Uptime Report Research · Workforce and pay · DOL filings through June 30, 2026

Site Reliability Engineer vs DevOps Salary: A $31,952 Median Gap That Disappears Inside the Same Employer

Site reliability engineer vs DevOps salary, as of the newest Labor Department file (decisions through June 30, 2026): SRE titles show a $146,952 median on H-1B filings against $115,000 for DevOps, a $31,952 gap. Hold wage level, metro and employer fixed and the premium is gone: SREs sit 3.7% lower on 261 directly comparable filings.

-10%+0%+10%+20%+30%As filed: SRE +22.3% vs DevOps, 3,991 filings+22.3%As filed3,991 filings, 1,712 employersSame wage level: removes 9.4 points, leaving +12.9%-9.4 pts+12.9%Same wage level3,991 filings, 1,712 employersSame level and metro: removes 8.4 points, leaving +4.5%-8.4 pts+4.5%Same leveland metro3,630 filings, 1,556 employersSame level, metro and employer: removes 8.2 points, leaving -3.7%-8.2 pts-3.7%Same levelmetro, employer261 filings, 47 employers95% interval -6.4% to -0.8%SRE pay relative to DevOps, difference in average log offered wage, July 2025 to June 2026. Above zero means SRE offers are higher.

The $31,952 median gap is 27.8%. The waterfall starts from 22.3%, the gap in average log wages, because that measure can be held fixed cell by cell. The black whisker on the last bar is its 95% interval, -6.4% to -0.8%, clustered by employer. The bars do not all use the same filings: see the note under the table.

Who earns more, SRE or DevOps?

Each row of this table compares more alike filings than the one above it, using 3,991 certified, full-time H-1B Labor Condition Applications decided from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026 (1,358 SRE, 2,633 DevOps). Only filings in a cell that holds both titles count toward a controlled row, which is why the last row has 261 filings.

Comparison SRE vs DevOps 95% interval Filings Employers
As filed, no controls +22.3% +14.1% to +31.0% 3,991 1,712
Same wage level +12.9% +3.5% to +23.1% 3,991 1,712
Same level and metro +4.5% +1.3% to +7.8% 3,630 1,556
Same level, metro and employer type -0.4% -2.2% to +1.3% 3,247 1,443
Same level, metro and employer -3.7% -6.4% to -0.8% 261 47

The last bar also changes the sample, which matters as much as the control. The 261 filings that survive come from employers that file both titles for the same level and metro, mainly Fidelity Technology Group (28), Nvidia (26), Randstad Digital (21) and TikTok/ByteDance (20). Before any control, those same filings show a log gap of only +1.4%, with medians of $135,412 for SRE and $140,000 for DevOps. So employers that use both titles barely pay a title premium in the first place. A second method agrees: regressing log wage on the title with level, metro and employer as separate additive controls keeps 3,967 filings and gives -3.7% (classical interval -5.4% to -2.1%). Inside the 58 level, metro and employer cells with both titles, SRE’s median is higher in 13, lower in 29 and tied in 16.

The order of the steps changes how much each one seems to explain, though not where the gap ends up. Employer alone removes nearly all of it:

Other orderings SRE vs DevOps Filings
Same metro only +13.3% 3,842
Same employer only -1.8% 1,064
Same employer and level -3.0% 652
Same employer and metro -1.9% 408

Step one: SRE filings are more senior

The Labor Department’s four wage levels describe the job as filed. Level I is for “beginning level employees who have only a basic understanding of the occupation,” and Level IV for “competent employees who have sufficient experience in the occupation to plan and conduct work requiring judgment.” 45% of SRE filings are Level III or IV, against 26% of DevOps filings. Level IV alone is 26% of SRE and 11% of DevOps, and Level II, at 54%, is the most common DevOps filing. Our entry level DevOps engineer salary report covers the bottom rung in depth.

