Software Developers salary

SOC 15-1252 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$135,980

per year, nationally

Middle half

$105,210–$171,980

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

1.7M

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+15.8%

115,200 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.

$82,460$214,670

10th: $82,460
25th: $105,210
Median: $135,980
75th: $171,980
90th: $214,670

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 software developers 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	California	$174,410	110.7	284,390	1.44×
2	Washington	$166,540	107.0	107,030	2.78×
3	New York	$166,180	107.9	113,510	1.08×
4	Massachusetts	$165,210	105.8	48,190	1.22×
5	Oregon	$142,720	103.4	21,830	1.02×
6	New Hampshire	$139,720	104.2	10,840	1.46×
7	Maryland	$138,680	105.0	31,350	1.05×
8	Colorado	$138,390	103.1	43,320	1.39×
9	District of Columbia	$136,880	109.9	6,120	0.80×
10	Virginia	$136,460	101.1	88,280	1.98×
11	New Jersey	$135,940	108.8	51,570	1.11×
12	North Carolina	$134,710	94.3	58,470	1.09×
13	Connecticut	$134,120	103.6	13,660	0.74×
14	Delaware	$133,020	99.8	3,380	0.64×
15	Texas	$132,150	97.1	163,880	1.07×
16	Illinois	$132,110	100.0	56,310	0.85×
17	Idaho	$131,590	95.5	5,750	0.62×
18	Georgia	$131,010	96.3	49,700	0.94×
19	Florida	$130,980	103.4	87,890	0.82×
20	Rhode Island	$130,590	102.3	5,070	0.93×
21	Minnesota	$130,050	98.6	35,890	1.12×
22	Arizona	$129,690	100.7	38,050	1.08×
23	South Carolina	$129,450	93.7	13,230	0.53×
24	Utah	$128,810	98.9	31,940	1.70×
25	Nevada	$128,810	100.0	4,520	0.27×
26	Pennsylvania	$126,550	97.6	55,920	0.85×
27	Missouri	$126,120	90.8	20,020	0.63×
28	Michigan	$125,570	96.2	43,460	0.91×
29	Vermont	$125,280	98.0	1,740	0.53×
30	New Mexico	$124,520	92.2	3,960	0.42×
31	Hawaii	$124,040	110.0	1,600	0.23×
32	Maine	$123,120	97.0	2,790	0.40×
33	Wisconsin	$122,660	94.1	21,730	0.68×
34	Alabama	$122,540	88.8	17,450	0.76×
35	Tennessee	$122,430	91.9	19,030	0.53×
36	Montana	$121,990	94.6	2,160	0.39×
37	West Virginia	$121,000	89.5	2,650	0.35×
38	Oklahoma	$118,100	87.8	6,880	0.37×
39	Wyoming	$115,170	92.7	1,510	0.49×
40	Iowa	$114,890	87.8	9,040	0.53×
41	Ohio	$114,090	92.8	44,790	0.74×
42	Kansas	$113,420	90.1	13,580	0.87×
43	Nebraska	$110,900	90.1	7,260	0.65×
44	Kentucky	$109,010	90.2	7,660	0.35×
45	Indiana	$105,920	93.3	14,130	0.41×
46	North Dakota	$105,600	89.0	1,450	0.31×
47	Arkansas	$104,490	86.9	6,050	0.43×
48	Louisiana	$102,800	88.2	4,080	0.19×
49	South Dakota	$96,310	88.6	2,380	0.48×
50	Mississippi	$95,330	87.0	1,880	0.15×

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 software developers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for software developers

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	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$213,110	110.4	87,350	7.09×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$186,640	115.6	69,030	2.68×
3	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$167,280	111.1	92,770	4.10×
4	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$166,830	112.6	121,000	1.17×
5	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$166,090	108.3	42,310	1.44×
6	Boulder, CO	$164,560	105.2	7,130	3.41×
7	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$163,270	111.9	20,610	1.23×
8	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$162,650	106.9	3,090	0.70×
9	Manchester-Nashua, NH	$162,090	105.7	4,370	2.02×
10	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$160,920	113.6	55,540	0.82×
11	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$159,430	110.5	2,170	0.62×
12	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$158,290	108.8	1,680	0.77×
13	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$156,910	109.9	540	0.51×
14	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$156,000	105.4	18,260	1.39×
15	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$154,930	108.9	69,060	2.03×
16	Pittsfield, MA	$154,860	95.1	280	0.46×
17	Napa, CA	$153,130	112.6	130	0.15×
18	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$148,630	107.8	560	0.25×
19	Worcester, MA	$146,950	102.5	1,800	0.47×
20	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$146,200	105.6	690	0.68×
21	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$145,830	109.4	1,010	0.35×
22	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$139,640	106.7	7,460	0.64×
23	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$138,900	104.5	16,850	1.14×
24	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$138,550	105.1	570	0.18×
25	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$137,610	105.8	27,010	1.55×
26	Vallejo, CA	$136,930	108.5	330	0.21×
27	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC	$135,920	97.3	20,820	1.41×
28	Durham-Chapel Hill, NC	$135,620	97.6	9,790	2.62×
29	Salinas, CA	$135,160	109.0	290	0.14×
30	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$135,020	108.6	520	0.40×
31	Punta Gorda, FL	$134,510	100.5	280	0.45×
32	Rochester, MN	$134,450	90.8	1,840	1.38×
33	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$134,380	103.6	40,370	0.82×
34	Asheville, NC	$134,350	96.5	780	0.40×
35	Colorado Springs, CO	$134,280	100.7	4,850	1.41×
36	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$134,120	98.1	31,960	2.28×
37	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$133,990	101.1	1,820	0.99×
38	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$133,870	109.4	110	0.13×
39	Barnstable Town, MA	$133,690	98.4	210	0.20×
40	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$133,290	103.1	67,030	1.52×

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 software developers wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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

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
Computer Network Support Specialists$76,220