IT Manager Career Guide for 2027
- Median annual pay
- $175,140
- BLS OEWS, May 2025
- Projected growth, 2025-35
- 15.8%
- BLS Employment Projections
- Typical entry education
- Bachelor’s
- BLS Employment Projections
Key takeaways
- Computer and information systems managers, usually called IT managers, plan and run an organization’s technology and the people who build and support it. BLS counts 670,570 of them, earning a median of $175,140 in May 2025, the highest of any job on this site and $39,160 above software developers.
- This is a job you grow into. BLS lists a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry education plus five years or more of related work, so most IT managers spend their early career as engineers, analysts or administrators before they lead a team.
- BLS projects 15.8% growth from 2025 to 2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, as organizations rely more on IT to run their work. That is about 53,500 openings a year, from new positions and from managers who retire or move on. A projection is a model of the decade ahead, not a promise, and BLS revises it every year.
- Computer systems design and related services employs the most IT managers, and software publishers pay a median of $202,250. California has the most of any state and also the highest state median, $218,290. Every organization with a technology staff needs someone to lead it, so the job exists well beyond tech companies, in insurance, banking, government and universities.
- O*NET’s survey found 14% of these managers hold a master’s degree, often an MBA or a technical master’s added mid-career. BLS publishes no pay by level, so this guide shows the full range rather than a salary for each step. Pay by state, metro and industry is in the IT manager salary report.
What IT managers do
Counted by BLS as computer and information systems managers.
IT managers decide what technology an organization needs, then make sure it gets built, bought and run well. They lead teams of engineers, analysts and support staff, set budgets and priorities, manage vendors, and answer for security and uptime.
BLS counts them as computer and information systems managers, a group that runs from IT managers and engineering managers to IT directors, chief information officers and chief technology officers. The tasks below, from O*NET, show how much of the job is planning and people.
The core tasks
- 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.
Task statements for computer and information systems managers, quoted from O*NET OnLine, in O*NET’s order of importance.
Job titles you will see
- Application Development Director
- Computing Services Director
- Data Processing Manager
- Information Systems Director
- Information Systems Manager
- Information Systems Supervisor
- Information Technology Director
- Information Technology Manager
- MIS Director
- Technical Services Manager
Titles reported by workers in this occupation, O*NET OnLine.
Where IT managers work
The largest employers of computer and information systems managers among the 24 industries we checked, BLS OEWS, May 2025.
Firms in computer systems design and related services employ the most IT managers, followed by management of companies and enterprises and software publishers. Every organization with a technology staff needs someone to lead it, so the job also appears in insurance, banking, government and universities.
Computer and Information Systems Managers, national industry-specific estimates, BLS OEWS, May 2025. A candidate list of industries, ranked by employment; not BLS’s complete industry ranking. Share is the industry’s employment divided by the occupation’s national employment, 670,570.
Ways to become an IT manager
BLS lists a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry education. Lengths are NCES’s definitions of each degree.
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A computing bachelor’s, then years of technical workusually at least four years of full-time study, then 5 years or more of related experience
BLS lists 5 years or more of experience in a related occupation as typical for entry. Software engineering, systems analysis and administration are the usual places to build it.
Compare software engineering bachelor’s programs → -
A bachelor’s in computer scienceusually at least four years of full-time study · median 120 credits
The broad computing route. Take on leadership before the title: lead a project and work across departments.
Compare computer science bachelor’s programs → -
A technical master’s while workinggenerally one or two years of full-time study beyond the bachelor’s · median 30 credits
14% of workers O*NET surveyed said a new hire needs a master’s. Many people take one part time while they build experience.
Compare software engineering master’s programs →
Degree lengths: NCES, Digest of Education Statistics 2022, Appendix B: Definitions. Credits: the median of the programs in each ranking that state a credit total on their own page.
What employers expect
BLS’s typical entry requirements for computer and information systems managers, BLS Employment Projections, occupation tables 1.2, 1.10 and 1.12, 2025-35.
