Software Engineer salary

164 market ranges · employer-stated pay · updated Oct 24, 2026

The best-evidenced figure here is for software engineer roles at senior level across the United States: 1,604 postings where the employer stated pay put the middle half between $156,263 and $215,000, with a median of $185,000.

Pay rises with seniority across the United States: the medians run entry-level $101,975, mid-level $151,000 and senior $185,000. Moving from entry-level to senior is worth roughly 81% more.

Location moves the number too. Of the 15 cities with at least 25 postings in USD at senior level, San Francisco has the highest median at $220,000 and Chicago the lowest at $163,750, a gap of roughly 34%.

Every range here is counted from real postings, never modelled. Every range in the table rests on at least 10 postings.

Software Engineer pay by specialization

Software Engineering 2,900Engineering Leadership 782Backend Engineering 290Full-stack Engineering 254Embedded & Firmware 204Frontend Engineering 79Mobile Engineering 11QA & Test 10

Live software engineer roles by software function. A title spans functions; each link opens that function's own benchmark.

Every measured range

164 by market and level

Market	Level	Market range	Median	Sample
United States · country-wide	Entry	$86,587 – $118,750	$101,975	72
Canada · country-wide	Entry	CA$80,000 – CA$106,250	CA$97,500	13
United States · country-wide	Mid	$121,500 – $191,000	$151,000	1,125
Canada · country-wide	Mid	CA$101,500 – CA$154,000	CA$125,000	97
United Kingdom · country-wide	Mid	£50,000 – £85,000	£59,715	50
United States · country-wide	Senior	$156,263 – $215,000	$185,000	1,604
Canada · country-wide	Senior	CA$139,950 – CA$192,625	CA$168,500	192
United Kingdom · country-wide	Senior	£69,250 – £99,813	£77,000	50
Ireland · country-wide	Senior	€82,000 – €108,000	€96,800	13
Remote · United States	Mid	$129,710 – $198,125	$157,000	168
Remote · Canada	Mid	CA$115,554 – CA$152,250	CA$139,800	19
Remote · United States	Senior	$160,000 – $211,000	$185,000	407
Remote · Canada	Senior	CA$150,000 – CA$193,000	CA$171,800	49
Annapolis Junction	Mid	$158,000 – $187,500	$180,500	24
Annapolis Junction	Senior	$175,375 – $220,500	$210,950	20
Atlanta	Mid	$116,350 – $140,000	$131,250	17
Atlanta	Senior	$139,503 – $187,000	$167,500	28
Austin	Mid	$118,900 – $169,500	$135,800	21
Austin	Senior	$148,100 – $203,800	$184,000	37
Bellevue	Senior	$183,000 – $234,000	$212,085	32
Boston	Mid	$122,550 – $191,500	$145,000	25
Boston	Senior	$161,500 – $214,700	$182,444	65
Chantilly	Mid	$126,006 – $194,500	$169,600	16
Chicago	Mid	$115,450 – $157,500	$137,599	34
Chicago	Senior	$149,481 – $191,289	$163,750	64
Denver	Mid	$111,563 – $151,125	$128,725	18
Denver	Senior	$143,797 – $199,342	$167,425	32
Irvine	Senior	$153,475 – $181,500	$167,500	19
London	Mid	£70,625 – £134,125	£85,000	20
London	Senior	£81,382 – £129,500	£97,625	22
Los Angeles	Mid	$151,000 – $230,000	$171,450	17
Los Angeles	Senior	$177,500 – $212,250	$196,000	35
Minneapolis	Senior	$135,232 – $191,000	$144,425	15
Mountain View	Mid	$168,950 – $210,269	$192,500	27
Mountain View	Senior	$209,000 – $275,000	$217,750	33
New York	Mid	$157,500 – $227,500	$187,500	149
New York	Senior	$181,250 – $240,000	$207,500	239
Palo Alto	Senior	$186,250 – $245,000	$216,850	27
Redwood City	Mid	$177,500 – $240,000	$195,500	17
Redwood City	Senior	$189,125 – $247,750	$223,250	14
Reston	Mid	$127,179 – $160,060	$155,033	14
San Diego	Mid	$126,081 – $161,188	$153,750	14
San Diego	Senior	$161,700 – $204,999	$183,500	21
San Francisco	Mid	$173,125 – $240,000	$200,250	174
San Francisco	Senior	$197,400 – $241,700	$220,000	222
San Jose	Mid	$130,925 – $201,638	$156,000	31
San Jose	Senior	$175,350 – $235,200	$205,600	34
San Mateo	Mid	$170,000 – $200,000	$178,500	13
San Mateo	Senior	$195,000 – $244,800	$215,500	17
Santa Clara	Mid	$151,000 – $178,100	$160,250	13
Santa Clara	Senior	$169,250 – $225,469	$207,550	27
Seattle	Mid	$160,000 – $196,000	$167,500	29
Seattle	Senior	$188,025 – $221,400	$201,600	67
Sunnyvale	Mid	$137,500 – $200,000	$162,700	25
Sunnyvale	Senior	$175,500 – $237,750	$207,800	33
Toronto	Mid	CA$105,863 – CA$165,000	CA$132,275	42
Toronto	Senior	CA$140,000 – CA$196,494	CA$166,550	86
Vancouver	Senior	CA$173,650 – CA$202,500	CA$188,000	22
Washington	Mid	$138,050 – $202,265	$173,750	20
Washington	Senior	$204,000 – $225,000	$222,000	13

Entry is junior titles. Mid is mid-level and manager titles. Senior is senior titles. Lead is director, VP and above.

Top 60 of 164 ranges by sample size.

Ranges span the 25th to 75th percentile of employer-stated base pay for the market and level. Median is the 50th percentile. Sample is the number of postings measured.

by the team behind techroles