How much do software engineers make?

Software Engineer salary 2026 · BLS occupation: Software Developers (SOC 15-1252) · Updated October 28, 2026

Answer

Software engineers in the US earned a median of $135,980 a year ($65.38 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned $105,210 to $171,980.

Median annual pay: $135,980; Mean $148,100
Median hourly pay: $65.38; Mean $71.20
Typical range (10th–90th): $82.5K–$215K; $82,460 to $214,670
US jobs: 1,687,890; +10.2% projected, 2025–35

BLS OEWS, May 2025, released April 30, 2026. Wages include tips, commissions and production bonuses but not overtime premiums, shift differentials, other bonuses or benefits; self-employed workers are not included. Methodology

How to become a software engineer: steps, years and cost · Best-paying state after cost of living: California

Software Engineer pay range

Annual wages, May 2025

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

Half of all software engineers earned more than $135,980 and half earned less. The lowest-paid 10% made under $82,460; the top 10% made over $214,670. The middle 50%, from the 25th to the 75th percentile, ran from $105,210 to $171,980.

These percentiles describe everyone in the occupation at one time. They are not pay steps by years of experience: they mix new and senior workers, different states, employers and hours. Pay generally rises with experience, credentials and specialization, but BLS does not publish pay by experience.

Percentile	Annual	Hourly	Monthly
10th	$82,460	$39.64	$6,872
25th	$105,210	$50.58	$8,768
Median (50th)	$135,980	$65.38	$11,332
75th	$171,980	$82.68	$14,332
90th	$214,670	$103.21	$17,889
Mean (average)	$148,100	$71.20	$12,342

Software Engineer salary by state

Median annual pay; cost of living from BEA regional price parities 2024

Median annual pay for software engineers by state. Darker tiles pay more. A dash means BLS did not publish a figure.

Highest-paying states

1. California $174,410
2. Washington $166,540
3. New York $166,180
4. Massachusetts $165,210
5. Oregon $142,720

Lowest-paying states

50. Mississippi $95,330
49. South Dakota $96,310
48. Louisiana $102,800
47. Arkansas $104,490
46. North Dakota $105,600

Best after cost of living: California. Its median of $174,410 is worth about $157,523 at national-average prices.