- Typical entry education
- Bachelor’s degree
- Work experience in a related occupation
- 5 years or more
- Typical on-the-job training
- None
What workers say a new hire needs
Share of surveyed workers in the occupation giving each answer, O*NET OnLine. Not a hiring requirement.
Programs to start with
The top two programs in each of our rankings, with the score and rank they carry there.
- San Jose State University #1 in our Bachelor’s in Software Engineering Score 87.0 of 100
- Florida Gulf Coast University #2 in our Bachelor’s in Software Engineering Score 85.2 of 100
- California State University-Long Beach #1 in our Computer Science Degrees for Software Engineers Score 94.1 of 100
- California State University-Fullerton #2 in our Computer Science Degrees for Software Engineers Score 93.0 of 100
- The University of Texas at Arlington #1 in Software Engineering Master’s Programs Score 86.9 of 100
- Arizona State University #2 in Software Engineering Master’s Programs Score 86.1 of 100
What the degree costs
IPEDS tuition, 2023–24, at the programs in our rankings: in-state undergraduate for bachelor’s, the school’s average graduate rate for master’s.
Tuition is before fees, housing and financial aid, and it is the school-wide IPEDS figure, so the price a student pays can differ widely from the sticker. Public schools charging in-state rates sit at the low end of the bachelor’s range.
For what the job pays, the IT manager salary report shows pay in every state, the largest metro areas and across industries.
IT manager pay and job outlook
Computer and Information Systems Managers, BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2025-35.
Top-paying factors
Where the highest medians are, against the national median of $175,140. Each is a published median from the same release, not an estimate for any one person.
Computer and Information Systems Managers, BLS OEWS, May 2025: state, metropolitan area and national industry-specific medians.
Half of computer and information systems managers earned more than $175,140 in May 2025 and half earned less; the middle half fell between $138,060 and $220,730. California has the highest state median, $218,290. BLS publishes no pay by years of experience, so this guide gives the range, not a ladder of salaries. The IT manager salary report breaks pay down by state, metro and industry.
How the career moves
Typical stages. Titles and scope change by employer; BLS publishes no stages or pay by level.
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Individual contributor
Software Engineer · Systems Analyst · Network Administrator
Build depth in one area of technology. The years here are the related experience BLS lists for entry, and the best future managers are often the people others already come to with questions.
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Team lead
Technical Lead · Project Lead · IT Supervisor
Keep doing technical work while coordinating a small team: planning sprints or projects, reviewing work and unblocking people. It is the first test of whether you like leading more than building.
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IT manager
IT Manager · Engineering Manager · Infrastructure Manager · Applications Manager
Run a department or function: hire and develop staff, set priorities, manage a budget and vendors, and answer for whether systems stay up and projects land.
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Executive
IT Director · Chief Information Officer · Chief Technology Officer
Set technology strategy for the whole organization, decide where the money goes, and work with other executives on what the business needs from technology next.
Pros and cons
What people like about being an IT manager, and what wears on them.
What draws people in
- Pro: The highest median pay of any occupation on this site.
- Pro: Projected growth several times the rate for all occupations, with many openings each year.
- Pro: A natural next step for engineers and analysts who like planning and people.
- Pro: Employers in every industry, from software companies and banks to hospitals and government.
What to weigh first
- Con: Not a first job: the usual path takes five years or more of related work first.
- Con: Less hands-on technical work, which some engineers miss.
- Con: You answer for outages, security incidents and budgets, often outside office hours.
- Con: Much of the day is meetings, hiring, and negotiating with vendors and other departments.
A day in the job
Illustrative: a composite day built from the job’s core tasks, not a record of one person’s day. Real days vary by team and employer.
- MorningA stand-up with team leads: what broke overnight, which projects are slipping and who needs help.
- Late morningMeeting another department about a system they want, turning their request into a plan, a cost and a timeline.
