A percentile is a position in the BLS distribution. It is not a promised offer or career forecast.
10th
$82,460
25th
$105,210
Median
$135,980
75th
$171,980
90th
$214,670
National context
What changes around the median
Software Developers ranked 3 of 21 detailed computer and mathematical occupations with a published annual median. The national annual mean was 8.9% above the median, showing why one center point does not describe the full distribution.
Area estimates below use the same SOC code and release. They do not adjust for cost of living, experience, benefits, hours, employer mix, or remote-work policy.
Published metro rows
Highest medians for Software Developers
Ranked only among metros with a published annual median. No cost-of-living adjustment.
Six highest published annual medians
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA: $213,110. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA: $186,640. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA: $167,280. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ: $166,830. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH: $166,090. Boulder, CO: $164,560.
Use the published range, job count, place pattern, and survey limits as separate facts. The guide stays tied to SOC 15-1252 and the May 2025 BLS release.
Questions, answered
Software Developers: common wage questions
What is the median wage for Software Developers?
The May 2025 BLS OEWS release published a U.S. median of $135,980 per year for Software Developers. It is an occupation estimate, not a promised offer or an individual's pay.
How many Software Developers jobs does BLS estimate nationally?
BLS published an employment estimate of 1,687,890 wage and salary jobs. The estimate is not a count of current openings and excludes the self-employed.
Why is the mean wage different from the median for Software Developers?
The published annual mean is 8.9% above the median. The mean uses every published wage value, while the median marks the middle of the distribution.
Which metro has the highest published median for Software Developers?
From market data to your evidence
Tailor for a real Software Developers job, not a generic wage number.
Pick an eligible listing, then MeritLog can help you prepare from experience you have confirmed. WageScope never turns a BLS estimate into a qualification or résumé claim.
The May 2025 BLS OEWS estimate puts the U.S. median for Software Developers at $135,980 per year. Median means the middle. Half of the wage values used for this estimate fall below that point. Half fall above it. The median is not one worker's pay. It is not a job offer. It is one clear mark for the middle of a broad national pay range.
BLS also lists 1,687,890 wage and salary jobs for Software Developers. That count covers jobs in the survey's scope. It does not count open job ads. It also leaves out people who work for themselves. The wage and job counts share the same May 2025 reference point, so they can be read together without mixing time periods.
The Software Developers mean of $148,100 per year is 8.9% above the $135,980 median on the same published median. Mean means BLS adds the wage values and divides the total by the number of jobs behind the estimate. A gap between mean and median shows that the shape is not even. It does not explain the cause of the gap.
BLS names this record Software Developers and gives it SOC 15-1252. The two-part code is the stable key for this page. A role with a close name keeps a different code, wage row, job count, and area pattern. WageScope never joins two SOC records because their words sound alike.
For SOC 15-1252, the U.S. row reports 1,687,890 wage and salary jobs. Its annual median is $135,980 per year. Its matching mean is $148,100 per year. These facts come from one national row and one May 2025 release.
The same SOC 15-1252 appears in 52 state or territory rows, 382 metro rows, and 131 nonmetro rows in this artifact. A missing local row stays missing. The national record does not fill it, and a nearby SOC does not stand in for it.
Read the Software Developers wage ladder from low to high
The 10th percentile is $82,460 per year. The 25th percentile is $105,210 per year. The median is $135,980 per year. The 75th percentile is $171,980 per year. The 90th percentile is $214,670 per year. Each point marks a place in the same national wage spread.
A percentile is a rank point. It is not a career step. For example, the 10th percentile means 10% of wage values are at or below that mark. It does not mean a new worker starts there. The 90th percentile means 90% are at or below that mark. It does not mean a worker can reach it after a set number of years.
The middle half runs from $105,210 to $171,980 per year. That span is $66,770. The full 10th-to-90th span is $132,210. These spans show why one median cannot stand in for every Software Developers job.
