{ "question": "How much do software developers make in the US?", "answer": "The median yearly pay of US software developers, quality assurance analysts and testers was $134,040 in May 2025 ($64.44 an hour), according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Software developers alone earned a median $135,980, against $92,650 for web developers. BLS employment projections count 1,905,400 jobs in the group in 2025 and expect 10% growth by 2035.", "period": "May 2025", "key_numbers": [ { "value": "$134,040", "label": "Median yearly pay, US software developers, QA analysts and testers", "note": "BLS, May 2025", "stat": "web-development/us-software-developer-median-pay" }, { "value": "$135,980", "label": "Median yearly pay, software developers alone", "note": "BLS OEWS, May 2025" }, { "value": "$99,520", "label": "Median yearly pay, US web developers and digital designers", "note": "BLS, May 2025", "stat": "web-development/us-web-developer-median-pay" }, { "value": "1,905,400", "label": "US jobs for software developers, QA analysts and testers", "note": "BLS employment projections, 2025", "stat": "web-development/us-software-developer-jobs" } ], "tables": [ { "id": "pay-by-job", "title": "US median pay and jobs by occupation, May 2025", "columns": [ "Occupation", "Median yearly pay", "Median hourly pay", "Jobs, 2025 (projections)" ], "rows": [ [ "Software developers", "$135,980", "$65.38", "1,717,800" ], [ "Software developers, QA analysts and testers (group)", "$134,040", "$64.44", "1,905,400" ], [ "Software quality assurance analysts and testers", "$104,300", "$50.14", "187,600" ], [ "Web and digital interface designers", "$104,000", "$50.00", "132,700" ], [ "Web developers and digital designers (group)", "$99,520", "$47.85", "220,100" ], [ "Web developers", "$92,650", "$44.54", "87,400" ], [ "All computer occupations", "$109,470", "Not published", "Not published" ], [ "All US occupations", "$50,980", "Not published", "Not published" ] ], "row_ids": [ "job-software", "job-software-group", "job-qa", "job-web-designers", "job-web-group", "job-web", "job-computer", "job-all" ], "note": "Pay from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey, May 2025; jobs from the BLS employment projections for 2025 (they differ from the OEWS employment counts). Hourly figures are the OEWS median hourly wage. The group rows are the Occupational Outlook Handbook categories.", "source": "bls" }, { "id": "pay-range", "title": "Pay range: US yearly wage percentiles, May 2025", "columns": [ "Percentile", "Software developers", "QA analysts and testers", "Web developers" ], "rows": [ [ "10th (lowest-paid tenth earn less)", "$82,460", "$61,440", "$48,100" ], [ "25th", "$105,210", "$80,310", "$64,230" ], [ "50th (median)", "$135,980", "$104,300", "$92,650" ], [ "75th", "$171,980", "$133,180", "$126,230" ], [ "90th (top tenth earn more)", "$214,670", "$167,010", "$162,290" ], [ "Mean (average)", "$148,100", "$111,490", "$98,770" ] ], "row_ids": [ "pct-10", "pct-25", "pct-50", "pct-75", "pct-90", "pay-mean" ], "note": "BLS OEWS occupation profiles, May 2025. The 10th percentile is the wage below which the lowest-paid tenth of workers fall; the 90th is the wage above which the top tenth fall.", "source": "bls" }, { "id": "by-state", "title": "States with the highest median pay, May 2025", "columns": [ "Occupation", "State", "Median yearly pay" ], "rows": [ [ "Software developers", "California", "$174,410" ], [ "Software developers", "Washington", "$166,540" ], [ "Software developers", "New York", "$166,180" ], [ "Software developers", "Massachusetts", "$165,210" ], [ "Software developers", "Oregon", "$142,720" ], [ "Web developers", "Washington", "$130,440" ], [ "Web developers", "Virginia", "$128,380" ], [ "Web developers", "California", "$119,570" ], [ "Web developers", "District of Columbia", "$114,690" ], [ "Web developers", "Maryland", "$112,690" ] ], "row_ids": [ "state-sw-ca", "state-sw-wa", "state-sw-ny", "state-sw-ma", "state-sw-or", "state-web-wa", "state-web-va", "state-web-ca", "state-web-dc", "state-web-md" ], "note": "Top five states by annual median wage in the BLS OEWS profiles, May 2025. California also has the most software developer jobs (284,390 in OEWS), ahead of Texas (163,880).", "source": "bls" }, { "id": "by-industry", "title": "Median pay of software developers in their top industries, May 2025", "columns": [ "Industry", "Median yearly pay" ], "rows": [ [ "Software publishers", "$164,550" ], [ "Manufacturing", "$136,330" ], [ "Management of companies and enterprises", "$135,680" ], [ "Finance and insurance", "$135,460" ], [ "Computer systems design and related services", "$132,050" ] ], "row_ids": [ "ind-software-publishers", "ind-manufacturing", "ind-management", "ind-finance", "ind-systems-design" ], "note": "BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, software developers only.", "source": "bls" }, { "id": "outlook", "title": "US jobs and projected growth, 2025 to 2035", "columns": [ "Occupation", "Jobs, 2025 (projections)", "Projected jobs, 2035", "Change" ], "rows": [ [ "Software developers", "1,717,800", "1,892,600", "+10%" ], [ "Software quality assurance analysts and testers", "187,600", "198,200", "+6%" ], [ "Web developers", "87,400", "90,600", "+4%" ], [ "Web and digital interface designers", "132,700", "140,800", "+6%" ], [ "All US occupations", "Not published", "Not published", "+3%" ] ], "row_ids": [ "outlook-software", "outlook-qa", "outlook-web", "outlook-web-designers", "outlook-all" ], "note": "BLS employment projections. BLS expects about 106,100 openings a year for software developers, QA analysts and testers over the decade, most of them to replace workers who leave.", "source": "bls" }, { "id": "pay-history", "title": "US median yearly pay by year, BLS OEWS", "columns": [ "May of", "Software developers", "Web developers", "Software developers employed (OEWS)" ], "rows": [ [ "2021", "$120,730", "$77,030", "1,364,180" ], [ "2022", "$127,260", "$78,580", "1,534,790" ], [ "2023", "$132,270", "$84,960", "1,656,880" ], [ "2025", "$135,980", "$92,650", "1,687,890" ] ], "row_ids": [ "pay-2021", "pay-2022", "pay-2023", "pay-2025" ], "note": "Current dollars, not adjusted for inflation. May 2024 is missing: the BLS May 2024 occupation pages now redirect and the OEWS profile tool offers only May 2025. OEWS employment counts differ from the projection job counts in the tables above.", "source": "bls" } ], "sources": [ { "name": "Occupational Outlook Handbook", "publisher": "US Bureau of Labor Statistics", "type": "official", "url": "https://www.bls.gov/" }, { "name": "Stack Overflow Developer Survey", "publisher": "Stack Overflow", "type": "survey", "url": "https://stackoverflow.co/" } ], "content_changed_on": "2026-10-31", "page_url": "https://digitaltreed.com/statistics/web-development/software-developer-salary", "csv_url": "https://digitaltreed.com/statistics/web-development/software-developer-salary.csv" }