Salary Survey: Head for the Coast

The best-paid data center manager in the United States works for a utility company in the Bay Area, according to the latest finding from Enterprise Systems' 2004 salary survey.

The survey finds that the big bucks (and the highest cost of living) are in the major cities of the Bay Area and the Eastern Seaboard.

The average salary for a data center manager working in the part of Northern California that covers San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, and Silicon Valley could expect to earn an average salary of $86,000 a year. Salaries in the Northeastern U.S. are not far behind, at $85,500 a year.

As the high-tech capital of the country, it's hardly surprising that the Bay Area figures so prominently among the big spenders. But you may not necessarily find your fortune in the West. According to Enterprise Systems, salaries for data center managers in the Western U.S. as a whole average only $77,200, although this figure also includes less lucrative areas, such as the Rocky Mountain states.

As far as industry sectors are concerned, utility companies pay the best. This is hardly surprising, given the fact that these firms also need some of the most reliable data center infrastructures. Data center managers working in retail, however, are less fortunate the average salary there is only $69,000.Relocation is certainly an option for data center managers eager to boost their earning potential. Last week Next-Gen Data Center Forum reported that data center managers' salaries have yet to reflect the recent upswing in the economy (see Data Center Salaries Stagnate).

But the cities of the Eastern Seaboard and Northern California are not the only attractive IT locations in the U.S. A recent study from analyst firm IDC says that states such as Oregon and North Carolina have a lower-than-average cost of doing business, which could make them attractive areas for vendors to invest (see Study: Aim for the States).

— James Rogers, Site Editor, Next-gen Data Center Forum