Software Engineer salary: $222K median
From 2,649 open roles that publish a yearly US-dollar range. Advertised ranges, not verified pay.
$222Kmedian advertised salary
$188K – $268Kmiddle half of roles
$234Kaverage advertised salary
2,649roles counted
Software Engineer salary by level
Senior roles advertise a median of $210K, 38% more than junior roles ($152K). The level comes from the job title; titles without a level word are counted separately.
| Level | Median salary | Middle half | Roles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Junior | $152K | $140K–$164K | 18 |
| Senior | $210K | $190K–$229K | 891 |
| Lead and above | $260K | $226K–$300K | 758 |
| No level in title | $205K | $155K–$280K | 980 |
Software Engineer salary by location
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸San Francisco Bay Area | $243K | 1,362 |
| 🇺🇸New York | $242K | 400 |
| 🇺🇸California | $232K | 1,618 |
| 🇺🇸Pittsburgh | $224K | 24 |
| 🇺🇸United States | $223K | 2,532 |
| 🇺🇸Seattle | $212K | 253 |
| 🇪🇺Europe | $208K | 23 |
| 🇨🇦Canada | $199K | 44 |
| 🇺🇸Denver | $199K | 39 |
| 🇺🇸Washington, DC | $198K | 21 |
| 🇺🇸Chicago | $187K | 26 |
| 🇺🇸Austin | $187K | 19 |
| 🇺🇸Boston | $187K | 51 |
| 🇺🇸Texas | $186K | 23 |
| 🇺🇸Los Angeles | $148K | 148 |
Top-paying companies
| Name | Median salary | Roles counted |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | $445K | 82 |
| OpenAI | $356K | 149 |
| Asana | $330K | 3 |
| Lambda | $330K | 11 |
| Mercor | $330K | 15 |
| Perplexity | $312K | 41 |
| Apptronik | $312K | 3 |
| Sierra | $310K | 25 |
| River AI Inc. | $310K | 4 |
| Sentry | $308K | 9 |
| GoFundMe | $304K | 3 |
| Decagon | $300K | 15 |
| Suno | $296K | 16 |
| Replit | $295K | 7 |
| Figma | $293K | 18 |
| Discord | $292K | 4 |
| Harvey | $278K | 33 |
| $271K | 22 | |
| Roblox | $269K | 124 |
| Patreon | $266K | 4 |
| Snorkel AI | $262K | 5 |
| Deepgram | $260K | 4 |
| Wayve | $260K | 9 |
| Block | $256K | 22 |
| Cribl | $255K | 5 |
Highest-paying open Software Engineer roles
All software engineer jobs- Software Engineer, Research ProductivityAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY$405K - $625KMachine Learning
- Staff Software Engineer, Claude CodeAnthropic · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | Seattle, WA$320K - $625KLeadPythonTypeScriptJavaScript
- Principal Software Engineer, ChatGPT Education and LearningOpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$459K - $536KLeadLLM
- Software Engineer - Data Aquisition (systems)OpenAI · 🇺🇸San Francisco$295K - $536KLinuxCI/CDKubernetes
- Infrastructure Software EngineerMercor · 🇺🇸San Francisco$160K - $500KGoPythonPostgreSQL
- Software Engineer, AgentsMercor · 🇺🇸San Francisco$160K - $500KPythonTypeScriptReact
- Security - Member of Technical StaffGoodfire · 🇺🇸San Francisco, CA$250K - $500K
- Senior Staff / Principal Software Engineer - Freeway AutonomyZoox · 🇺🇸Foster City, CA$340K - $493KLeadC++
- Member of Technical Staff (AI Inference Engineer)Perplexity · 🇺🇸San Francisco$220K - $485KRustPythonLLM
- Member of Technical Staff (AI Researcher)Perplexity · 🇺🇸San Francisco$220K - $485KPythonC++Machine Learning
- Director, Software Engineering (Platform)Neko Health · 🇺🇸New York$405K - $480KLeadDockerAzure
- Staff Software Engineer - Infrastructure StorageLambda · 🇺🇸San Francisco Office (Fremont St)$314K - $465KLeadRustC++Machine Learning
- Staff Software Engineer - ComputeLambda · Bellevue Office$314K - $465KLeadRustGoPython
- Senior Staff/Principal Software Engineer - GPU System Software, Onboard ExecutionZoox · 🇺🇸Foster City, CA$339K - $455KLeadC++LinuxCUDA
- Principal Software Engineer, ML & Media InfraPinterest · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA; US; San Francisco, CA, US$285K - $450KLeadPythonJavaC++
- Software Engineer, Evaluation InfrastructurexAI · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA$180K - $440KRustPythonC++
- Principal Software Engineer, Onboard Field ResponseWaymo · 🇺🇸Mountain View, CA, USA$349K - $431KLeadMachine Learning
- Principal Software Engineer, Post TrainingWaymo · 🇺🇸Mountain View, CA. USA$349K - $431KLeadMachine Learning
- Sr. Staff Software Engineer, AI PlatformPinterest · 🇺🇸Palo Alto, CA, US; Remote, US$209K - $429KRemoteLeadPythonAI
- Machine Learning Software EngineerWayve · 🇺🇸Sunnyvale, California USA$312K - $420KMachine LearningAI
Questions about Software Engineer pay
- What is the average Software Engineer salary?
- $234K a year on average and $222K at the median, across 2,649 open Software Engineer 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 $188K to $268K a year. A quarter offer less and a quarter offer more.
- Which companies advertise the highest Software Engineer pay?
- Anthropic ($445K), OpenAI ($356K), Lambda ($330K), 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 Software Engineer roles at tech companies is $222K a year, and the middle half of postings offer $188K to $268K. Counted from 2,649 open job postings that state pay, November 2026. Source: Hiring Right Now, https://jobseveryhour.com/salaries/software-engineer/
Free to use with the link.