Software Developer
Salary benchmarks based on 31303 public records across 424 cities.
What does a Software Developer do?
Research, design, and develop computer and network software or specialized utility programs. Analyze user needs and develop software solutions, applying principles and techniques of computer science, engineering, and mathematical analysis. Update software or enhance existing software capabilities. May work with computer hardware engineers to integrate hardware and software systems, and develop specifications and performance requirements. May maintain databases within an application area, working individually or coordinating database development as part of a team.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, SOC 2018 (SOC 15-1252)
What our data shows for Software Developer
RoleHue publishes 31,303 salary records for Software Developers, across 424 cities. Weighted by how many records each city contributes, the band runs from $127,449 at the 25th percentile to $168,785 at the 75th, a spread of $41,336 around $145,591. Each of those three figures averages the city-level percentiles rather than ranking the pooled records, and weights each city by how many records it holds, so the cities we hold most data for pull them hardest. Measured against that $145,591 figure rather than in dollars (28% of it), that spread is mid-pack among the roles we cover.
Los Gatos, CA carries the highest median we hold for the role at $264,514; South Bend, IN the lowest at $74,859, a gap of $189,655. The middle half of those city medians, weighted by how many records each city contributes, spans $46,592, wider than the $41,336 band within cities: for Software Developers, which metro a record comes from separates our numbers more than where a record sits within its own metro.
No single metro carries most of this: the largest share is New York, NY, with 1343 of the 31,303 records we publish for this role (4%). Evidence clears 25 records in 205 of the 424 cities; for the rest, the city median we show rests on fewer records than that.
Salary Overview
Weighted average across all cities with available data. Based on 31303 data points.
$127K
P25
$146K
P50
$169K
P75
Top Paying Cities
Related Roles
Help map the full range
Help make Software Developer salary data more accurate. Contribute anonymously.
Add my salarySource: U.S. Department of Labor disclosure filings for Software Developer roles, plus anonymous submissions.
Benchmarks last recalculated: 2026-08-04. That is when we recomputed the statistics · the underlying filings are older. See methodology for how current the data is.