Software Engineer salary

Typical advertised pay for Software Engineer roles, from real job postings on FindRole.

Median advertised base salary

$197,400

Most postings fall between $161,450 and $223,250.

Based on 2576 postings across 150 companies. Updated October 27, 2026.

As of October 2026, the median advertised base salary for Software Engineer roles is $197,400, based on 2576 live job postings from 150 employers tracked by FindRole.

Published by FindRole · free to quote and reuse with attribution and a link to this page · how this is computed

Salary by seniority

Level	25th %ile	Median	75th %ile	Postings
Junior	$82,100	$111,400	$138,750	16
Associate	$93,650	$106,375	$123,000	18
Mid	$113,700	$113,700	$126,500	11
Senior	$168,000	$196,750	$222,500	917
Staff	$200,688	$221,750	$256,000	380
Senior Staff	$226,400	$259,500	$286,412	47
Principal	$174,600	$208,800	$231,000	307
Senior Principal	$177,700	$190,000	$220,800	13
Lead	$184,900	$192,750	$215,650	79
Not specified	$137,500	$165,852	$202,800	736

Skills employers ask for

Share of Software Engineer postings that name each skill.

Python 50% · 1296 of 2576
Java 46% · 1177 of 2576
Distributed Systems 34% · 888 of 2576
C++ 34% · 868 of 2576
CI/CD 32% · 819 of 2576
Kubernetes 27% · 687 of 2576
AWS 26% · 670 of 2576
Go 23% · 598 of 2576
JavaScript 20% · 524 of 2576
Microservices 18% · 463 of 2576
Observability 17% · 446 of 2576
React 17% · 446 of 2576

Counted once per posting across 2576 Software Engineer postings with an extracted skill list, as of October 2026. Spellings are folded to one name (K8s → Kubernetes) — see methodology.

Related roles

Titles whose postings ask for many of the same skills.

Engineer shares Python, Java, Distributed Systems median $178,175
Software Engineering shares Python, Java, Distributed Systems median $178,325
Full Stack Engineer shares Python, Java, Distributed Systems median $211,200
Software Developer shares Python, Java, Distributed Systems median $149,350
Software Engineering Manager shares Python, Java, Distributed Systems median $214,394
Architect shares Python, Java, Distributed Systems median $225,000

Remote vs. onsite

Remote median

$208,800

354 postings

Onsite median

$194,500

2222 postings

Top companies hiring Software Engineers

Walmart 281 postings · median $198,000
Apple Inc 256 postings · median $214,000
Microsoft 179 postings · median $177,250
Anduril Industries 154 postings · median $222,000
SpaceX 144 postings · median $145,000
Oracle 112 postings · median $172,075
Nvidia 103 postings · median $235,750
General Dynamics 62 postings · median $134,200

Open Software Engineer roles right now

The postings these numbers come from — see all Software Engineer jobs.

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Software Engineer salary by location

Arizona · $159,400 California · $214,500 Colorado · $168,000 District Of Columbia · $215,000 Georgia · $187,100 Illinois · $162,050 Massachusetts · $199,500 Maryland · $175,875 Missouri · $149,500 North Carolina · $187,300 New Jersey · $161,500 New York · $216,000 Remote · $208,800 Texas · $178,175 Virginia · $165,000 Washington · $202,800

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These figures are the midpoint of the advertised salary range on real Software Engineer job postings indexed by FindRole — employer-stated base pay, not total compensation (they exclude equity and bonuses), and they reflect the roles we index rather than the whole market. A guide, not a guarantee.