How Much Does a Software Developer Make? Software Developer Salary Guide for 2027

By Angelo MalitOct 15, 2026

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Software developers earned a median salary of $135,980 in May 2025, or $65.38 an hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That's 2.7 times the median for all U.S. workers, and it's the figure to anchor on, because job sites that track software developer salary report anywhere from $83,355 to $197,000 depending on the job title they follow and whether they count stock and bonuses.

Developers typically need a bachelor's degree in computer science or a related field, though bootcamp graduates and self-taught programmers also get hired. Once you're in, pay climbs with experience, industry and location: the top 10% of developers earn more than $214,670, and the median in San Jose reaches $213,110.

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Key Points

Software developers earned a median of $135,980 a year, or $65.38 an hour, in May 2025, about 2.7 times the $50,980 median for all occupations, according to BLS.
The lowest 10% of developers earn less than $82,460 and the top 10% earn more than $214,670, while levels.fyi puts median total compensation for senior engineers at $312,000 once stock and bonuses are counted.
Computer science graduates in the Class of 2026 can expect an average starting salary of $81,535, the highest-paid category of bachelor's majors, according to NACE.
California ($174,410), Washington ($166,540) and New York ($166,180) have the highest state medians, and San Jose leads all metros at $213,110.
Software publishers pay a $164,550 median, $32,500 more than computer systems design firms, which employ 29% of developers.

A software developer writes code on a laptop while using two external monitors displaying programming projects.

How Much Does a Software Developer Make?

A software developer makes a median of $135,980 a year, based on BLS data for May 2025, and BLS counts about 1.7 million developer jobs nationwide. The lowest 10% earn less than $82,460 and the highest 10% earn more than $214,670, according to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook. The median rose 2.2% from $133,080 in May 2024.

Salary sites land all over the map, so the average software developer salary you find online depends on who's counting and what they count:

Source	Figure	What it measures
BLS	$135,980 a year	Median wage for software developers, excluding stock awards and year-end bonuses, May 2025
levels.fyi	$197,000 a year	Median total compensation, including stock and bonuses, for "software engineer," 47,782 submissions, October 2026
Indeed	$135,930 a year	Average base salary for "software engineer" from 37,800 salaries in job postings, October 2026
ZipRecruiter	$111,845 a year	Average for "software developer" from job postings and third-party data, October 2026
Payscale	$83,355 a year	Average base salary from 8,013 self-reported "software developer" profiles, July 2026

Three things explain the spread. The job title matters, since many large technology companies post roles as "software engineer." The method matters, because figures from job postings, self-reported profiles and employer surveys cover different groups of developers. And the definition matters most: BLS counts straight-time wages and leaves out stock awards and year-end bonuses, which make up a large share of pay at large technology companies.

Software Developer Hourly Wage

The median software developer hourly wage is $65.38, with the lowest 10% earning under $39.64 an hour and the top 10% earning more than $103.21, based on BLS wage data published through O*NET. For a full-time developer, the median works out to about $2,615 a week or $11,332 a month before taxes.

Most developers are salaried, so hourly rates matter mainly for contract and freelance work. Hourly developers also don't automatically earn overtime: under the federal computer employee exemption, a developer paid at least $27.63 an hour can be classified as exempt, according to the Department of Labor.

Software Developer vs. Software Engineer Salary

BLS doesn't track software engineers separately. Both titles fall under its software developer category, so a "developer" figure and an "engineer" figure from two sites aren't measuring two different jobs. Indeed's $135,930 average for software engineer salaries happens to sit within $50 of the BLS developer median, even though one comes from job postings and the other from an employer survey.

Where the two diverge is total compensation. Engineers at large technology companies receive stock and bonuses on top of base pay, which is how levels.fyi reaches a $197,000 median for software engineers while BLS reports $135,980 in wages before stock and bonuses for the same occupation.

Software Developer Salary Range: Entry Level to Top Earners

Software developer salaries range from less than $82,460 for the lowest-paid 10% to more than $214,670 for the top 10%, and the middle half of developers earn between $105,210 and $171,980. Here is the full ladder from BLS data for May 2025:

Percentile	Annual salary	Hourly wage
Lowest 10%	$82,460	$39.64
25th percentile	$105,210	$50.58
Median	$135,980	$65.38
75th percentile	$171,980	$82.68
Top 10%	$214,670	$103.21

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, via O*NET OnLine.