What the gaps around the Software Developers median show
The median is 64.9% above the 10th percentile. The 90th percentile is 57.9% above the median. The two sides do not have to match. A wider upper side can pull the mean up. A wider lower side can pull it down. The data shows the shape, but not the reason for that shape.
The 25th-to-median step is $30,770 per year. The median-to-75th step is $36,000 per year. These two steps give a closer look at the middle half. They are often more useful than a single top-to-bottom gap because they keep the center in view.
Use this ladder as a fact check when you read a job post. A posted range can sit below, near, or above these BLS marks. That does not make the post wrong. A job may differ by place, hours, level, field, employer, or work rules. Keep the posted range tied to that listing. Keep the BLS range tied to the whole occupation.
Metro areas with the highest published Software Developers medians
WageScope found 377 metro rows with the same published annual median for Software Developers. It sorts only those rows. It does not fill a blank row. It does not turn a blank into zero. The first six rows below have the highest published medians in this release. The list is a wage rank, not a rank of places to live or work.
The first row is San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, at $213,110 per year. The middle metro row by published pay is Eugene-Springfield, OR, at $121,050 per year. That middle metro mark gives one more check on how far the top rows sit from a common place in the set.
These are nominal wages. Nominal means the dollar amount shown in the source. This list does not adjust for local price levels. It also does not tell us how many openings an area has now. Use a local page to see price-level context when an exact BEA row exists. Use the separate job block to inspect current employer-title matches.
1. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA has a Software Developers median of $213,110 per year, or $77,130 above the U.S. Software Developers median. BLS lists 87,350 jobs there, against 1,687,890 across the U.S. The local location quotient is 7.09.
2. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA has a Software Developers median of $186,640 per year, or $50,660 above the U.S. Software Developers median. BLS lists 69,030 jobs there, against 1,687,890 across the U.S. The local location quotient is 2.68.
Job count
Metro areas with the largest Software Developers job estimates
A large wage can appear in a small job market. A large job market can have a lower wage. That is why WageScope keeps pay and job count in separate views. The six rows below have the largest published employment estimates for Software Developers among metro rows in this release. Employment means the number of wage and salary jobs in scope. It does not mean open roles.
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ has the largest listed metro estimate in this set, at 121,000 jobs. Its median is $166,830 per year. Compare that with San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, which leads the published median list. The leaders may match, or they may not. Each list answers a different question.
Job count can help you see the scale of a local labor market. It cannot show churn, new hiring, job quality, remote work, or the chance that one person will get hired. Current listings add a second view, but they are a dated sample of posts. WageScope never turns the listing count into a demand score.
1. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ has 121,000 estimated Software Developers jobs, or 7.2% of the national 1,687,890 job estimate. Its median is $166,830 per year, or $30,850 above the U.S. Software Developers median. Its location quotient is 1.17.
Local share
Where Software Developers has a larger share of local jobs
Location quotient is a share check. A value of 1 means the role has the same share of local jobs as it has across the nation. A value above 1 means the local share is larger. A value below 1 means the local share is smaller. It is not a count. It is not a wage. It does not say that a place is growing.
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA has the highest published location quotient in this bounded metro set, at 7.09. The same row lists 87,350 jobs and a median of $213,110 per year. Reading all three values keeps a high share from being mistaken for a large market or high pay.
A small area can have a high location quotient because the role makes up a large part of a small local job base. A large area can have many workers and a lower quotient. Use the quotient to ask where the role is common in the mix. Use employment to ask how many jobs BLS estimated. Use the wage fields to ask what the published pay range looks like.
1. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA has a Software Developers location quotient of 7.09. BLS lists 87,350 jobs and a median of $213,110 per year, or $77,130 above the U.S. Software Developers median. The U.S. job estimate is 1,687,890.
2. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA has a Software Developers location quotient of 4.1. BLS lists 92,770 jobs and a median of $167,280 per year, or $31,300 above the U.S. Software Developers median. The U.S. job estimate is 1,687,890.
