Computer Programmers salary

SOC 15-1251 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$100,390

per year, nationally

Middle half

$75,850–$130,680

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

92,230

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-6.0%

5,500 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$57,710$160,460

10th: $57,710
25th: $75,850
Median: $100,390
75th: $130,680
90th: $160,460

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where computer programmers earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Connecticut	$133,820	103.6	1,650	1.64×
2	Massachusetts	$128,390	105.8	1,930	0.89×
3	Washington	$125,620	107.0	2,540	1.21×
4	Maryland	$125,570	105.0	2,490	1.52×
5	Virginia	$121,610	101.1	3,070	1.26×
6	Hawaii	$118,180	110.0	450	1.22×
7	California	$116,760	110.7	11,340	1.05×
8	Arkansas	$111,840	86.9	1,050	1.36×
9	Minnesota	$107,250	98.6	2,070	1.18×
10	New Jersey	$104,940	108.8	3,930	1.55×
11	Utah	$104,890	98.9	690	0.67×
12	Colorado	$104,610	103.1	930	0.54×
13	New York	$103,980	107.9	7,020	1.22×
14	Maine	$101,780	97.0	450	1.20×
15	Oklahoma	$99,780	87.8	990	0.97×
16	South Carolina	$99,740	93.7	790	0.58×
17	Oregon	$99,540	103.4	1,370	1.17×
18	Texas	$99,330	97.1	7,620	0.91×
19	Georgia	$98,380	96.3	1,890	0.65×
20	Indiana	$97,000	93.3	1,520	0.80×
21	Rhode Island	$96,470	102.3	250	0.85×
22	Nebraska	$95,150	90.1	1,090	1.79×
23	Kentucky	$94,850	90.2	950	0.80×
24	Alabama	$93,800	88.8	890	0.71×
25	Nevada	$93,600	100.0	840	0.91×
26	Florida	$93,180	103.4	4,760	0.81×
27	Kansas	$92,960	90.1	460	0.54×
28	North Dakota	$92,280	89.0	190	0.75×
29	Alaska	$91,700	102.4	530	2.75×
30	Missouri	$90,420	90.8	1,520	0.87×
31	Montana	$89,920	94.6	—	—
32	Vermont	$89,560	98.0	170	0.94×
33	Pennsylvania	$89,180	97.6	3,120	0.87×
34	Idaho	$89,020	95.5	—	—
35	Arizona	$88,990	100.7	1,560	0.81×
36	Ohio	$85,270	92.8	2,100	0.64×
37	Mississippi	$85,120	87.0	1,170	1.70×
38	New Mexico	$83,750	92.2	600	1.16×
39	Wyoming	$81,640	92.7	60	0.34×
40	North Carolina	$81,070	94.3	4,120	1.41×
41	Iowa	$79,180	87.8	950	1.03×
42	New Hampshire	$74,000	104.2	—	—
43	Illinois	$72,540	100.0	1,280	0.35×
44	Michigan	$65,860	96.2	4,400	1.69×
45	West Virginia	$65,320	89.5	140	0.33×
46	South Dakota	$58,240	88.6	70	0.25×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where computer programmers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for computer programmers

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Boulder, CO	$155,030	105.2	—	—
2	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$154,920	110.4	980	1.46×
3	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$141,920	102.7	1,150	3.23×
4	Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR	$136,880	91.4	490	2.99×
5	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$134,130	111.9	1,600	1.75×
6	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$132,850	109.9	90	1.59×
7	Bend, OR	$132,280	103.6	90	1.35×
8	Portland-South Portland, ME	$131,960	101.9	190	1.09×
9	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$130,790	106.9	—	—
10	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$130,730	115.6	2,440	1.73×
11	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$130,390	108.9	2,680	1.44×
12	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$128,900	108.3	1,600	1.00×
13	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$128,240	109.4	40	0.98×
14	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$126,750	112.6	6,670	1.18×
15	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$125,240	100.3	—	—
16	Visalia, CA	$121,710	99.8	40	0.38×
17	Naples-Marco Island, FL	$119,330	103.2	—	—
18	Worcester, MA	$119,010	102.5	90	0.44×
19	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$118,000	104.8	1,570	1.36×
20	Colorado Springs, CO	$117,020	100.7	60	0.34×
21	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	$116,370	100.4	—	—
22	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$114,110	108.6	90	1.25×
23	Corvallis, OR	$113,950	104.0	30	1.43×
24	Iowa City, IA	$113,590	91.5	100	1.77×
25	Lexington Park, MD	$112,990	100.8	110	2.63×
26	Richmond, VA	$112,690	97.9	310	0.79×
27	Salt Lake City-Murray, UT	$111,290	100.9	370	0.75×
28	Urban Honolulu, HI	$111,170	111.0	330	1.24×
29	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$110,990	103.2	220	1.55×
30	Huntsville, AL	$110,110	93.1	160	1.01×
31	Charlottesville, VA	$109,770	99.1	—	—
32	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$109,690	108.8	140	1.20×
33	Vallejo, CA	$108,830	108.5	30	0.40×
34	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$108,740	103.7	30	0.39×
35	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$108,060	107.8	80	0.64×
36	Elkhart-Goshen, IN	$107,850	90.3	30	0.40×
37	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	$107,770	101.0	160	0.67×
38	Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent, FL	$107,400	97.7	90	0.76×
39	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$107,090	113.6	3,400	0.91×
40	Greenville, NC	$106,770	88.4	60	1.29×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where computer programmers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Software Developers$135,980
Computer User Support Specialists$61,860
Computer Systems Analysts$105,850
Computer Occupations, All Other$116,580
Network and Computer Systems Administrators$99,130
Information Security Analysts$129,180
Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers$104,300
Computer Network Architects$134,050