What is the average C salary?

$194K a year on average and $192K at the median, across 739 open C postings at companies that state pay (November 2026). The median is the better guide: a few very high offers pull the average up.

What is the typical range?

The middle half of the postings offer $152K to $222K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.

Which companies advertise the highest C pay?

Anthropic ($402K), OpenAI ($361K), Lambda ($330K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).

Is a c a high-paying job?

The median C posting advertises $192K a year, more than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 11% above the middle of the market.

How much can you earn as a c?

A tenth of the postings offer $256K a year or more; the highest open C role advertises up to $510K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.

What is the C salary per hour and per month?

The median of $192K a year is about $93 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $16,042 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $73 to $107 an hour.

Which skills pay more for C roles?

Postings that ask for Machine Learning (+$28K, 84 postings), Operating systems (+$27K, 84 postings), Go (+$23K, 108 postings) advertise more than the $192K median of all C postings with pay.

What does an entry-level c make?

19 junior and intern C postings state pay, with a median of $128K a year ($61 an hour).

Where do these figures come from?

From the pay ranges employers print in their own job postings, read from their careers pages every hour. The midpoint of each range is counted. These are advertised ranges for open roles, mostly in the United States and in US dollars, not what people are actually paid.

C Salary: $194K Average, $192K Median (Nov 2026)

C salary by level

Senior roles advertise a median of $200K, 57% more than junior roles ($128K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.

Level	Median salary	Middle half	Roles
Junior	$128K	$102K–$142K	19
Senior	$200K	$180K–$222K	258
Lead and above	$230K	$203K–$256K	131
No level in the title	$158K	$140K–$200K	331

C salary by location

Name	Median salary	Roles counted
🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area	$214K	233
🇺🇸New York, NY	$209K	31
🇺🇸California	$198K	475
🇺🇸Texas	$193K	20
🇺🇸United States	$192K	714
🇺🇸Denver, CO	$188K	23
🇺🇸Boston, MA	$187K	20
🇺🇸Seattle, WA	$176K	97
🇺🇸Los Angeles, CA	$150K	105

Skills that pay more for C roles

Skill	Median with it	Above the median	Postings
Machine Learning	$220K	+$28K	84
Operating systems	$220K	+$27K	84
Go	$216K	+$23K	108
Rust	$208K	+$15K	188
Embedded Linux	$207K	+$14K	128

Top-paying companies

Name	Median salary	Roles counted
Anthropic	$402K	6
OpenAI	$361K	12
Lambda	$330K	3
River AI Inc.	$310K	4
Pure Storage	$271K	7
Roblox	$269K	13
Wayve	$254K	4
Figure	$250K	4
Baseten	$246K	4
Nuro	$242K	6
Crusoe	$238K	6
Waymo	$235K	10
Shield AI	$234K	7
Samsara	$230K	7
Lucid Motors	$221K	5
Cloudflare	$220K	7
Zoox	$219K	12
Astranis	$215K	6
Reliable Robotics	$215K	16
Astera Labs	$210K	14
Grafana Labs	$208K	3
xAI	$205K	8
May Mobility	$205K	6
1X	$203K	6
Muon Space	$202K	11

Highest-paying open C roles

All C jobs

Lead - Security Controls Assurance - SOXAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | Seattle, WA | New York City, NY | Was…$410K - $510KLead and aboveRustGoPython2mo
Software Engineer, SandboxingAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | Seattle, WA$320K - $485KRustC++GCP6w
Staff Software Engineer - ComputeLambda · Bellevue Office$314K - $465KHybridLead and aboveRustGoPython3mo
Principal Offensive Cyber Research EngineerTwenty · 🇺🇸Arlington, VA$192K - $455KLead and aboveRustPythonC++13mo
Security Engineer, Agent SecurityOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$266K - $445KRustGoPython16mo
Software Engineer, Infrastructure SecurityOpenAI · 🇺🇸US - Remote$266K - $445KRemoteRustGoPython13mo
Compiler Engineer, HardwareRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$200K - $420KC++PyTorchCUDA6mo
Design Verification Emulation, HardwareRiver AI Inc. · 🇺🇸Austin, TX, Palo Alto, CA$200K - $420KPythonC++CI/CD6w
Principal Software Engineer - Roblox DatabaseRoblox · 🇺🇸San Mateo, CA, United States$345K - $399KLead and aboveRustGoC++2mo
Senior Software Engineer - SDNLambda · 🇺🇸San Francisco Office (Fremont St)$266K - $395KHybridSeniorGoPythonTerraform5w
Senior Director, Product SecurityAnduril Industries · 🇺🇸Costa Mesa, California, United States$278K - $369KLead and aboveRustGoPython8w
Sr. Software Engineer, Kernels/CUDA (C++)xAI · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$220K - $357KSeniorC++LinuxCUDA10d
Sr. Software Engineer, Training/Inference (C++)xAI · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$220K - $357KSeniorRustC++LLM10d
Software Engineering Manager - FirmwareApplied · 🇺🇸Sunnyvale$280K - $355KC++LinuxEmbedded C6w
Security Engineer, Application SecurityFigure · 🇺🇸San Jose, CA$150K - $350KRustGoPython12mo
Security Engineer, Product and Device SecurityFigure · 🇺🇸San Jose, CA$150K - $350KC++CCryptography19mo
Principal Network EngineerRoblox · 🇺🇸San Mateo, CA, United States$295K - $345KLead and aboveGoPythonC++8mo
Principal Software Engineer, Power Optimization (Starlink)SpaceX · 🇺🇸Redmond, WA$210K - $345KLead and aboveRustC++C7w
Principal RF Software Engineer (Starshield)SpaceX · 🇺🇸Hawthorne, CA$210K - $340KLead and abovePythonC++Linux3mo
Systems Engineering ManagerModal · 🇺🇸New York$275K - $330KRustJavaC++9mo

Questions about C pay

What is the average C salary?: $194K a year on average and $192K at the median, across 739 open C postings at companies that state pay (November 2026). The median is the better guide: a few very high offers pull the average up.
What is the typical range?: The middle half of the postings offer $152K to $222K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
Which companies advertise the highest C pay?: Anthropic ($402K), OpenAI ($361K), Lambda ($330K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
Is a c a high-paying job?: The median C posting advertises $192K a year, more than the median of all 55,899 job postings with pay on Jobs Every Hour ($174K). That is 11% above the middle of the market.
How much can you earn as a c?: A tenth of the postings offer $256K a year or more; the highest open C role advertises up to $510K. Pay rises with level: see the table by level.
What is the C salary per hour and per month?: The median of $192K a year is about $93 an hour (2,080 working hours) and $16,042 a month before tax. The middle half of postings: $73 to $107 an hour.
Which skills pay more for C roles?: Postings that ask for Machine Learning (+$28K, 84 postings), Operating systems (+$27K, 84 postings), Go (+$23K, 108 postings) advertise more than the $192K median of all C postings with pay.
What does an entry-level c make?: 19 junior and intern C postings state pay, with a median of $128K a year ($61 an hour).
Where do these figures come from?: From the pay ranges employers print in their own job postings, read from their careers pages every hour. The midpoint of each range is counted. These are advertised ranges for open roles, mostly in the United States and in US dollars, not what people are actually paid.

C salary: $192K median