SOC family
How Software Developers sits in Computer and Mathematical
Software Developers is SOC 15-1252. BLS places it in the Computer and Mathematical major group. Among 21 detailed roles in that group with a published annual median, Software Developers ranks 3 of 21 by median. This is a pay rank inside one source family. It is not a rank of skill, value, status, or career fit.
The closest same-family medians help set a fair peer frame. They do not claim that the work is the same. Official SOC titles can cover different tasks and settings. WageScope uses the family only because BLS publishes that link. It does not infer a career move, a skill match, or a hiring path from the wage gap.
Use these peer rows to spot whether the $135,980 median sits near many family roles or far from them. Then open a role's own page before using its number. Each role has a different code, job count, wage spread, and place pattern. One family label does not erase those facts.
1. Computer Network Architects, SOC 15-1241, has a U.S. median of $134,050 per year. Its gap from Software Developers is $1,930 per year.
2. Database Architects, SOC 15-1243, has a U.S. median of $139,500 per year. Its gap from Software Developers is $3,520 per year.
3. Computer and Information Research Scientists, SOC 15-1221, has a U.S. median of $140,300 per year. Its gap from Software Developers is $4,320 per year.
Data care
How much care to use with the Software Developers estimate
BLS marks the employment relative standard error at 0.6%. It marks the mean-wage relative standard error at 0.4%. A relative standard error, or RSE, is a survey precision flag. A smaller RSE often means less sampling uncertainty. It is not the chance that one worker's pay is right or wrong.
The employment RSE applies to the 1,687,890 job estimate. The mean-wage RSE applies to the published mean of $148,100 per year. These fields do not give a matching RSE for the median or each percentile. WageScope shows the fields BLS published and does not move one RSE to another measure.
Survey values can change when BLS updates its methods, sample, models, or source year. That is why this page keeps May 2025 in view. A later release can replace these facts only after MeritLog pins the new official files, checks the rows, and reviews the page again. A changed number is not treated as a correction unless the source says so.
A simple way to compare Software Developers across places
First, compare the same wage metric. Use annual with annual or hourly with hourly. Next, check the source date. Keep May 2025 BLS rows together. Then read employment and location quotient beside pay. This stops a high median from standing in for market size or local share. Last, add BEA price-level context only when the exact place has an approved row.
A state, metro, and nonmetro area are not the same kind of map. Do not rank them in one list without saying so. WageScope groups like with like. It also keeps a national row as a broad bench mark. A local page can show the local row, its state row when that link is exact, and the U.S. row without blending them.
If a value is blank, keep it blank. If BLS marks a top code, read it as a lower bound. Do not fill a blank from a nearby place. Do not turn a wage gap into a claim about taxes, hours, benefits, work rules, or a household budget. Those facts are not in the OEWS row.
Move from Software Developers wage data to one real listing
The job block on this page uses a strict employer-title match for Software Developers. It may show fewer rows than the full MeritLog job search. That is on purpose. A false negative is safer here than a job card for a different role. Each card keeps its employer, place, source, and seen date. The cards do not change the BLS wage data.
Open one listing and read its own pay, work place, level, and needs. Compare its posted range with the BLS spread only as context. A posted range is set by an employer for one role. The BLS range is a survey view across many jobs. Neither source proves that a person is fit for the work.
When you tailor a résumé, use work facts you can back up. Do not turn $135,980 into a skill or result. Do not copy a BLS job count into your work history. MeritLog can help shape confirmed experience for a chosen listing. The wage page stays public and read only. It does not save a job or create a résumé on page load.
This page does not say what one Software Developers worker earns. It does not promise that a job pays the median. It does not state a starting wage. It does not explain why the mean and median differ. It does not add benefits, tips, stock, bonus pay, taxes, or work hours unless BLS includes them in the published wage measure.