DOL wage level of the filingSRESRE, LI: 9.8% of filings10%SRE, LII: 30.4% of filings30%SRE, LIII: 18.3% of filings18%SRE, LIV: 26.4% of filings26%SRE, no level: 15.1% of filings15%DevOpsDevOps, LI: 13.0% of filings13%DevOps, LII: 53.8% of filings54%DevOps, LIII: 15.0% of filings15%DevOps, LIV: 11.2% of filings11%DevOps, no level: 6.9% of filings7%Level ILevel IILevel IIILevel IVNo levelType of employer filing itSRESRE, Consulting and staffing: 29.1% of filings29%SRE, End customer: 34.3% of filings34%SRE, Tech vendor: 36.6% of filings37%DevOpsDevOps, Consulting and staffing: 70.9% of filings71%DevOps, End customer: 21.0% of filings21%DevOps, Tech vendor: 8.1% of filings8%Consulting/staffingEnd customerTech vendor

SRE vs DevOps at each wage level

Level SRE median Filings DevOps median Filings Median gap Log gap Same metro Same employer
Level I $122,000 133 $91,520 343 $30,480 +27.2% +17.5% -1.6%
Level II $120,000 413 $112,923 1,416 $7,077 +15.6% +5.1% -4.4%
Level III $145,977 248 $138,000 396 $7,977 +10.9% +3.0% -3.1%
Level IV $163,550 359 $163,000 296 $550 +8.4% +0.2% -4.2%

The log gap narrows at every rung, and the median gap is only $550 at Level IV ($163,550 vs $163,000). Seniority words in the title do similar work: the plain titles SITE RELIABILITY ENGINEER ($125,014, 298 filings) and DEVOPS ENGINEER ($111,072, 1,159) are 12.6% apart, under half the gap across all titles. Level I looks odd: the SRE median of $122,000 is above Level II ($120,000). That is employer mix on a small base: 44% of the 133 Level I SRE filings come from technology vendors, and without them the median is $92,955 on 75 filings, close to the DevOps figure of $91,520. Within the same employer the SRE gap is negative at all four levels. Prevailing wages barely differ, at $112,424 for SRE and $109,387 for DevOps at Level II, so the levels are roughly comparable across the two titles.

Step two: the metro removes about 8 more points

SRE filings cluster in high-wage markets: 15% of SRE filings with a metro are in San Jose against 4% for DevOps, while Dallas, TX holds 22% of DevOps filings and 12% of SRE. The premium is not uniform. At the same level it nearly vanishes in Atlanta, GA (+0.1%), Austin, TX (+1.2%) and Dallas, TX (+2.0%), and it survives in New York, NY (+17.4%) and Seattle, WA (+14.6%). Employer type explains much of that. Technology vendors file 74% of Seattle’s SRE titles and 10% of its DevOps titles, and holding level and employer type fixed takes Seattle to -4.3%. In New York the same test leaves +6.1%. Metro cells here are small.

-10%+0%+10%+20%+30%San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA: median SRE $188,426 (206) vs DevOps $173,441 (107), median gap +8.6%, same-level gap +7.1%San Jose, CADallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX: median SRE $134,971 (161) vs DevOps $112,923 (564), median gap +19.5%, same-level gap +2.0%Dallas, TXSeattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA: median SRE $173,600 (117) vs DevOps $145,000 (62), median gap +19.7%, same-level gap +14.6%Seattle, WASan Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA: median SRE $194,679 (105) vs DevOps $161,637 (71), median gap +20.4%, same-level gap +9.8%San Francisco, CAAustin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX: median SRE $134,368 (100) vs DevOps $114,777 (138), median gap +17.1%, same-level gap +1.2%Austin, TXAtlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA: median SRE $130,900 (84) vs DevOps $109,300 (159), median gap +19.8%, same-level gap +0.1%Atlanta, GANew York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ: median SRE $160,805 (81) vs DevOps $131,997 (169), median gap +21.8%, same-level gap +17.4%New York, NYChicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN: median SRE $120,500 (38) vs DevOps $108,077 (117), median gap +11.5%, same-level gap +1.2%Chicago, ILSt. Louis, MO-IL: median SRE $107,135 (32) vs DevOps $97,386 (38), median gap +10.0%, same-level gap -6.5%St. Louis, MODenver-Aurora-Centennial, CO: median SRE $126,395 (31) vs DevOps $120,536 (46), median gap +4.9%, same-level gap -6.9%Denver, CODurham-Chapel Hill, NC: median SRE $125,119 (29) vs DevOps $133,060 (16), median gap -6.0%, same-level gap +3.6%Durham, NCRaleigh-Cary, NC: median SRE $131,328 (27) vs DevOps $114,000 (51), median gap +15.2%, same-level gap -1.4%Raleigh, NC