Alabama	$122,540	34	$137,960	9	$58.91	17,450	8.26
Alaska	—	—	—	—	—	530	1.64
Arizona	$129,690	22	$128,818	32	$62.35	38,050	11.74
Arkansas	$104,490	47	$120,190	44	$50.23	6,050	4.64
California	$174,410	1	$157,523	1	$83.85	284,390	15.61
Colorado	$138,390	8	$134,291	17	$66.53	43,320	15.07
Connecticut	$134,120	13	$129,447	29	$64.48	13,660	8.05
Delaware	$133,020	14	$133,276	19	$63.95	3,380	6.98
District of Columbia	$136,880	9	$124,548	39	$65.81	6,120	8.72
Florida	$130,980	19	$126,656	36	$62.97	87,890	8.85
Georgia	$131,010	18	$136,054	12	$62.99	49,700	10.16
Hawaii	$124,040	31	$112,814	48	$59.64	1,600	2.55
Idaho	$131,590	17	$137,799	10	$63.26	5,750	6.71
Illinois	$132,110	16	$132,166	21	$63.52	56,310	9.23
Indiana	$105,920	45	$113,491	47	$50.92	14,130	4.42
Iowa	$114,890	40	$130,911	24	$55.24	9,040	5.80
Kansas	$113,420	42	$125,927	37	$54.53	13,580	9.44
Kentucky	$109,010	44	$120,909	43	$52.41	7,660	3.83
Louisiana	$102,800	48	$116,544	46	$49.42	4,080	2.11
Maine	$123,120	32	$126,862	35	$59.19	2,790	4.35
Maryland	$138,680	7	$132,128	22	$66.67	31,350	11.35
Massachusetts	$165,210	4	$156,217	2	$79.43	48,190	13.25
Michigan	$125,570	28	$130,507	25	$60.37	43,460	9.87
Minnesota	$130,050	21	$131,868	23	$62.52	35,890	12.17
Mississippi	$95,330	50	$109,634	49	$45.83	1,880	1.61
Missouri	$126,120	27	$138,873	6	$60.64	20,020	6.82
Montana	$121,990	36	$128,892	30	$58.65	2,160	4.23
Nebraska	$110,900	43	$123,081	41	$53.32	7,260	7.09
Nevada	$128,810	24	$128,837	31	$61.93	4,520	2.91
New Hampshire	$139,720	6	$134,133	18	$67.17	10,840	15.87
New Jersey	$135,940	11	$124,939	38	$65.36	51,570	12.03
New Mexico	$124,520	30	$135,037	14	$59.86	3,960	4.54
New York	$166,180	3	$153,983	4	$79.89	113,510	11.72
North Carolina	$134,710	12	$142,813	5	$64.76	58,470	11.83
North Dakota	$105,600	46	$118,706	45	$50.77	1,450	3.38
Ohio	$114,090	41	$122,976	42	$54.85	44,790	8.07
Oklahoma	$118,100	38	$134,444	16	$56.78	6,880	4.03
Oregon	$142,720	5	$138,079	8	$68.62	21,830	11.10
Pennsylvania	$126,550	26	$129,699	28	$60.84	55,920	9.22
Rhode Island	$130,590	20	$127,679	34	$62.78	5,070	10.12
South Carolina	$129,450	23	$138,081	7	$62.24	13,230	5.74
South Dakota	$96,310	49	$108,719	50	$46.30	2,380	5.21
Tennessee	$122,430	35	$133,264	20	$58.86	19,030	5.80
Texas	$132,150	15	$136,157	11	$63.54	163,880	11.65
Utah	$128,810	25	$130,290	27	$61.93	31,940	18.40
Vermont	$125,280	29	$127,892	33	$60.23	1,740	5.72
Virginia	$136,460	10	$134,970	15	$65.61	88,280	21.48
Washington	$166,540	2	$155,626	3	$80.07	107,030	30.14
West Virginia	$121,000	37	$135,200	13	$58.18	2,650	3.77
Wisconsin	$122,660	33	$130,358	26	$58.97	21,730	7.39
Wyoming	$115,170	39	$124,252	40	$55.37	1,510	5.37

BLS OEWS, May 2025, state estimates. Adjusted pay = median ÷ (state price level ÷ 100), using BEA regional price parities for 2024; it ignores taxes. Figures for states with few workers in the occupation have larger survey errors and can change sharply from one year to the next. “—” means BLS did not publish the figure (Alaska). State names link to each state’s highest-paying jobs.

Best-paying metro areas for software engineers

375 metro areas with published pay

Highest median pay
Metro area	Median	Adjusted	Jobs
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$213,110	$192,994	87,350
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$186,640	$161,435	69,030
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$167,280	$150,522	92,770
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$166,830	$148,210	121,000
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$166,090	$153,409	42,310
Boulder, CO	$164,560	$156,423	7,130
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$163,270	$145,924	20,610
Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$162,650	$152,203	3,090
Manchester-Nashua, NH	$162,090	$153,412	4,370
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$160,920	$141,697	55,540

Most jobs
Metro area	Jobs	Median	Adjusted
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	121,000	$166,830	$148,210
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	92,770	$167,280	$150,522
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	87,350	$213,110	$192,994
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	69,060	$154,930	$142,289
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	69,030	$186,640	$161,435
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	67,030	$133,290	$129,295
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	55,540	$160,920	$141,697
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	42,310	$166,090	$153,409
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	40,370	$134,380	$129,717
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	36,300	$132,960	$132,883

BLS OEWS, May 2025, metropolitan statistical areas; adjusted with BEA metro price parities (2024).

What moves software engineer pay: employers and settings

The type of employer moves software engineer pay as much as anything. Software publishers have a median of $164,550 in our data, and cloud computing and data-hosting firms $156,950. Banks and other credit firms pay $136,620; company headquarters $135,680 and consulting firms $133,870. Computer systems design firms, the largest employer, pay $132,050. Government jobs pay less: $121,780 federal, $119,330 local and $103,620 state.