A software developer pay chart showing May 2025 annual salaries from $82,460 for the lowest 10% to $214,670 for the top 10%, with a median of $135,980.

Entry-Level Software Developer Salary

Entry-level pay lands near $81,000 a year across three independent sources. The National Association of Colleges and Employers projects an average starting salary of $81,535 for Class of 2026 computer science graduates with a bachelor's degree, up 6.9% from the prior year and the highest-paid category of majors, according to its Winter 2026 Salary Survey. Indeed shows an $81,224 average base salary for entry-level software engineers, and the BLS 10th percentile sits at $82,460.

Self-reported sites run lower. On Payscale, developers with less than a year of experience report $70,454 in average total compensation, and those with one to four years report $79,865. At the other extreme, levels.fyi's 2025 report puts median total compensation for entry-level engineers at $155,000, a figure that reflects the large technology companies behind many of its submissions.

Senior Software Developer Salary and Top Earners

Senior developers earn well above the median in every source. Indeed's averages climb from $159,128 for senior engineers to $181,219 for principal engineers and $212,940 for staff engineers, all drawn from job postings. The BLS top 10% threshold of $214,670 means more than one developer in 10 earns above $200,000 in wages alone.

Total compensation tells a different story at the top. In the levels.fyi 2025 End of Year Pay Report, U.S. median total compensation was $155,000 for entry-level engineers, $226,000 for software engineers, $312,000 for senior engineers, $457,000 for staff engineers and $551,000 for principal engineers, with stock and bonuses included. Those packages are concentrated at large technology companies, and they count stock that vests over several years, so a total compensation figure isn't the same as a salary.

What a Software Developer Does

Software developers design, build and maintain the applications and systems that run on computers and devices. According to BLS, their work typically includes:

Analyzing users' needs, then designing and developing software to meet them
Designing each piece of an application or system and planning how the pieces work together
Creating models and diagrams that show programmers the code an application needs
Recommending upgrades for customers' existing programs and systems
Keeping programs running through maintenance and testing
Documenting every part of an application or system for future upgrades

Computer systems design and related services firms employ 29% of developers, followed by finance and insurance at 11%, software publishers at 10%, manufacturing at 8% and management of companies at 6%, based on BLS data for 2025. The job typically requires a bachelor's degree in computer and information technology or a related field such as engineering or mathematics, and BLS notes that some employers prefer a master's degree. Our guide on how long it takes to become a software developer covers the bootcamp, associate degree and bachelor's degree timelines.

Training is where every developer's pay story starts, and Dreambound brings software development programs from different schools onto one page. Our guide to online software development classes walks through how to choose one and which programs are listed.

Highest-Paying States for Software Developers

California pays software developers the most, with a $174,410 median in May 2025, followed by Washington at $166,540, New York at $166,180 and Massachusetts at $165,210. Only nine states and Washington, D.C., have medians above the national $135,980, which shows how concentrated high developer pay is in a few technology hubs.

Software Developer Salary by State

State	Median annual salary	Top 10% earn more than
California	$174,410	$272,670
Washington	$166,540	$255,350
New York	$166,180	$224,590
Massachusetts	$165,210	$213,970
Oregon	$142,720	$213,540
New Hampshire	$139,720	$205,370
Maryland	$138,680	$222,610
Colorado	$138,390	$213,010
District of Columbia	$136,880	$197,000
Virginia	$136,460	$211,930

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, via O*NET OnLine. BLS publishes no statewide estimate for Alaska.

At the bottom of the list, Mississippi ($95,330), South Dakota ($96,310), Louisiana ($102,800), Arkansas ($104,490) and North Dakota ($105,600) post medians between $95,330 and $105,600, still roughly double the national median for all occupations.

Living costs narrow the gap. After adjusting each state's median with the Bureau of Economic Analysis's 2024 regional price parities, California still leads at about $157,500, but Massachusetts edges past Washington for second place, New York holds fourth and North Carolina jumps into fifth with an adjusted $142,800, up from a nominal $134,710. If you're weighing a move, our guides to becoming a software developer in California and Washington cover each state's training options.

A chart of the 10 highest-paying states for software developers in May 2025, led by California at $174,410, Washington at $166,540, and New York at $166,180.