- AfternoonReviewing a vendor contract and next year’s budget, and deciding which projects get funded.
- Late afternoonOne-on-ones with staff about their work, their goals and the problems they can’t solve alone.
- End of dayChecking the status of a security patch rollout and writing a short update for the executives.
Five questions before you commit
If most of these get a yes, the job is likely a good match.
- Do you enjoy helping others do their best work?A manager’s output is the team’s output, not their own code.
- Are you willing to spend years building technical experience first?BLS lists five or more years of related work as the typical way in.
- Can you make decisions with incomplete information?Budgets, priorities and hires rarely come with a right answer.
- Are you comfortable with less time writing code?The job trades hands-on work for planning, people and meetings.
- Can you explain technology to people who don’t use its vocabulary?You translate between engineers and the rest of the organization every day.
Frequently asked questions
What does an IT manager do?
IT managers plan, run and budget an organization’s technology and lead the staff who work on it. O*NET’s top task for the occupation is to “Direct daily operations of department, analyzing workflow, establishing priorities, developing standards and setting deadlines.”
What degree do you need to be an IT manager?
BLS lists a bachelor’s degree as the typical entry education, usually in computer science, information systems, software engineering or a related field, plus five years or more of related work experience. O*NET’s survey found 14% hold a master’s.
How much do IT managers make?
Computer and information systems managers earned a median of $175,140 in May 2025, according to BLS. The 10th percentile was $107,550 and the 90th was $297,510.
How long does it take to become an IT manager?
Plan on a bachelor’s degree and then five years or more of related work, which is the experience BLS lists as typical for entry. Many people take longer, moving from engineer or analyst to team lead before managing a department.
Can a software engineer become an IT manager?
Yes, and it is a common path. Software engineers who lead projects, mentor others and work with the business side often move into engineering or IT management. IT managers earned a median $39,160 more than software developers in May 2025.
Is IT management a growing field?
Yes. BLS projects 15.8% growth from 2025 to 2035, against 3.5% for all occupations, with about 53,500 openings a year.
What is the difference between an IT manager and a CTO?
Both are counted by BLS in this occupation. An IT manager runs a department or a function, such as infrastructure or applications; a chief technology officer or chief information officer sets technology strategy for the whole organization and reports to the top executives.
How much does the degree path cost?
At the 75 bachelor’s programs in our software engineering ranking with a figure, median in-state tuition for 2023–24 was $20,696 a year. A master’s added later ran a median of $17,549 a year at the 44 master’s programs we rank.
References
Every figure on this page comes from one of these, read by the site’s data scripts and computed at build time, never typed in.
- 1 Computer and Information Systems Managers, O*NET OnLine Task statements and reported job titles, quoted verbatim, and the education survey of workers in the occupation. O*NET OnLine, read 2026-10-06.
- 2 BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025: national, industry Computer and information systems managers: employment, median and percentiles nationally, and employment and median in the 24 industries we checked. Read .
- 3 BLS Employment Projections, 2025-35 Projected employment change and annual openings, 2025 to 2035, for computer and information systems managers and the related occupations.
- 4 BLS Employment Projections, occupation tables 1.2, 1.10 and 1.12, 2025-35 Table 1.2: BLS’s typical entry education, work experience and on-the-job training.
- 5 NCES, Digest of Education Statistics 2022, Appendix B: Definitions Definitions of the bachelor’s and master’s degree, including their usual length in full-time study.
- 6 NCES IPEDS IC2023_AY, 2023-24: undergraduate tuition for bachelor’s programs; for master’s, the school-wide average graduate tuition, which excludes program fees Tuition for the 75 ranked bachelor’s and 44 ranked master’s programs, the same figures the ranking pages show.
- 7 BLS Employment Projections, occupation tables 1.2, 1.10 and 1.12, 2025-35: tables 1.2 and 1.12 Typical entry education and work experience for computer and information systems managers, and BLS’s stated factor behind the projection: organizations relying more on IT services.