Location adds a second layer. California has the highest median at $174,410, followed by Washington at $166,540, New York at $166,180, Massachusetts at $165,210, and Oregon at $142,720. The lowest are Louisiana at $102,800, South Dakota at $96,310, and Mississippi at $95,330. California stays on top after adjusting for living costs, at $157,523.

Specialty and level matter too: engineers who work on infrastructure, security or machine learning, or who move to senior and staff roles, tend to earn more, and large tech firms often add stock to salary. Overall, pay runs from $82,460, the 10th percentile, to $214,670, the 90th, a one-year snapshot of differences in employer, location and role, not a ladder of years on the job.

Where software engineers work
Industry	Share of jobs	Median pay
Computer Systems Design and Related Services	30.5%	$132,050
Software Publishers	10.3%	$164,550
Management of Companies and Enterprises	6.1%	$135,680
Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services	4.6%	$156,950
Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services	3.3%	$133,870
Credit Intermediation and Related Activities (5221 and 5223 only)	3.1%	$136,620

Private employers and government
Employer type	Jobs	Median pay
Private employers	1,656,520	$136,480
Federal government (incl. Postal Service)	480	$121,780
State government (incl. schools and hospitals)	16,410	$103,620
Local government (incl. schools and hospitals)	14,480	$119,330

BLS OEWS, May 2025, national industry-specific and ownership estimates (4-digit NAICS).

Software Engineer pay over time

Median annual pay, 2021–2025

$136K $121K

2021
2022
2023
2024
2025

Nominal median (dollars of each year)In May 2025 dollars (adjusted with CPI-U)

The median rose from $120,730 in 2021 to $135,980 in 2025, up 13% in nominal dollars. After inflation, the 2021 median is worth $144,172 in May 2025 dollars, so real pay fell 6% over the period.

The series starts in 2021 because BLS changed how it defines or publishes this occupation before then, so earlier figures are not comparable.

BLS OEWS, May 2025 and earlier May releases; inflation from the CPI-U, US city average, May of each year.

What software engineers do

A software engineer, or software developer in BLS terms, designs, writes, tests and maintains the programs that run on phones, websites, servers, cars, medical devices and bank systems. Most of the work is not typing new code from scratch. It is figuring out what a feature needs to do, choosing how to build it, reading and changing existing code, writing tests, reviewing teammates' changes and fixing what breaks in production.

Software engineers usually work on teams with product managers, designers, QA testers and other developers, and they plan work in short cycles. Specialties include front-end (what users see in the browser or app), back-end (servers, databases and APIs), full stack (both), mobile, embedded, infrastructure and machine learning.

The largest employer group is computer systems design and related services, with 30.5% of jobs in our data: consulting firms and contractors that build software for other companies. Software publishers, cloud and data-hosting firms, banks and the headquarters of large companies employ many more. The work is done at a desk, often with remote or hybrid options, and on-call rotations are common for teams that run live services.

A typical day

Turn a feature request or bug report into a plan and break it into small tasks
Write code and the automated tests that prove it works
Review teammates' pull requests and respond to comments on your own
Debug failures using logs, error reports and a local copy of the system
Join stand-ups and design discussions with product managers and designers
Deploy changes and watch dashboards for errors or slowdowns
Take on-call shifts to fix outages in services the team runs

Also called: software developer, software engineers, programmer, software engineering, computer programmer, senior software engineer, full stack developer, application developer.

How to become a software engineer

Full guide

Most software engineers earn a 4-year bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field, build experience through internships and projects, and are hired without any license or required exam. Some get in without a degree, through bootcamps or self-study plus a strong portfolio, but that route is harder.

Typical time: 4 years; Fastest: Under a year (self-taught or bootcamp, for a few)
Minimum education: Bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering or a related field (typical, not legally required)
License: Not licensed (no state requires a license to work as a software engineer; the NCEES PE Software Engineering exam was discontinued after April 2019)
Typical training cost: $41.1K–$41.4K; See the guide for what it includes

Read the step-by-step guide to becoming a software engineer: each step with its time and cost, education options, exams, licensing and advancement.