Open circle: median SRE vs median DevOps as filed. Filled circle: log wage gap at the same wage level. The 12 metros with the most SRE filings among those with at least 15 of each title.

Check your metro and level

Median offered base wage, with filing counts in brackets. Medians are hidden under 5 filings, and the gap is shown only when both sides have at least 5.

Metro SRE median Filings DevOps median Filings Median gap Same level
San Jose, CA $188,426 206 $173,441 107 +8.6% +7.1%
Dallas, TX $134,971 161 $112,923 564 +19.5% +2.0%
Seattle, WA $173,600 117 $145,000 62 +19.7% +14.6%
San Francisco, CA $194,679 105 $161,637 71 +20.4% +9.8%
Austin, TX $134,368 100 $114,777 138 +17.1% +1.2%
Atlanta, GA $130,900 84 $109,300 159 +19.8% +0.1%
New York, NY $160,805 81 $131,997 169 +21.8% +17.4%
Chicago, IL $120,500 38 $108,077 117 +11.5% +1.2%
St. Louis, MO $107,135 32 $97,386 38 +10.0% -6.5%
Denver, CO $126,395 31 $120,536 46 +4.9% -6.9%
Durham, NC $125,119 29 $133,060 16 -6.0% +3.6%
Raleigh, NC $131,328 27 $114,000 51 +15.2% -1.4%
Washington, DC $151,560 26 $126,090 158 +20.2% +2.0%
Boston, MA $150,155 26 $140,733 37 +6.7% +3.5%
Phoenix, AZ $144,144 23 $111,072 54 +29.8% +2.2%
Charlotte, NC $112,500 21 $112,470 78 +0.0% +2.4%
Detroit, MI $135,264 17 $120,000 25 +12.7% +4.6%
Pittsburgh, PA $141,500 16 $100,000 21 +41.5% +55.0%
Houston, TX $126,589 15 $106,000 51 +19.4% -1.0%

Step three: the employer does most of the rest

71% of DevOps filings come from consulting and staffing firms against 29% of SRE filings, and technology vendors file 37% of SRE titles against 8% of DevOps. The title sorts people into different companies. Google alone filed 111 SRE titles at a $198,000 median and 0 DevOps titles. Consulting pays the two titles nearly the same at the same level (+1.3%), and end customers do too (-0.3%). Only technology vendors show a large same-level premium (+14.7%), and that drops to +3.7% once metro is held fixed.

Employer type SRE median Filings DevOps median Filings As filed Same level Same level, metro
Consulting and staffing $117,187 395 $112,923 1,866 +8.7% +1.3% -1.5%
End customer $140,014 466 $140,098 554 +2.3% -0.3% -1.1%
Tech vendor $175,017 497 $158,092 213 +12.7% +14.7% +3.7%

Employers filing both titles

At least 3 of each. SRE is higher at 12 of these 19 employers, lower at 7. Medians are not level-matched and counts are small.

