Not sure where you're getting your numbers at, but $100K is entry level for a sysadmin in NYC, and $120K is normal for a sysadmin with a few years of experience. I'm sure northern California is similar.
$100k is not entry level for a sysadmin in NYC. I get my numbers from the fact that just about half my company, including its headquarters, is in NYC.
I am absolutely confident that there's some role/vertical definition you can come up with where sysadmins are making $100k in the door. But I think you're discounting most of the market for sysadmins, just like the people on the other current HN sysadmin thread who all seem to believe that sysadmins also optimize SQL queries, fix C code, and teach systems programming to stupid developers.
