Software Engineering Salaries.

25 roles. 81 cities.

National salary data. Last updated April 2026.

25 roles trackedSan Francisco Seattle New York Austin

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Highest Paying

$190,000

Software Architect

Industry Median

$135,000

Software Engineer

Entry Level

$45,000

Software Engineering Intern

Salary data sourced from SEC filings, H-1B Labor Condition Applications (DOL), Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, and aggregated job postings across 50+ platforms. Ranges reflect 25th to 75th percentile for full-time positions. Last updated April 2026.

The software engineering industry includes 25 tracked roles with national median salaries ranging from $45,000 to $190,000. The highest-paying role is Software Architect at $190,000 national median. Software engineering is the backbone of the technology economy.

About software engineering salaries

Software engineering is the backbone of the technology economy. From frontend developers building user interfaces to backend engineers designing distributed systems, this industry encompasses the broadest range of technical roles. Compensation scales with specialization depth, system complexity, and the ability to deliver production-quality code at scale.

All software engineering roles by salary

#	Role	Median	Range
1	Software Architect	$190,000	$148,000 – $247,000
2	Software Engineering Manager	$190,000	$148,000 – $247,000
3	Software Development Engineer III	$180,000	$140,000 – $234,000
4	Site Reliability Manager	$175,000	$137,000 – $228,000
5	Site Reliability Engineer	$170,000	$130,000 – $220,000
6	Full Stack AI Developer	$165,000	$125,000 – $215,000
7	DevOps Manager	$160,000	$125,000 – $208,000
8	Software Development Engineer II	$155,000	$121,000 – $202,000
9	API Product Manager	$145,000	$113,000 – $189,000
10	Design Engineer	$142,000	$108,000 – $185,000
11	API Gateway Engineer	$140,000	$109,000 – $182,000
12	Mobile Developer	$138,000	$105,000 – $178,000
13	Software Engineer	$135,000	$105,000 – $175,000
14	Frontend Reliability Engineer	$135,000	$105,000 – $176,000
15	Software Development Engineer	$135,000	$105,000 – $176,000
16	DevOps Engineer	$132,000	$100,000 – $170,000
17	API Developer	$132,000	$100,000 – $172,000
18	Embedded Systems Engineer	$130,000	$98,000 – $170,000
19	Software Developer	$130,000	$101,000 – $169,000
20	Backend Developer	$125,000	$95,000 – $165,000
21	Full Stack Developer	$125,000	$95,000 – $165,000
22	Mobile App Developer	$120,000	$94,000 – $156,000
23	Frontend Developer	$118,000	$90,000 – $155,000
24	API Documentation Writer	$95,000	$74,000 – $124,000
25	Software Engineering Intern	$45,000	$35,000 – $59,000

Top cities for software engineering

Cities ranked by average median salary across all 25 software engineering roles.

#	City	Avg Median	COL Index
1	San Jose, CA	$194,240	1.38x
2	San Francisco, CA	$190,160	1.35x
3	Honolulu, HI	$183,800	1.30x
4	New York, NY	$178,240	1.28x
5	Seattle, WA	$176,360	1.24x
6	Washington DC, DC	$175,000	1.25x
7	Arlington, VA	$171,320	1.22x
8	Boston, MA	$170,320	1.22x

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