Employer SRE n DevOps n Gap
Fidelity Technology Group $124,084 33 $140,150 7 -11.5%
Palo Alto Networks $185,259 16 $183,579 7 +0.9%
Nvidia $180,710 9 $196,162 28 -7.9%
Refinitiv $125,000 7 $117,967 4 +6.0%
Amalgam Technologies $90,064 6 $86,965 25 +3.6%
Zscaler $186,784 6 $201,600 4 -7.3%
Barclays Services $150,000 5 $134,008 6 +11.9%
Verizon Data Services $158,255 5 $154,668 4 +2.3%
Federal Express $144,164 4 $134,805 3 +6.9%
Compunnel Software Group $95,000 4 $127,625 14 -25.6%

Largest SRE filers

The top 8 filers hold 32% of SRE filings. The top 8 DevOps filers hold 7%, led by Randstad Digital with 30.

Employer SRE filings SRE median DevOps filings
Google 111 $198,000 0
TikTok/ByteDance 89 $208,000 2
Visa Technology & Operations 60 $131,600 1
Oracle 46 $153,712 0
Microsoft 40 $173,126 0
Fidelity Technology Group 33 $124,084 7
Akamai Technologies 27 $155,747 0
Equifax 23 $140,046 0

The gap as filed has narrowed for three straight years

The raw premium peaked at +31.5% in the year to June 2023 and fell to +22.3% in the year to June 2026. In the latest year the DevOps median rose 5.5% to $115,000, and the SRE median rose 2.1% to $146,952. The same-employer gap was within about 2 points of zero in each of the first four years, and its interval included zero each time. The latest -3.7% is the first with an interval that excludes zero (-6.4% to -0.8%), so one more year is needed before calling it a trend.

-10%+0%+10%+20%+30%As filed, YE Jun 2022: +30.1%As filed, YE Jun 2023: +31.5%As filed, YE Jun 2024: +29.6%As filed, YE Jun 2025: +25.1%As filed, YE Jun 2026: +22.3%As filed +22.3%Same level, YE Jun 2022: +15.9%Same level, YE Jun 2023: +18.1%Same level, YE Jun 2024: +14.9%Same level, YE Jun 2025: +13.2%Same level, YE Jun 2026: +12.9%Same level +12.9%Same level, metro, YE Jun 2022: +6.4%Same level, metro, YE Jun 2023: +7.8%Same level, metro, YE Jun 2024: +8.5%Same level, metro, YE Jun 2025: +5.6%Same level, metro, YE Jun 2026: +4.5%Same level, metro +4.5%Same employer too, YE Jun 2022: -1.3%Same employer too, YE Jun 2023: -0.7%Same employer too, YE Jun 2024: -1.7%Same employer too, YE Jun 2025: -0.5%Same employer too, YE Jun 2026: -3.7%Same employer too -3.7%Yr to Jun 2022Yr to Jun 2023Yr to Jun 2024Yr to Jun 2025Yr to Jun 2026
Period SRE median Filings DevOps median Filings As filed Same level Same level, metro Same employer too (filings)
Year ending Jun 2022 $137,500 1,276 $98,000 3,670 +30.1% +15.9% +6.4% -1.3% (407)
Year ending Jun 2023 $140,000 1,207 $101,109 3,157 +31.5% +18.1% +7.8% -0.7% (350)
Year ending Jun 2024 $139,464 1,132 $102,000 3,216 +29.6% +14.9% +8.5% -1.7% (255)
Year ending Jun 2025 $144,000 1,433 $109,000 3,043 +25.1% +13.2% +5.6% -0.5% (276)
Year ending Jun 2026 $146,952 1,358 $115,000 2,633 +22.3% +12.9% +4.5% -3.7% (261)

By quarter, with the H-1B rule changes

Filings in the April to June cap season moved in opposite directions: SRE +22% and DevOps -17% between 2025 and 2026. The dates below sit alongside those counts, and nothing in this data separates the effect of any one rule. After the window closed, a September 2026 proclamation extended the $100,000 payment to September 21, 2027 (91 FR 60497), and on August 25, 2026 DHS proposed a $103,265 fee on cap-subject petitions (91 FR 54817). A Federal Register search on November 5, 2026 found no final rule from the DOL wage proposal.

