Linux salary: $191K median
From 1,034 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
$191Kmedian advertised salary
$145K – $228Kmiddle half of roles
$195Kaverage advertised salary
1,034roles counted
Linux salary by level
Lead roles advertise a median of $240K, 22% more than senior roles ($198K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.
| Level | Median salary | Middle half | Roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior | $198K | $176K–$220K | 390 |
| Lead and above | $240K | $216K–$274K | 157 |
| No level in title | $150K | $135K–$205K | 482 |
Linux salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $220K | 389 |
| 🇺🇸California | $203K | 608 |
| 🇺🇸Pittsburgh | $200K | 18 |
| 🇺🇸New York | $199K | 84 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $190K | 991 |
| 🇺🇸Boston | $188K | 19 |
| 🇺🇸Seattle | $187K | 120 |
| 🇺🇸Denver | $186K | 32 |
| 🇺🇸Chicago | $184K | 16 |
| 🇺🇸Washington, DC | $182K | 34 |
| 🇺🇸Austin | $164K | 16 |
| 🇺🇸Dallas | $160K | 17 |
| 🇺🇸Texas | $160K | 38 |
| 🇺🇸Los Angeles | $142K | 135 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | $362K | 13 |
| OpenAI | $360K | 29 |
| Lambda | $311K | 24 |
| Replit | $295K | 3 |
| Wayve | $285K | 15 |
| Roblox | $269K | 14 |
| Fivetran | $260K | 5 |
| Kraken | $260K | 3 |
| Modal | $260K | 9 |
| Baseten | $248K | 5 |
| Render | $245K | 4 |
| Together AI | $245K | 8 |
| Nuro | $236K | 14 |
| Waymo | $235K | 6 |
| Cloudflare | $230K | 17 |
| xAI | $230K | 8 |
| Zoox | $223K | 21 |
| Anyscale | $220K | 3 |
| Netskope | $214K | 11 |
| Everlaw | $212K | 4 |
| Latitude AI | $212K | 6 |
| Adyen | $212K | 3 |
| Docker | $211K | 3 |
| Box | $210K | 3 |
| Huntress | $210K | 3 |
Highest-paying open Linux roles
All Linux jobs- Engineering Manager, Hardware Platform SecurityAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | Seattle, WA$485K - $625KGoLinux
- Software Engineer - Data Aquisition (systems)OpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$295K - $536KLinuxCI/CDKubernetes
- Software Engineer, Applied AI - Environments PlatformMercor · 🇺🇸San Francisco$220K - $500KTerraformLLMAirflow
- Software Engineer, Fleet ManagementOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$230K - $490KTerraformLLMLinux
- Software Engineer, SandboxingAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | Seattle, WA$320K - $485KRustC++GCP
- Staff Software Engineer - ComputeLambda · Bellevue Office$314K - $465KLeadRustGoPython
- Staff Software Engineer - Managed KubernetesLambda · 🇺🇸San Francisco Office (Fremont St)$314K - $465KLeadPythonMachine LearningLinux
- Principal System ArchitectWayve · 🇺🇸Sunnyvale, California USA$348K - $458KLeadLinux
- Senior Staff/Principal Software Engineer - GPU System Software, Onboard ExecutionZoox · 🇺🇸Foster City, CA$339K - $455KLeadC++LinuxCUDA
- Member of Technical Staff (Offensive Security Engineer)Perplexity · 🇺🇸San Francisco$220K - $405KGoPythonGCP
- Helix AI Engineer, Data InfrastructureFigure · 🇺🇸San Jose, CA$150K - $400KPythonPostgreSQLTerraform
- Research Scientist / Engineer – Training InfrastructureLuma AI · 🇺🇸Redwood City, CA$195K - $395KPyTorchLinuxCUDA
- Principal Software Engineer, Onboard InfrastructureNuro · 🇺🇸Mountain View, California (HQ)$258K - $387KLeadC++Machine LearningLinux
- Principal Software Engineer, PerformanceNuro · 🇺🇸Mountain View, California (HQ)$258K - $387KLeadC++Machine LearningLinux
- Principal Security Software Engineer, Application SecurityRoblox · 🇺🇸San Mateo, CA, United States$326K - $385KLeadGoPythonC#
- Senior Director of Product Management, Endpoint Security & XDRElastic · 🇺🇸United States$200K - $379KLeadLinuxElasticsearch
- Staff Security Software Engineer, Detection & ResponsePinterest · 🇺🇸Seattle, WA, US; Remote, US$177K - $365KRemoteLeadGoPythonRuby
- Staff Software Engineer, Agent PlatformReplit · 🇺🇸Foster City, CA$250K - $365KLeadLinux
- Security Engineer - Incident ResponseReplit · 🇺🇸Foster City, CA$230K - $360KGoPythonGCP
- Principal Database EngineerKraken · 🇺🇸United States$161K - $359KRemoteLeadRustGoPython
Questions about Linux pay
- What is the average Linux salary?
- $195K a year on average and $191K at the median, across 1,034 open Linux postings at tech 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 $145K to $228K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest Linux pay?
- Anthropic ($362K), OpenAI ($360K), Lambda ($311K), by the median of their open postings that state pay (three postings or more).
- 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.
Writing about this? A sentence you can quote
The median advertised salary for Linux roles at tech companies is $191K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $145K to $228K. Counted from 1,034 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Hiring Right Now, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/linux/
Free to use with the link.