The page does not count people who work for themselves. It does not turn 1,687,890 into current openings. It does not read private MeritLog jobs or Career Memory. MeritLog does not use the page to build a private career profile. While public analytics are on, GA4, Ahrefs, and Meta may receive the public page URL; Your Privacy Choices or Global Privacy Control turns that off. The page does not send its text to a model.
The best use is narrow and clear. Read the May 2025 BLS wage range. Check how the role changes by place. Add the separate 2024 BEA price level when an exact row exists. Inspect a dated employer-title match. Then make a résumé choice from facts you have confirmed. Keep each source tied to the question it can answer.
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA has the highest annual median among the metro rows with a published value on this page, at $213,110. This is a nominal BLS estimate with no price-level adjustment.
Are the current job listings included in the BLS wage calculation?
No. MeritLog shows eligible live public-catalog listings separately, with their own source and observation date. Posted pay never changes the official BLS distribution.
3. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA has a Software Developers median of $167,280 per year, or $31,300 above the U.S. Software Developers median. BLS lists 92,770 jobs there, against 1,687,890 across the U.S. The local location quotient is 4.1.
4. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ has a Software Developers median of $166,830 per year, or $30,850 above the U.S. Software Developers median. BLS lists 121,000 jobs there, against 1,687,890 across the U.S. The local location quotient is 1.17.
5. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH has a Software Developers median of $166,090 per year, or $30,110 above the U.S. Software Developers median. BLS lists 42,310 jobs there, against 1,687,890 across the U.S. The local location quotient is 1.44.
6. Boulder, CO has a Software Developers median of $164,560 per year, or $28,580 above the U.S. Software Developers median. BLS lists 7,130 jobs there, against 1,687,890 across the U.S. The local location quotient is 3.41.
2. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA has 92,770 estimated Software Developers jobs, or 5.5% of the national 1,687,890 job estimate. Its median is $167,280 per year, or $31,300 above the U.S. Software Developers median. Its location quotient is 4.1.
3. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA has 87,350 estimated Software Developers jobs, or 5.2% of the national 1,687,890 job estimate. Its median is $213,110 per year, or $77,130 above the U.S. Software Developers median. Its location quotient is 7.09.
4. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV has 69,060 estimated Software Developers jobs, or 4.1% of the national 1,687,890 job estimate. Its median is $154,930 per year, or $18,950 above the U.S. Software Developers median. Its location quotient is 2.03.
5. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA has 69,030 estimated Software Developers jobs, or 4.1% of the national 1,687,890 job estimate. Its median is $186,640 per year, or $50,660 above the U.S. Software Developers median. Its location quotient is 2.68.
6. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX has 67,030 estimated Software Developers jobs, or 4.0% of the national 1,687,890 job estimate. Its median is $133,290 per year, or $2,690 below the U.S. Software Developers median. Its location quotient is 1.52.
3. Boulder, CO has a Software Developers location quotient of 3.41. BLS lists 7,130 jobs and a median of $164,560 per year, or $28,580 above the U.S. Software Developers median. The U.S. job estimate is 1,687,890.
4. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA has a Software Developers location quotient of 2.68. BLS lists 69,030 jobs and a median of $186,640 per year, or $50,660 above the U.S. Software Developers median. The U.S. job estimate is 1,687,890.
5. Durham-Chapel Hill, NC has a Software Developers location quotient of 2.62. BLS lists 9,790 jobs and a median of $135,620 per year, or $360 below the U.S. Software Developers median. The U.S. job estimate is 1,687,890.
6. Huntsville, AL has a Software Developers location quotient of 2.43. BLS lists 7,030 jobs and a median of $128,080 per year, or $7,900 below the U.S. Software Developers median. The U.S. job estimate is 1,687,890.
Precise employer-title matches for Software Developers
Matched from employer-posted title terms, not a BLS classification. Confirm the listing's location because this occupation-wide set is not a U.S. place filter. A posted range never changes the official distribution above.