Decided SRE filings SRE median DevOps filings DevOps median Dated event
Oct to Dec 2024 262 $144,850 595 $112,299
Jan to Mar 2025 413 $152,027 573 $117,000
Apr to Jun 2025 447 $136,274 1,170 $105,997 Last cap season under the unweighted H-1B lottery.
Jul to Sep 2025 300 $142,838 634 $113,547 Sept. 21, 2025: Proclamation 10973 takes effect, a $100,000 payment on certain new petitions (90 FR 46027).
Oct to Dec 2025 221 $149,000 451 $124,592 Dec. 29, 2025: DHS publishes weighted selection by wage level (90 FR 60864).
Jan to Mar 2026 290 $149,120 574 $120,000 Feb. 27, 2026: weighted selection takes effect. Mar. 27, 2026: DOL proposes higher wage levels (91 FR 15454).
Apr to Jun 2026 547 $147,451 974 $113,549 First cap season under the weighted draw.

Why BLS cannot answer this

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has no DevOps or SRE occupation. A search of its 2018 SOC direct-match file (6,520 titles) finds 0 entries for DevOps, site reliability or reliability engineer. Employers filing H-1B forms have to pick a code anyway, and they pick the same one most of the time: 15-1252, Software Developers, covers 68% of SRE and 76% of DevOps filings. Since BLS publishes one wage per code, its $135,980 May 2025 median for 15-1252 cannot separate the two titles. It also spans 1,687,890 jobs, and most of them are neither.

SOC code BLS occupation SRE filings DevOps filings BLS median, May 2025
15-1252 Software Developers 68.3% 75.5% $135,980
15-1244 Network and Computer Systems Administrators 9.6% 7.2% $99,130
15-1299 Computer Occupations, All Other 8.5% 7.2% $116,580
15-1241 Computer Network Architects 2.3% 0.5% $134,050
15-1211 Computer Systems Analysts 0.7% 1.6% $105,850

What the published comparisons say

Google’s top results for this query are Reddit and Quora threads, followed by blogs. The pages we could read agree on the direction and differ on the size. None of them holds level, metro and employer fixed at once. A fourth, the Medium post at position 7, returned HTTP 403 to our fetch, so we did not assess it.

Source SRE DevOps SRE premium What it holds fixed
This report, H-1B filings, July 2025 to June 2026 (median) $146,952 $115,000 +28% Level, metro and employer held fixed: -3.7%
Coursera, citing Glassdoor, May 11, 2026 (average base) $137,000 $120,000 +14% Experience bands that do not line up. No metro or employer match
NovelVista, citing Payscale, no date given (average) $128,011 $111,105 +15% No method or sample size stated
Refonte Learning, no source named (US senior band) $160,000 to $190,000+ $150,000 to $175,000+ not computed Bands not defined. No source or sample

SRE, DevOps, platform, cloud and software engineer titles

Searchers often weigh these titles together, so here they are on one scale. The same pattern holds: raw differences of up to 23% shrink to a few points once employer, metro and level match. DevOps is 22.9% below software engineer as filed and 0.2% below it at the same employer, metro and level. For the cloud titles, see our cloud architect vs cloud engineer salary report, which applies the same method.

Title family Median Filings SRE compared with it DevOps compared with it
Site reliability engineer $146,952 1,358 baseline
DevOps engineer $115,000 2,633 +22.3% as filed; -3.7% same level, metro, employer (261) baseline
Software engineer $157,123 73,829 -5.8% as filed; -2.5% same level, metro, employer (15,326) -22.9% as filed; -0.2% same level, metro, employer (6,860)
Platform engineer $140,046 411 +4.8% as filed; -0.9% same level, metro, employer (111) -14.3% as filed; -4.8% same level, metro, employer (73)
Cloud engineer $127,200 1,593 +14.7% as filed; -1.7% same level, metro, employer (412) -6.2% as filed; +2.4% same level, metro, employer (334)

