore explain more of an individual's pay here than location does.
- 179,740 are employed nationally in computer network architects, placing it well inside the reported range without approaching the highest-headcount occupations.
- 51 jurisdictions report computer network architects, giving full coverage. The extremes quoted above are therefore the true reported maximum and minimum.
Pay band: Computer Network Architects
The national median for this job
50thpercentile, roughly
| Lowest tenth earn under | $79,900 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $134,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $202,680 |
| This salary | $134,050 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
Where these numbers come from
| BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates, time-series bulk download (oe.data.0.Current) | as of 2025-05-01 |
|---|
Steps in Computer Network Architects
The national median for this job
$134,050around the 50th percentile
| Lowest tenth | $79,900 |
|---|---|
| Middle | $134,050 |
| Top tenth | $202,680 |
The five points BLS publishes. Nothing between them is invented.
Computer Network Architects, state by state
The national median for this job
51states publish pay for this job
| Lowest | Mississippi · $90,990 |
|---|---|
| Highest | Washington · $168,070 |
| Spread | $77,080 |
One dot per state that publishes this job. A missing state means suppressed data, not zero pay.
Best paid, and best off
The national median for this job
| Texas pays | $133,310 |
|---|---|
| Worth, after local prices | $137,185 |
Median pay against the same pay once BEA price parities are applied.
Every state, three ways
Sorted by what the money is actually worth. "Kept" is take-home for a single filer after federal, FICA and state income tax. "Really worth" divides that by the state's own price level, so a dollar in each row buys the same thing. Tap a state to put your own salary into it. States BLS does not publish for this job are absent — that means no published figure, not no work.
| State | Median pay | Kept after tax | Really worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| SD | $153,390 | $116,108 | $131,799 |
| WA | $168,070 | $126,142 | $116,193 |
| NV | $138,060 | $105,630 | $108,919 |
| MD | $159,460 | $112,661 | $108,364 |
| OH | $131,070 | $97,964 | $106,701 |
| AL | $130,810 | $95,306 | $105,930 |
| TX | $133,310 | $102,383 | $105,360 |
| DE | $148,390 | $104,128 | $104,912 |
| NJ | $162,350 | $114,080 | $104,773 |
| SC | $134,990 | $97,465 | $104,602 |
| TN | $123,860 | $95,924 | $103,685 |
| WI | $131,720 | $94,932 | $101,971 |
| MA | $155,060 | $109,817 | $101,458 |
| WV | $122,520 | $90,286 | $100,573 |
| IN | $124,190 | $92,516 | $100,360 |
| GA | $133,890 | $96,698 | $99,998 |
| PA | $131,840 | $97,331 | $99,827 |
| VA | $141,340 | $100,505 | $99,758 |
| CO | $139,230 | $101,012 | $99,635 |
| NC | $127,320 | $93,718 | $99,553 |
| FL | $132,800 | $102,035 | $98,630 |
| CT | $143,890 | $102,231 | $98,594 |
| CA | $158,870 | $109,171 | $96,971 |
| AZ | $130,890 | $97,860 | $96,790 |
| IL | $132,790 | $95,600 | $96,707 |
| MN | $133,270 | $94,727 | $96,251 |
| AR | $110,400 | $82,870 | $95,795 |
| ND | $108,990 | $84,638 | $95,559 |
| NE | $116,420 | $86,138 | $95,311 |
| RI | $131,320 | $96,138 | $94,799 |
| UT | $121,000 | $88,569 | $93,229 |
| NY | $140,390 | $99,608 | $92,550 |
| OK | $109,450 | $81,403 | $92,204 |
| NH | $125,420 | $96,991 | $92,069 |
| LA | $106,620 | $81,025 | $91,714 |
| AK | $119,720 | $93,053 | $91,484 |
| NM | $109,080 | $81,554 | $90,228 |
| OR | $135,660 | $92,579 | $88,405 |
| MI | $112,040 | $83,139 | $88,273 |
| IA | $103,050 | $78,022 | $87,895 |
| WY | $100,520 | $79,546 | $87,559 |
| DC | $137,670 | $96,630 | $87,208 |
| ID | $107,620 | $79,690 | $87,164 |
| KY | $103,740 | $78,298 | $86,547 |
| MT | $104,300 | $77,673 | $86,070 |
| VT | $110,930 | $81,658 | $84,502 |
| MO | $103,130 | $77,472 | $84,427 |
| KS | $100,610 | $74,284 | $82,569 |
| ME | $108,570 | $79,088 | $81,453 |
| MS | $90,990 | $69,294 | $79,382 |
| HI | $108,000 | $78,043 | $71,857 |
Sources and assumptions
- Treat the numbers for computer network architects as a midpoint, not a promise. The national middle is $134,050, which means half of everyone doing this work earns less than that. Where you land depends on how long you have done it, who you do it for, and which city you do it in.
- One filer, no dependants, nothing paid into a pension before tax — that is the household behind every take-home figure for computer network architects. It is the simplest case on purpose, so the states can be compared against each other rather than against each other's family circumstances. City income taxes are not counted. On that household, Washington keeps the most at $126,142.
- One price figure per state stands behind the real-terms numbers for computer network architects. Inside any state, a big city costs far more than a small town, so this is a fair way to compare states with each other and a poor way to price a specific move. The wage figures and the price figures are also from different years. At the bottom of the range sits Hawaii, on $71,857.
- These are distribution medians for computer network architects, with a national value of $134,050. They describe a midpoint rather than an expected offer, and the within-occupation spread — visible in the tenth and ninetieth percentile figures — is wide enough that a state-level median is a weak predictor for any individual worker.
- The household modeled for computer network architects is a single filer, standard deduction, no dependants, no pre-tax contributions. Holding the household constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful; it also means the absolute figures overstate liability for most real filers. On that basis Washington retains the most, $126,142. Municipal and school-district income taxes are not included in any state.
- Real-terms results for computer network architects rest on statewide regional price parities, which average over intra-state variation that is itself larger than much of the interstate variation. They support comparison between states and not the pricing of an individual relocation; Hawaii anchors the distribution at $71,857. Wage and price series are published on separate cycles and therefore carry different reference periods.