Is it worth it? Training cost against pay

Compare careers

Training time: 4 years; Typical path in our guide
Training cost: $41.1K–$41.4K; Tuition and exam fees, before aid
Median pay: $135,980; $85,000 above the all-jobs median ($50,980)
Cost vs. one year's pay: 30–30%; Training cost as a share of a year at the median

Once qualified, the pay difference over the typical US job at the median ($85,000 a year before tax) would repay the training cost in less than a year after training ends (4 years in our guide). This is a rough guide: it ignores taxes, financial aid, interest, earnings given up while training and how pay changes over a career. How we calculate ROI.

Job outlook for software engineers

BLS Employment Projections 2025–35

Projected growth: +10.2%; All occupations +3.5%
Jobs in 2025: 1,717,800; 1,892,600 projected for 2035
Openings each year: 95,300; New jobs plus replacements
Self-employed: 1.5%; Not in the pay figures above

BLS projects software developer jobs to grow 10.2% from 2025 to 2035, from 1,717,800 to 1,892,600. That is about three times the 3.5% rate for all occupations, and it means about 95,300 openings a year, counting replacements.

BLS ties the growth to software for AI, connected devices, robotics and other automation, to more spending on security software, and to the growing number of products that run on code, such as consumer electronics and electric vehicles. Most openings come from replacing developers who retire or change jobs.

Related careers and their pay

Related occupations from O*NET 31.0; median annual pay from BLS OEWS, May 2025.

Software Engineer salary FAQ

How much do software engineers make an hour?

The median hourly wage for software engineers was $65.38 in May 2025. The lowest-paid 10% earned less than $39.64 an hour and the highest-paid 10% more than $103.21. Hourly figures are BLS estimates for all workers in the occupation, full-time and part-time.

Which state pays software engineers the most?

California has the highest median pay for software engineers, $174,410 a year, followed by Washington ($166,540) and New York ($166,180). After adjusting for each state's price level, California comes out ahead at about $157,523 in national-average dollars.

Do software engineers make $200,000 a year?

Some do: based on the BLS percentiles, between 10% and 25% of software engineers earn more than $200,000 a year. The median is $135,980, and the top 10% earn more than $214,670. Pay generally rises with experience, specialization and location.

Is a software engineer the same as a software developer?

In practice, mostly yes. Employers use the titles interchangeably, and BLS counts both as software developers. Some companies use "engineer" for roles focused on system design, reliability and scale, and "programmer" for narrower coding work. A software engineering degree is a specific ABET-accredited engineering program, but most software engineers hold computer science degrees instead.

Has software engineer pay kept up with inflation?

Not in our data. The median rose from $120,730 in 2021 to $135,980 in 2025, but in 2025 dollars the 2021 median was worth $144,172. That means the typical developer's pay lost ground to inflation over those four years, even though the dollar figure grew. Pay still varies widely by employer and state.

Which states have the most software developer jobs?

California leads by far with 284,390 software developers in our data. Texas follows with 163,880, then New York with 113,510, Washington with 107,030, and Virginia with 88,280. Large states lead partly because of size, so compare pay, living costs and remote options rather than job counts alone.

Sources

Data updated October 28, 2026 · Text checked against its sources October 28, 2026

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates, released April 30, 2026, SOC 15-1252
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–2035, released September 2026
O*NET 31.0 Database (15-1252.00), U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0; tasks rewritten by Careers and Salaries
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities by state and metro area, 2024
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), US city average, May values
U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard field-of-study and institution data, most recent cohorts, released 2026-10-15
Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers, Occupational Outlook Handbook, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · checked October 28, 2026
NCEES discontinuing PE Software Engineering exam, NCEES · checked October 28, 2026
Criteria for Accrediting Computing Programs, 2025-2026, ABET · checked October 28, 2026
Find Accredited Programs, ABET · checked October 28, 2026
AWS Certified Developer – Associate, Amazon Web Services · checked October 28, 2026
License Finder, CareerOneStop, U.S. Department of Labor · checked October 28, 2026
Criteria for Accrediting Engineering Programs, 2025-2026, ABET · checked October 28, 2026

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