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Highest-Paying Cities for Software Developers

Metro areas separate even further than states. These five metros had the highest software developer medians in May 2025:

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California: $213,110, with the top 10% earning more than $289,150
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, California: $186,640
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Washington: $167,280
New York-Newark-Jersey City: $166,830
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Massachusetts: $166,090

Boulder, Colorado ($164,560), San Diego ($163,270) and Bridgeport-Stamford, Connecticut ($162,650) follow close behind. San Jose's median is 57% above the national figure, and that's wages before stock and bonuses: levels.fyi reports a $279,000 median total compensation for software engineers in the San Francisco Bay Area as of October 2026.

How Software Developers Can Earn More

Developers have several pay levers, and most of them come with measurable gaps:

Target a higher-paying industry. Software publishers pay a $164,550 median, compared with $136,330 in manufacturing, $135,460 in finance and insurance, and $132,050 at computer systems design firms, according to BLS. The gap between a computer systems design firm and a software publisher comes to $32,500 at the median.
Climb the ladder. Indeed's averages rise from $81,224 at entry level to $159,128 for senior engineers and $212,940 for staff engineers, and even on ZipRecruiter, where the developer average is a lower $111,845, the 90th percentile reaches $151,500.
Add AI, cloud and specialty skills. In Dice's 2025 Tech Salary Report, based on 2,835 survey responses collected in late 2024, technology professionals involved in AI work earned 17.7% more than peers who weren't, though Dice notes that AI roles skew senior, which partly explains the gap. Specialty matters too: back-end developers in the U.S. reported a $175,000 median compensation in the 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey, compared with $138,000 for full-stack developers.
Earn a cloud certification. In Skillsoft's 2024 IT Skills and Salary survey, U.S. holders of the Google Cloud Professional Cloud Architect credential averaged $190,204 a year, and AWS Certified Developer - Associate holders averaged $165,171. Those are averages for certified professionals, not guaranteed raises, but they show the pay levels where those credentials are common.
Weigh a master's degree. NACE projects a $94,212 average starting salary for computer science master's graduates, about 15% above the bachelor's figure, and BLS notes that some employers prefer candidates with a master's degree.
Pick your training path carefully. A four-year degree remains the most common route, but bootcamps and online certificates cost less and finish faster. Our comparison of the cheapest and fastest software development programs lays out the trade-offs.

One more factor to plan around: remote roles are scarce. Robert Half's analysis of technology job postings found 85% fully on-site, 11% hybrid and 4% remote in the second quarter of 2026, so the metro premiums above usually require living there.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do software developers make good money?

Yes. The $135,980 median for software developers is about 2.7 times the $50,980 median for all occupations in May 2025, and the top 10% earn more than $214,670. One caveat: the developer median rose 12.6% from May 2021 to May 2025, while consumer prices rose 19.4% over the same period, based on the BLS Consumer Price Index, so developers' buying power slipped even as their paychecks grew.

Is it hard to become a software developer?

It takes sustained effort, but there's more than one path. Most developers hold a bachelor's degree, which takes about four years, while coding bootcamps run roughly 8 to 16 weeks and lead to junior roles for some graduates. If a degree isn't realistic right now, IT support is a common first step into the industry, and our IT support vs. software developer comparison covers both paths.

Is software developer a good job?

By the numbers, yes. Beyond the pay, BLS projects 10% employment growth for software developers from 2025 to 2035, adding 174,700 jobs, the sixth-largest gain of any occupation in its projections. Demand for AI, robotics, automation and security software is behind that growth. The job has downsides too, which our guide to the pros and cons of being a software developer weighs one by one.

How much do software developers make per month?

A software developer at the median earns about $11,332 a month before taxes, based on the $135,980 BLS median for May 2025. That's about $2,615 a week, or $65.38 an hour. Developers at the 10th percentile earn about $6,872 a month, and those at the 90th percentile earn about $17,889.

Planning Your Software Developer Pay Path

The number you'll see for software developer pay depends on the source more than the job, so compare offers against the BLS median of $135,980 and ask whether a figure includes stock and bonuses. From there, the levers are clear: software publishers pay more than computer systems design firms, senior and staff titles can double entry-level pay, the top metros add 22% to 57%, and AI and cloud skills carry their own premium.

If you're still choosing how to train, Dreambound lets you compare software development programs by format, length and cost in one place, so you can start on the path that fits your timeline.

Key Points