Database administrators

SOC 15-1242 · 15-0000 · Reference month July 2026

Administer, test, and implement computer databases, applying knowledge of database management systems. Coordinate changes to computer databases. Identify, investigate, and resolve database performance issues, database capacity, and database scalability. May plan, coordinate, and implement security measures to safeguard computer databases.

In short

As of July 2026, Database administrators have a Job Market Health score of 28/100, classified as Weak. This score is our derived indicator, not a government statistic.

The published median annual wage is $104,620.

BLS projects about 3,300 average annual openings and -0.1% employment growth over the 2025-2035 projection period. Projected openings are a modeled yearly average, not jobs open today.

Job Market Health score

28/ 100
Weak

Stable · -1

Confidence
High
Restated score
28
Methodology
v1.0
Geography
US
  • At least 90% of required inputs and occupation-industry mapping are covered.

Job Market Health scores are derived indicators based on published data, informational only, not a forecast or guarantee.

$104,620Median annual wageOEWS May 2025
3,300Projected annual openingsBLS Employment Projections 2025-2035
-0.1%Projected growth2025–2035
69,990Total employmentOEWS May 2025

How to read this page

The score is a national composite from 0 to 100 that weights near term hiring demand at 50 percent, the occupation's own employment fundamentals at 30 percent, and long-term outlook at 20 percent. Wages and occupation profile details are context shown alongside it, not score inputs. See the full methodology.

Median annual wage and metro employment come from BLS OEWS, which is annual. Projected annual openings and projected growth come from BLS Employment Projections and describe the published projection horizon, so they are not a count of jobs open today. Values shown as not published are suppressed by the source rather than filled in here.

Job Market Health trend

Published composite score by reference month

Score components

The three published inputs behind the composite

Current demand33
Occupation fundamentals25
Long-term outlook19

Largest metro markets by employment

OEWS metro employment, where the jobs are, not a quality ranking

Largest metro markets by employment
Metro areaEmploymentJobs per 1,000Median annual wage
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV3,7301.19$108,750
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ3,6300.38$121,550
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX2,4300.60$122,390
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA2,2800.36$112,540
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH1,9100.71$132,370
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN1,8700.41$109,680
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA1,7800.62$110,950
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD1,5800.55$104,930
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA1,4700.62$127,760
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD1,1900.88$123,730

Education & training

Typical entry requirements · BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035

Typical education
Bachelor's degree
Work experience
None
On-the-job training
None
Projected employment
74,900 jobs

Top skills

Occupation profile · O*NET 31.0 Database

  • Complex Problem Solving
  • Critical Thinking
  • Active Listening
  • Judgment and Decision Making
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Active Learning
  • Programming
  • Speaking
  • Monitoring
  • Writing

Also known as: Database Administration Manager, Database Administrator (DBA), Database Analyst, Database Coordinator, Database Engineer, Database Manager

Sources & releases

Every figure above traces to a published release

Wages
OEWS May 2025 · released May 1, 2025 · retrieved Sep 13, 2026
Projections
BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035 · released Sep 1, 2025 · retrieved Sep 13, 2026
Occupation profile
O*NET 31.0 Database · retrieved Sep 13, 2026
Score recalculated
Sep 13, 2026
First published
Sep 13, 2026
Data generated
Sep 16, 2026

Values marked “Not published” are suppressed or not published by the source. We leave them blank rather than estimating them.

Related occupations

O*NET® lists these occupations as related. Each link opens the same published view of score, wages and outlook.

Keep going

Learn how to judge a market from these numbers in how to tell if a job market is healthy, or why projected growth and annual openings often disagree in projected growth vs projected annual openings. Coverage, revisions and limits are explained on about the data.

The datasets behind these figures, and what each one can and cannot show, are set out on data sources.