article · Tech pay, honestly
AZ-104 Salary: Azure Administrator Pay Context
Direct answer
What to do
AZ-104 does not have its own salary. Learnerside maps the nearby cloud and systems work to two BLS occupation anchors: Computer Occupations, All Other had a May 2025 national median of $116,580, while Network and Computer Systems Administrators had a median of $99,130. Neither figure is entry pay, an Azure Administrator salary, or an outcome caused by AZ-104. Use the target work, location, experience, and responsibility first; then decide whether AZ-104 closes an Azure administration gap.
Official sources: BLS Computer Occupations, All Other pay context · BLS Network and Computer Systems Administrators pay context · Microsoft Azure Administrator role and certification scope
Use this pay context when
- You are comparing Azure administration, cloud operations, or systems work rather than treating AZ-104 as a salary category.
- You will adjust the occupation figures for location, experience, specialty, and responsibility before using them in a decision.
- You can test role fit through controlled work with Azure identity, governance, storage, compute, networking, monitoring, and recovery.
Do not treat the figures as
- Starting pay, a likely first offer, or what a newly certified Azure administrator should expect to earn.
- Proof that passing AZ-104 causes a raise, promotion, job offer, or salary premium.
- A reason to take AZ-104 when your target is cloud architecture, development, data, or a security specialty rather than Azure administration.
Reviewed 2026-08-28
Certification details change. Always confirm final pricing, availability, and credential terms on the official provider page linked in the sources below before you pay for anything.
Detailed evidence, examples, and source notes
Last updated 2026-08-13 — the article text's own revision date; dated evidence on this page carries its own check date. See the Citation Ledger at the foot for this page's sources.
AZ-104 does not have its own salary. Learnerside maps the nearby Cloud Engineer decision to BLS Computer Occupations, All Other, whose May 2025 national median was $116,580. That figure covers an occupation group across employers, locations, and experience levels; it is not entry pay or an AZ-104-caused outcome. Use the role context first, then decide whether Azure administration fits your target work.
Next decision
Use the occupation context above to separate pay from the credential, then decide whether AZ-104 fits your actual Azure-administration target. Review the Cloud Engineer decision behind this pay context.
More on Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate
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- Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate pass-rate reality
- Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate certification page
Occupation pay context
AZ-104 / Microsoft Azure Administrator Associate appears in role pathways, but pay still follows the work. Use the table as a sourced context layer, not as a promise.
| Role context | BLS/O*NET occupation anchor | National median, BLS OEWS May 2025 | BLS 2024-2034 projection | Why this matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloud Engineer | Computer Occupations, All Other (15-1299) | $116,580 | 8.2% change; 31.3 thousand annual openings | Use this as occupation context, not as a credential-caused salary |
| Junior Systems Administrator | Network and Computer Systems Administrators (15-1244) | $99,130 | -4.2% change; 14.3 thousand annual openings | Use this as occupation context, not as a credential-caused salary |
Read the median as the midpoint of the wage distribution for workers in the occupation — half earn less, half earn more — not as entry pay. Computer occupations, all other (15-1299) have a 10th percentile of $55,940 and BLS Employment Projections list typical entry as Bachelor's degree; Network and computer systems administrators (15-1244) have a 10th percentile of $62,640 and BLS Employment Projections list typical entry as Bachelor's degree. Those figures describe everyone already working in the occupation, people with many years in it included, so they are not entry pay and not a projection of what you would earn; the entry requirements above are BLS's description of the occupation, not Learnerside's opinion about you. Wage figures are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release, read 2026-07-21; the link is in the Citation Ledger below.
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Metro pay context
Location changes salary context. The table below uses the first mapped occupation anchor, Computer Occupations, All Other (15-1299), and shows selected metro medians with BEA price-level context where available.
| Metro, primary occupation anchor | Median pay, BLS OEWS May 2025 | Cost-adjusted context, BEA RPP |
|---|---|---|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $184,430 | about $167,021 |
| Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO | $160,520 | about $151,746 |
| Lexington Park, MD | $144,680 | about $143,589 |
| Boulder, CO | $147,590 | about $140,292 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $161,700 | about $139,863 |
These are occupation/geography figures. They do not say what a new credential holder, a first offer, or a specific employer will pay.
- How much do tech jobs pay?
- What regional price parities mean
What the role work looks like
The practical salary question is whether the credential helps you prove the work behind the mapped role. O*NET task evidence helps keep that grounded.
| Role context | O*NET task/work evidence to look for in your projects |
|---|---|
| Cloud Engineer | Communicate with staff or clients to understand specific system requirements; Investigate system component suitability for specified purposes, and make recommendations regarding component use |
| Junior Systems Administrator | Maintain and administer computer networks and related computing environments, including computer hardware, systems software, applications software, and all configurations; Perform data backups and disaster recovery operations |
What to do next
1. Choose the target work before interpreting a salary headline.
2. Use BLS occupation and metro figures as context, not as credential-holder or entry pay.
3. Compare the O*NET task evidence with work you can already explain or demonstrate.
4. Use the credential only when its scope closes a specific knowledge or evidence gap.
5. Follow the reviewed next decision above before paying.
Frequently asked questions
What should I compare instead of a cert salary headline?
Compare the target role, BLS occupation and metro context, day-to-day task evidence, and whether the credential scope fills a specific knowledge or evidence gap.
Related, with the cited detail
- How much do tech jobs pay?
- Are IT certifications worth it?
- What employers ask for
Core source records
This table lists the page’s core content records and when they were checked. Claim-specific citations appear beside the relevant text and may not be repeated here.
| ID | Supports | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| CIT-01 | The certification page identifies the credential, but salary is not attributed to the credential. | https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/resources/study-guides/az-104 | 2026-09-09 |
| CIT-02 | Occupation-level pay and metro pay context. | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — OEWS national wage data | 2026-07-21 |
| CIT-03 | Occupation outlook and annual openings context. | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Employment Projections occupational data | 2026-09-09 |
| CIT-04 | Day-to-day role task evidence. | https://www.onetonline.org/ | 2026-06-07 |