US developer salaries & hiring costs (2026)
Market ranges by role, seniority and location — plus the real first-year cost (fully loaded salary, recruiting, cost of delay). To see where your own job ad stands, the diagnosis is free.
Frontend developer
$95k–$125kBackend developer
$105k–$136kFull-stack developer
$102k–$132kMobile developer
$105k–$138kDevOps engineer
$115k–$146kData engineer
$110k–$145kTech lead
$170k–$210kQA engineer
$80k–$105kProduct designer
$85k–$120kProduct manager
$115k–$150kTech lead: first lead role. Per-seniority detail for major tech hubs, nationwide and remote on each role page.
What salary should you put in your job ad?
Start from the range for the role and level you need, then adjust for where the job really is: major tech hubs pay well above the national figures, fully remote roles slightly below. A big gap with the market shows up as a longer search, because strong candidates filter job ads by pay.
Post the range in the ad: it is candidates’ first filter, and a growing number of US states require it. See the guide on showing salary in a job ad and our methodology.
Paste your developer job ad: score, real time-to-hire, first-year cost and what’s driving candidates away — free, in 30 seconds.
See my free diagnosisMarket benchmarks — updated July 2026. Sources: BLS OEWS — May 2025 (national, percentiles), Robert Half — 2026 US Technology Salary Guide, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025 (US), Glassdoor 2026 (PM, design, mobile), BLS ECEC Q4 2025 (employer cost), SHRM — recruitment cost. Indicative ranges. Full methodology and sources →