IT Manager: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.
The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.
10% of it managers earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $107,550
- Hourly
- $51.71
- Source
- BLS May 2025
25% of it managers earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $138,060
- Hourly
- $66.38
- Source
- BLS May 2025
Half of it managers earn more than this and half earn less.
- Annual
- $175,140
- Hourly
- $84.20
- Source
- BLS May 2025
75% of it managers earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $220,730
- Hourly
- $106.12
- Source
- BLS May 2025
90% of it managers earn less than this amount.
- Annual
- $297,510
- Hourly
- $143.03
- Source
- BLS May 2025
IT Managers plan, direct, or coordinate activities in such fields as electronic data processing, information systems, systems analysis, and computer programming. The median pay is $175,140 a year ($84.20 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a bachelor's degree (48% of workers surveyed by O*NET).
- Median pay
- $175,140
- BLS May 2025
- Employed in the U.S.
- 670,570
- BLS May 2025
- Preparation
- Job Zone 4 of 5
- considerable preparation
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree
- 48% of workers
Data Government data groups this job as Computer and Information Systems Managers (O*NET-SOC 11-3021.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.
IT Managers at a glance
Computer and information systems managers in the United States earned a median annual wage of $175,140 in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025
In its 2025–35 employment projections, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a bachelor's degree as the typical entry-level education for computer and information systems managers in the United States.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
BLS projects employment of computer and information systems managers in the United States to grow 15.8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 53,500 openings a year on average, including replacement openings.
Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35
BLS estimated that 670,570 people were employed as computer and information systems managers in the United States in May 2025, not counting the self-employed.
Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025
Every page for IT Managers
Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.
Open →How to becomeIT Manager how to becomeEducation, training and the skills to build first.
Open →ResumeIT Manager resumeKeywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.
Open →Interview questionsIT Manager interview questionsQuestions with what they test, plus practice mode.
Open →Free toolCheck your resumeParsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.
Open →What it managers do day to day
Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).
- Direct daily operations of department, analyzing workflow, establishing priorities, developing standards and setting deadlines.
- Meet with department heads, managers, supervisors, vendors, and others, to solicit cooperation and resolve problems.
- Review project plans to plan and coordinate project activity.
- Assign and review the work of systems analysts, programmers, and other computer-related workers.
- Provide users with technical support for computer problems.
- Develop computer information resources, providing for data security and control, strategic computing, and disaster recovery.
- Recruit, hire, train and supervise staff, or participate in staffing decisions.
- Stay abreast of advances in technology.
What the job requires
Data BLS figures for computer and information systems managers (SOC 11-3021), 2025 preliminary BLS Occupational Requirements Survey.
- Workday sitting
- 89.2%
- mean share of the day required to sit
- Most common strength level
- Sedentary
- 81.7% of workers
- Can pause work
- more than 99.5%
- of workers could take short, unscheduled breaks
- Self-paced workload
- 96.1%
- of workers set their own workload
- Employer-changed schedules
- 33.1%
- of workers had schedules changed by the employer week to week
On TryHired lists: Desk jobs.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey. Estimates are preliminary; ranges are shown as published.
Industries that employ it
Data Share of all it manager jobs in each industry, 2025 (BLS Employment Matrix).
- Professional, scientific, and technical services30.3% of all jobs in this occupation · +20.9% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $197,530
- Management of companies and enterprises9.9% of all jobs in this occupation · +12.0% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $209,900
- Insurance carriers and related activities5.9% of all jobs in this occupation · +13.1% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $189,620
- Educational services; state, local, and private5.5% of all jobs in this occupation · +9.4% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $143,110
- Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals4.9% of all jobs in this occupation · +8.3% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $150,860
- Credit intermediation and related activities4.3% of all jobs in this occupation · +14.4% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $198,790
Sources: BLS 2025–35 National Employment Matrix (share of the occupation's jobs, projected change) and BLS OEWS May 2025 industry estimates (mean wage). Different industry estimates are not a pay forecast for any person.
Ranked by importance to the job
Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.
Knowledge areas: Computers and Electronics, Customer and Personal Service, Administration and Management, Engineering and Technology, English Language, Personnel and Human Resources.
Software it managers use
Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.
- Enterprise application integration EAI softwareEnterprise application integration softwareIn demand
- Apache CassandraData base management system softwareHot technology
- Apache HadoopData base management system softwareHot technology
- Atlassian JIRAContent workflow softwareHot technology
- Extensible markup language XMLEnterprise application integration softwareHot technology
- Google AnalyticsData mining softwareHot technology
- IBM SPSS StatisticsAnalytical or scientific softwareHot technology
- Microsoft VisioProcess mapping and design softwareHot technology
- Microsoft Windows ServerApplication server softwareHot technology
- MongoDBData base management system softwareHot technology
- NoSQLData base management system softwareHot technology
- Oracle PL/SQLData base management system softwareHot technology
Also called: Application Development Director, Computing Services Director, Data Processing Manager, Information Systems Director (IS Director), Information Systems Manager (IS Manager), Information Systems Supervisor (IS Supervisor).
How this page is built
Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the cosine similarity of the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level and subtract the average across all occupations, then compare the direction of the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 means unrelated or opposite (negative values are shown as 0). Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.
- How a specific employer defines the job.
- Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
- Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).
How TryHired builds this data: sources, methods and downloads. Spotted an error? Report a correction.