What this means for MSPs

Do not price an SRE title as a premium role. In consulting and staffing, the group closest to MSP labor in this data, Level II medians are $108,077 for SRE and $112,424 for DevOps, and Level III medians are $132,000 and $134,971. Budget by scope and by whether you compete with vendors in that metro. In this data, a client quoting a 28% SRE premium is quoting the mix of employers, levels and metros, and an engineer who moves from DevOps to SRE at the same company should not assume a raise from the title alone. The competition that actually moves the number is technology vendors, whose medians are $175,017 for SRE and $158,092 for DevOps. Only 6 filings carry NAICS 541513 (computer facilities management), so we did not publish an MSP-only figure. For the wider market, our software engineer salary report has BLS pay by metro, and our H-1B statistics report tracks the lottery behind these filings.

Frequently asked questions

Who earns more, SRE or DevOps?

On paper, SRE: $146,952 against $115,000 at the median on H-1B filings decided from July 2025 to June 2026. Inside the same employer, metro and wage level the order flips to 3.7% lower for SRE (261 filings at 47 employers; 95% interval -6.4% to -0.8%). The raw gap reflects where SRE filings sit: more senior levels, higher-wage metros and more technology vendors.

Is SRE better than DevOps?

On base pay, not at the same employer. SRE titles do sit in a richer market: 37% of SRE filings come from technology vendors against 8% of DevOps filings. Filings cannot judge workload, on-call duty or job satisfaction, so that part of the question is outside this data.

What type of engineer makes $500,000 a year?

In base salary, almost none. Of 1,134 annual-rate H-1B filings offering $500,000 to $1 million, 82% are physician and other healthcare codes, and 33 carry a non-executive engineer title, led by 16 Tesla Autopilot and robotics filings. A few small-employer rows look like entry errors. The highest SRE offer was $420,000 and the highest DevOps offer $325,000. Stock and bonus are not in these files, so total pay of $500,000 cannot be tested here.

Can SRE be replaced by AI?

This data cannot say. It records filings, not tasks. What it does show: SRE filings fell 5.2% in the latest year, from 1,433 to 1,358, while DevOps fell 13.5% and all H-1B filings fell 7.2%. H-1B rules changed in the same period, so these counts do not isolate any effect of AI.

Do site reliability engineers earn more than software developers?

No. Titles with software engineer have a $157,123 median against $146,952 for SRE, and SRE sits 2.5% lower in the same employer, metro and level (15,326 filings).

Does this cover SRE or DevOps salaries in India?

No. All 3,991 filings are for U.S. worksites, so the data says nothing on pay in India or any other country. We also did not use self-reported figures from forums such as Reddit.

Download the data. site-reliability-engineer-vs-devops-h1b-filings.csv (CSV). Licensed under CC BY 4.0: free to reuse with attribution to The Uptime Report.

Methodology

Source. U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification, LCA Disclosure Data, FY2021 Q4 to FY2024 Q4 by quarter, FY2025 Q1 to Q4, and FY2026 Q3 (October 2025 to June 2026). On November 5, 2026, the Labor Department’s page listed FY2026 Q3 as the newest file. Public domain.

Filters. VISA_CLASS H-1B, deduplicated by CASE_NUMBER (later file wins), CASE_STATUS Certified, FULL_TIME_POSITION Y, annualized wage from $30,000 to $1,000,000. Headline window: decision dates from July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026, so each window holds one cap season. Wage levels are PW_WAGE_LEVEL; filings with no level (15% of SRE and 7% of DevOps) are left out of level tables but form their own cell in controlled rows. Dropping them gives -3.0% (167 filings).

Wage. WAGE_RATE_OF_PAY_FROM, annualized: Hour x 2,080, Week x 52, Bi-Weekly x 26, Month x 12. Where a range was filed (42% of SRE, 31% of DevOps) we use the bottom. Using range midpoints gives $155,000 vs $118,098.

