Entry-level Site Reliability Engineer salary in San Jose, CA

Based on 43 certified H-1B filings at DOL wage level I in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA metro area, FY2025–FY2026. Includes Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Cupertino.

Median salary$165,000
Middle 50%$149.4k–$176.5k
vs. all levels here−11%comparison median $186,135
Filings43FY2025–FY2026 · latest two fiscal years

Salary range

Box: middle 50% of filings. Whiskers: 10th–90th percentile. 99% of filings are between $83,221 and $260,000.
PercentileSalary
10th$108,043
25th$149,365
50th (median)$165,000
75th$176,500
90th$198,600

Salary by year

Median salary

$120k $150k $180k FY2023: median $136,000 (17 filings) FY2024: median $146,000 (15 filings) FY2025: median $162,000 (12 filings) FY2026: median $170,000 (31 filings) FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26

Filings per year

FY2020: 3 filings FY20 FY2021: 2 filings FY21 FY2022: 7 filings FY22 FY2023: 17 filings FY23 FY2024: 15 filings FY24 FY2025: 12 filings FY25 FY2026: 31 filings FY26 31
Shaded: FY2025–FY2026, the years behind the figures above. Median shown for years with at least 10 filings. FY2026 covers Q1–Q3 only.
Show as table
Fiscal yearMedianP25P75Filings
FY2020–––3
FY2021–––2
FY2022–––7
FY2023$136,000$128,000$150,00017
FY2024$146,000$144,000$156,96215
FY2025$162,000$146,307$165,00012
FY2026$170,000$149,365$187,50031

Cost of living

San Jose's median entry-level Site Reliability Engineer salary of $165,000 is worth about $149,400 at national average prices.

Source: BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024 (U.S. = 100; San Jose = 110.4).

Employers filing at this level

EmployerMedianFilings
TikTok$170,00019
ByteDance$164,00011
Alibaba Cloudtoo few3

Employers with at least 2 filings here. Median shown at 10+ filings.

By experience level

Wage levelMedianFilings
Entry-level · Level I $165,000 43
Mid-level · Level II $188,000 108
Senior · Level III $210,000 57
Expert · Level IV $233,958 55

Median shown when a level has at least 10 filings.