Which Software Engineers Get Paid the Most?
In Silicon Valley, engineers working in search are pulling down the highest salaries; in Paris, blockchain rules
Online job search firm Hired took a look at its 2018 data from its job sites around the world to capture a snapshot of demand for software engineers and the salaries they are commanding in different roles. Hired’s research, released last week, showed that demand for engineers with blockchain experience is booming, and the boom will continue. So it’s no surprise that the salaries for blockchain engineers are generally among the highest.
Regional differences, however, abound. In the San Francisco Bay Area, engineers working in search are commanding higher salaries than those working in blockchain. (Shall we call that the Google effect?) In New York, the biggest salaries are going to gaming engineers. And in Toronto, the top salaries are going to engineers with experience in natural-language processing, while search is down at number 12. Details below.
Salaries for Top Software Engineering Roles, US Dollars
| Role | San Francisco Bay Area Rank and Salary | New York Rank and Salary | Toronto Rank and Salary | London Rank and Salary | Paris Rank and Salary | Demand growth year over year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Search | 1 ($157K) | 7 ($129K) | 12 ($64K) | 5 ($86K) | 4 ($61K) | |
| Security | 2 ($156K) | 11 ($117K) | 4 ($75K) | 5 ($86K) | 4 ($61K) | 132% |
| Blockchain | 3 ($155K) | 2 ($137K) | 3 ($79K) | 2 ($89K) | 1 ($67K) | 517% |
| Natural- language processing | 3 ($155K) | 12 ($114K) | 1 ($83K) | 7 ($84K) | 7 ($59K) | |
| Machine learning | 5 ($153K) | 10 ($122K) | 2 ($80K) | 3 ($87K) | 2 ($65K) | 27% |
| Data | 6 ($151K) | 6 ($132K) | 9 ($70K) | 3 ($87K) | 3 ($62K) | 38% |
| Embedded | 7 ($150K) | 9 ($124K) | 5 ($74K) | 1 ($90K) | 9 ($58K) | 76% |
| Back end | 8 ($149K) | 2 ($137K) | 5 ($74K) | 9 ($80K) | 7 ($59K) | 33% |
| Mobile | 9 ($147K) | 4 ($133K) | 11 ($69K) | 11 ($75K) | 10 ($57K) | 15% |
| Gaming | 10 ($145K) | 1 ($147K) | 7 ($73K) | 8 ($81K) | 4 ($61K) | |
| Full-stack | 11 ($143K) | 4 ($133K) | 8 ($72K) | 10 ($77K) | 10 ($57K) | 7% |
| Front end | 12 ($140K) | 8 ($128K) | 9 ($70K) | 12 ($73K) | 10 ($57K) | 4% |
A version of this post appears in the May 2019 print magazine as “What Employers Want From Coders: In-Demand Job Skills Vary By Region.”
Tekla S. Perry is a senior editor at IEEE Spectrum. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., she's been covering the people, companies, and technology that make Silicon Valley a special place for more than 40 years. An IEEE member, she holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Michigan State University.