Real salary data
What Software Engineers actually earn in 2026.
The median for Software Engineer is $131,780 across 337204 real salary records (H-1B visa filings and tech job postings), updated Aug 10, 2026.
01 / By source
Real salary bands, by source.
Bands come from 337204 real records. Each source has a different bias, disclosed below.
Density curve fitted to the observed quartiles (log-normal). $106,000–$163,800 contains the middle 50% of records in the best-represented source; the shape between them is an approximation.
| Source | Records | 25th pct | Median | 75th pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H-1B visa filings | 337,204 | $106,000 | $131,780 | $163,800 |
| Job postings | 95 | $140,000 | $167,500 | $167,500 |
| Tech job postings | 18 | $259,500 | $305,000 | $349,125 |
- H-1B visa filings (DOL) — over-represents visa-eligible roles (typically high-skill, high-wage)
- Job postings that disclose salary in the ad text
- Tech/startup job postings with published salary bands (Ashby ATS)
Salary data updated Aug 10, 2026. Bands are percentiles, not averages; n is the number of underlying records.
02 / By city
What Software Engineers earn, by city.
Real records; cities with at least 10 observations.
| City | Records | Range (p25–p75) | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seattle, WA | 12,826 | $136,000 – $182,312 | $160,971 |
| New York, NY | 12,474 | $135,000 – $190,000 | $164,800 |
| Sunnyvale, CA | 9,644 | $153,301 – $199,534 | $181,000 |
| Redmond, WA | 9,470 | $148,109 – $185,325 | $165,342 |
| Austin, TX | 9,388 | $108,826 – $155,709 | $132,267 |
| Irving, TX | 8,230 | $101,192 – $129,500 | $105,997 |
| Plano, TX | 7,850 | $101,200 – $141,440 | $112,923 |
| San Francisco, CA | 7,280 | $161,637 – $215,000 | $187,574 |
| Mountain View, CA | 6,880 | $172,931 – $214,000 | $186,000 |
| San Jose, CA | 6,543 | $158,224 – $214,148 | $184,762 |
| Dallas, TX | 6,330 | $103,226 – $144,698 | $115,000 |
| Bellevue, WA | 6,160 | $139,299 – $200,000 | $171,000 |
03 / By state
What Software Engineers earn, by state.
| State | Records | Range (p25–p75) | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA | 65,254 | $150,516 – $205,000 | $178,360 |
| TX | 65,001 | $101,192 – $139,464 | $110,000 |
| WA | 32,183 | $137,900 – $186,135 | $163,862 |
| NJ | 16,290 | $110,000 – $155,000 | $124,000 |
| NY | 15,878 | $123,656 – $185,000 | $152,000 |
| NC | 15,181 | $109,932 – $141,003 | $121,263 |
| GA | 15,130 | $103,000 – $141,573 | $116,000 |
| IL | 12,265 | $102,700 – $144,560 | $116,438 |
| VA | 10,715 | $107,890 – $146,307 | $122,699 |
| FL | 10,286 | $94,370 – $138,354 | $111,000 |
| MA | 8,188 | $120,315 – $161,500 | $136,500 |
| PA | 8,187 | $95,295 – $134,532 | $108,680 |
04 / Context
How Software Engineers pay compares with similar roles.
| Profession | Risk | Median | Outlook |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architectural and Engineering Manager | Medium | $175,000 | +3.8% (2024–34) |
| Computer and Information Research Scientist | High | $179,000 | +19.7% (2024–34) |
| Computer Network Architect | Critical | $134,000 | +11.9% (2024–34) |
| Computer Systems Analyst | Critical | $104,416 | +8.7% (2024–34) |
| Data Analyst | High | $120,000 | +33.5% (2024–34) |
05 / Next step
How to move up the pay band.
The skills below appear most often in higher-paid roles:
- 01Python
- 02Java
- 03REST APIs
- 04Observability
- 05C++
- udemyPython Software EngineerIntermediate
- udemySoftware Engineer Interview UnleashedAdvanced
- udemyProduction Support - Site Reliability EngineerAdvanced
- udemySite Reliability Engineer (SRE): Practice TestsIntermediate
- udemyCertified Full Stack AI EngineerIntermediate
- udemyFull Stack Software Engineering using ChatGPTIntermediate
- udemyServiceNow CIS:Certified Implementation Specialist-DiscoveryIntermediate
- udemyCertification Oracle Goldengate Implementation SpecialistAdvanced
06 / FAQ
Salary questions, answered.
01Why are the bands different from the BLS median?
The BLS median covers all Software Engineer in the US. These bands come from real records with known biases — H-1B filings skew to visa-eligible (high-skill) roles and tech postings skew to tech employers — so they sit above the national median. We disclose the source of every band.
02How often is this data updated?
The dataset refreshes weekly from live job postings and quarterly from new H-1B disclosures.