2017 Software Development Salary Survey

Geography

CERTAIN REGIONS ARE OUTLIERS WHEN IT COMES TO SALARY. For example, within the US, the West Coast has a higher median salary than other parts of the country, likely due to the concentration of tech companies in the Silicon Valley area.

California salaries are $15–$20K higher than any other part of the US, with a median of $139K. The northeast has the next highest salaries, with $124.5K median, and the Pacific Northwest follows at $120K median. These US regions are home to other big technology hubs: cities like New York and Boston in the Northeast, and companies like Amazon and Microsoft in the Northwest.

The Midwest is the lowest-paid region of the United States (if you ignore “other”), but even it doesn’t do too badly. The median salary is almost $100K, and Texas alone is $106K.

There is a stark difference between the US, with a median salary of $115K and the rest of the world. The next closest region, Australia/New Zealand, comes in nearly 22% less at $90K, Western Europe shows a median of $60K, and in Eastern Europe we see only $28K. Factors like the differences in cost of living, local demand for tech talent, respondent experience, and taxes help explain the wide range of salaries for developers.

Some of the regional salary discrepancies could be caused by respondents incorrectly performing currency conversions, or doing no conversion at all. For example, reporting 30K British pounds as 30K USD would lower the averages.

Note

California salaries are $15–$20K higher than any other part of the US, with a median of $139K.