CompTIA Network+ Salary 2025–2026: Real Pay by Role & Metro

If you are weighing the certification, the blunt question is: what does a CompTIA Network+ salary actually look like? The honest answer is that the credential itself does not set your pay — the job title it unlocks, your years of hands-on experience, and your metro do. Network+ is a vendor-neutral, entry-to-mid credential (current exam: N10-009) that proves you can configure, manage, and troubleshoot wired and wireless networks. Below are real 2025–2026 ranges by role, experience, and location, drawn from ZipRecruiter, Payscale, Glassdoor, Salary.com, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

What is the average CompTIA Network+ salary in 2025–2026?

There is no single “Network+ wage,” because holders work across a dozen job titles. As a certification-wide benchmark, ZipRecruiter puts the average CompTIA Network+ pay at about $73,938 a year (roughly $35.55/hour) as of 2026. The spread is wide: the 25th percentile sits near $52,000, the 75th near $91,000, and the top 10% around $123,500. That range tells you more than the average does — where you land depends almost entirely on your role, because the certification-wide figure blends entry technicians with senior engineers.

Here is how common Network+ job titles pay, using 2025–2026 aggregator data:

The gap between the “network technician” figures is methodology, not contradiction: ZipRecruiter reports a $54,870 median for computer and network technicians, while Salary.com’s base average is $78,474 and Glassdoor’s median total pay (base plus bonuses) reaches $83,000. Read the lower numbers as entry base pay and the higher ones as experienced total compensation.

What is the CompTIA Network+ salary by experience level?

Experience moves your pay faster than any other single factor. Newly certified holders cluster at the bottom of the range; five years of documented network troubleshooting pushes you toward administrator pay.

The BLS anchors the top of that ladder: the median wage for network and computer systems administrators was $96,800 in May 2024, with the lowest 10% under $60,320 and the highest 10% above $150,320. Those upper figures usually belong to people who stacked Network+ with vendor certifications (CCNA, cloud) and moved into engineering or architecture. To climb the range, document specific wins — subnets designed, outages resolved, devices managed — because that is what turns a mid-level résumé into a senior offer.

Which jobs does CompTIA Network+ qualify you for?

Network+ is CompTIA’s networking credential, sitting between A+ (hardware and support) and specialized tracks like CCNA. It is aimed at — and frequently listed as a preferred cert for — these roles:

• Help desk / support technician (~$47,000): tier-1 troubleshooting; the most common first job and a springboard, not a destination.
• Network / field technician (~$52,000–$55,000): installs, cables, and repairs LAN/WAN hardware; heavily hands-on.
• NOC technician (avg ~$55,000; remote roles ~$72,000): monitors network health from a 24/7 operations center. ZipRecruiter reports ~$72,078 for work-from-home NOC roles — a clear remote premium.
• Junior network administrator ($55,000–$70,000): manages switches, routers, and user access under a senior admin.
• Network analyst (~$80,000): monitors performance, plans capacity, and documents topology.
• Systems / network administrator ($80,000–$96,800): owns the network day to day — the natural three-to-five-year target.

How does CompTIA Network+ pay compare to A+ and CCNA?

Network+ sits in the middle of the three most common infrastructure certifications. A+ opens lower-paying support roles; CCNA, which is Cisco-specific and harder, opens higher-paying networking roles.

Across sources, CCNA holders earn roughly 10–20% more than Network+ holders — often a $10,000–$25,000 annual gap — because employers expect deeper, Cisco-specific skills and CCNA feeds the higher CCNP and CCIE tracks. That does not make A+ or Network+ a mistake. The well-paid path is to stack them: A+ to land a support seat, Network+ to move into networking, then CCNA or Security+ to specialize once you have hands-on experience an employer will pay for.

How much does location change your CompTIA Network+ pay?

Metro matters, mostly because cost of living and tech concentration pull wages up. By state, ZipRecruiter puts New York at the top of Network+ pay, with Massachusetts about 7.3% above the national average and New York about 9.3% above it; Washington ranks near the top as well. In high-cost tech hubs, engineer-level networking roles climb far past the national figures — network engineers earn around $130,000 in San Francisco and $120,000 in New York, and network administrators in the San Jose area average about $139,670. Those numbers reflect senior, high-cost-of-living roles, not entry pay, so weigh them against local rent before chasing a ZIP code.

What raises a Network+ salary the fastest?

Four levers move Network+ pay more than the certificate alone:

• Hands-on experience. The jump from the 25th percentile (~$52,000) to the 75th (~$91,000) is mostly years of documented troubleshooting, not new certs.
• Stacking a specialization. Adding CCNA or Security+ on top of Network+ typically lifts pay 10–20% and opens engineering roles.
• Going remote in the right role. Remote NOC technicians average ~$72,000 versus ~$55,000 on-site, per ZipRecruiter — a rare case where working from home pays more.
• Targeting a high-demand metro, carefully. New York, Washington, and Massachusetts top state pay, but only net out ahead if the raise beats the rent.

Is the CompTIA Network+ (N10-009) certification worth it for your salary?

For entry and mid-level networking, the math favors it. Skillsoft’s 2025 IT Skills & Salary Report found certified IT professionals earn about 20% more than non-certified peers. In practice, Network+ is often the difference between a ~$40,000 uncertified support role and a $50,000–$65,000 certified networking role — a gap that repays the exam cost within months. The current N10-009 exam refreshed the objectives around cloud, zero-trust, and software-defined networking, which are exactly the skills hiring managers screen for in 2025–2026.

The credential earns its keep only if you can back it with hands-on skill, which is where structured training beats memorizing exam dumps. Boost eLearning’s CompTIA Network+ (N10-009) course pairs the full objectives with hands-on Live Labs, so you configure real routers, switches, and subnets before exam day rather than just answering questions about them. Courses run online self-paced, live virtual, and on-site, and every path is backed by a money-back Pass Guarantee. If your goal is to move from a support seat into a $60,000-plus networking role, that lab time is what turns a line on your résumé into an offer.

Bottom line: a CompTIA Network+ salary in 2025–2026 realistically runs from the high $40,000s in a first help desk or technician job to $80,000–$96,800 as a network administrator, with the certification itself worth roughly a 20% premium over staying uncertified. The lever that moves you up the range is experience — pair the cert with real lab work and a specialization, and the numbers follow.