Title rules. Titles are upper-cased and cleaned, then tested in the order SRE, DevOps, the same rules as our entry level DevOps report. Excluded from both: \b(MANAGER|DIRECTOR|HEAD|VICE PRESIDENT|VP|ARCHITECT|OWNER|ANALYST|PRODUCT|PROGRAM)\b. SRE: SITE ?-?RELIABILITY|\bSRE\b. DevOps: \bDEV ?-?OPS\b|\bDEV ?SEC ?OPS\b plus ENGINEER, ENGINEERING, ENGR or DEVELOPER. A title naming both counts as SRE. Exact titles only: SITE RELIABILITY ENGINEER $125,014 (298) vs DEVOPS ENGINEER $111,072 (1159).

Precision. The AI research agent that built this page read a fresh random sample of 100 titles per family (seed 20261105) from the headline window, from the title text alone. No human reviewed the labels. Correct: 99 of 100 SRE and 98 of 100 DevOps. The misses were a hybrid DevOps and SRE title, an information security title, and a Salesforce release title. Recall was not measured: 412 other filings in the window mention these terms (mostly architects, managers and leads), and generic titles such as software engineer doing SRE work are invisible to the rule.

Gaps. Each gap is the difference in average log wage between the two titles inside cells of the listed controls, using only cells holding both titles, with standard errors clustered by employer parent. Percentages are converted from logs. Employer parents use a short list of name merges, otherwise a cleaned legal name. Employer types use a short name list first, then NAICS: 5415, 5416, 5412 and 5613 are consulting and staffing; 5182, 5112, 5132, 5191, 5192, 5179, 3341, 3342 and 3344 are technology vendors; the rest are end customers. An earlier read of employer names on 200 random filings for our cloud architect report found the rule right on 169, wrong on 24 and unclear on 7, so treat employer-type splits as approximate. Metro comes from WORKSITE_COUNTY and state mapped to BLS May 2025 areas, with city and state as a fallback; 99% of these filings resolved to a metro area. Excluding Google, the raw gap is +19.5% and the fully matched gap -3.7%. These comparisons are descriptive, not causal.

Limits. H-1B positions only, which are not all SREs or DevOps engineers. Base wage only, with no equity, bonus or benefits, so a total pay gap could differ from everything on this page. An offer on a certified filing is not a wage paid, and a filing may lead to no hire. Filings include renewals: 25% of SRE and 20% of DevOps filings list a new employment slot. The H-1B wage floor cuts off the low end. The employer chooses the wage level and it describes the job, not a person’s experience. Titles do not prove the work differs, since duties are not in the file. Not advice: these are labor market statistics, not a compensation recommendation.

Cite as:The Uptime Report. "Site Reliability Engineer vs DevOps Salary: A $31,952 Median Gap That Disappears Inside the Same Employer." November 2026. https://theuptimereport.com/site-reliability-engineer-vs-devops-salary/

References

  1. U.S. Department of Labor, OFLC Performance Data: LCA Disclosure Data FY2021 to FY2026 Q3, with record layout. Accessed November 2026.
  2. U.S. Department of Labor, Prevailing Wage Determination Policy Guidance (revised November 2009). Accessed November 2026.
  3. U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, Fact Sheet 62G: Must an H-1B worker be paid a guaranteed wage? Accessed November 2026.
  4. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025 national estimates. Accessed November 2026.
  5. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018 SOC direct match title file. Accessed November 2026.
  6. Proclamation 10973, Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers, 90 FR 46027. Accessed November 2026.
  7. Proclamation 11069, Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers, 91 FR 60497. Accessed November 2026.
  8. DHS, Weighted Selection Process final rule, 90 FR 60864. Accessed November 2026.
  9. DOL, Improving Wage Protections, proposed rule, 91 FR 15454. Accessed November 2026.
  10. DHS, Fee for Certain H-1B Petitions, proposed rule, 91 FR 54817. Accessed November 2026.
  11. Coursera, SRE vs. DevOps Guide (citing Glassdoor, May 2026). Accessed November 2026.
  12. NovelVista, SRE vs DevOps (2026) (citing Payscale). Accessed November 2026.
  13. Refonte Learning, DevOps Engineer vs SRE Salary. Accessed November 2026.


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