I’m trying to understand realistic salary ranges for software engineers at different experience levels and locations in the U.S. Online sites show wildly different numbers, and recruiters keep quoting ranges that don’t match what friends are seeing. Could anyone share recent compensation data or personal examples, including base, bonus, and equity, so I can better benchmark offers and plan my career path?
Short version. Recruiters often quote on-target-earnings, outlier bands, or “level-agnostic” ranges. You want cash comp, by level, by location.
Here is what I see in 2024 from actual offers, levels.fyi, Blind, comp threads, and coworkers. All numbers are total annual cash (base plus target bonus, no equity), rounded. YMMV.
- Entry / New grad (0 to 2 years)
High cost hubs
SF Bay, NYC, Seattle
Large tech / strong mid-size: 150k to 190k
Most other companies: 120k to 150k
Mid cost cities
Austin, Denver, Boston, LA, SD, DC
Top tech: 130k to 170k
Random companies: 100k to 130k
Low cost areas
Smaller cities, suburbs, non-tech firms
Range: 80k to 120k
- Mid-level (3 to 6 years, “SWE 2 / Software Engineer / L3-L4”)
High cost hubs
Top public big tech and top unicorns: 220k to 320k
Other decent product companies: 170k to 230k
Mid cost cities
Top tech: 190k to 260k
Others: 130k to 200k
Low cost
Internal tools at banks, insurance, manufacturing
Range: 110k to 170k
- Senior (6 to 10 years, “Senior SWE / L5-ish”)
High cost hubs
Big tech and unicorns: 280k to 450k cash, wide range by level and perf
Other decent tech: 220k to 320k
Mid cost
Top tech: 230k to 350k
Others: 160k to 240k
Low cost
Normal companies, some FAANG-remote outliers above this
Range: 140k to 220k
- Staff and up (Staff, Principal, Architect, etc)
Huge variance here. Rough guide for high cost hubs:
Staff: 380k to 600k cash
Senior Staff: 500k to 800k
Principal / Distinguished: 650k to 1M+
These numbers drop 20 to 40 percent in cheaper markets unless remote from a top-tier firm.
- Remote roles
Remote from big tech, anywhere in US
Ranges often track a band between “mid” and “low” cost.
Think: 70 to 90 percent of SF/NYC comp.
Fully remote startups
Very mixed. I have seen 130k to 250k cash for mid/senior plus equity that often ends up worthless, sometimes good.
- Why your sources look wild
Recruiters
Quote top of band to pull you in, or quote OTE including large bonus that you will not hit.
Sometimes list band that covers 2 levels.
Some quote ranges that include equity using high valuations.
Glassdoor, Indeed, etc
Mix old and new data.
Mix “Software Engineer” for helpdesk tools, SAP dev, embedded, etc.
Lots of self reported numbers that skew high.
Blind, levels.fyi
Biased toward big tech, strong startups.
Better than most, but more high-end skew.
- How to estimate your personal realistic range
Step 1: Identify your level
New grad
Mid: ships features independently, 3 to 5 YOE
Senior: leads projects, mentors, handles design, 6+ YOE
Staff: sets direction, influences multiple teams
Step 2: Identify your market
Check if your metro is high, medium, or low cost.
Roughly: SF, NYC, Seattle high. Austin, Denver, Boston, LA, SD, DC, Chicago medium. Most others low or medium-low.
Step 3: Use a few cross checks
Levels.fyi for your level and company tier. Look at “cash only” or sum base plus target bonus.
BuiltIn, H1Bdata, salary transparency postings in your state.
Ask 2 to 3 peers you trust and trade ranges, not exact numbers.
Step 4: Create your bands
For example, mid-level in Austin at a normal product company:
Base: 120k to 160k
Bonus: 10 to 20 percent
So total realistic band: 135k to 190k
- Rough salary only bands (without bonus) by location tier
Entry:
High: 120k to 160k
Mid: 100k to 135k
Low: 80k to 120k
Mid-level:
High: 150k to 200k
Mid: 120k to 170k
Low: 100k to 140k
Senior:
High: 180k to 230k
Mid: 150k to 200k
Low: 120k to 170k
Staff:
High: 220k to 280k+
Mid: 180k to 230k
Low: 150k to 200k
- Practical tips for dealing with recruiters
If a recruiter says “range is 120 to 300k total comp”
Translate it. Probably means:
Base: 140k to 200k
Bonus: 10 to 20 percent
Equity: 20k to 80k per year at some startup valuation.
Ask direct questions
“What is the base salary range for this role in my location for someone with 5 years experience.”
“What is the target bonus percent.”
“Is equity on top of that, and what is the expected annualized value used internally.”
“Which level are you targeting for my profile.”
If they refuse to narrow it, assume mid of the range and decide if that works for you.
- Last check
If your offers are:
Below “low” by 20 percent, something is off. Wrong role, wrong market, or mis-leveled.
Around low to mid of range, common for first offer.
High end or above, often strong negotiation, in-demand niche, or top tech firm.
If you share your YOE, stack, city, and target company type, you get much tighter ranges.
You’re not crazy, the numbers are all over the place.
@viajeroceleste already laid out really clean cash bands. Rather than repeat that, I’ll add where those ranges break, and what actually moves you above or below them in 2024.
1. The bands are “healthy market” numbers, not worst case
A lot of people are not hitting those ranges right now because:
- They got laid off and took a paycut to re‑enter
- They’re at legacy / non-tech firms that haven’t adjusted comp in years
- They were hired fully remote during COVID and their company later “geo-adjusted” them down
So if you see:
- “Software engineer, 5 YOE, Midwest, 120k total”
That can be real, just under-market for product tech. It’s more aligned with internal IT / consulting rates.
I’d mentally treat @viajeroceleste’s numbers as “you’re at a decent product company that cares about recruiting engineers” numbers.
2. Impact of type of work is bigger than people admit
People say “SWE is SWE.” Nah. Rough reality:
- Cloud / infra / distributed systems / ads / ML platform
Usually top of band or above, especially at big tech. - Enterprise internal apps, line-of-business tools, basic CRUD
Often 20–30% below those bands outside major tech companies. - Consulting / agencies / “dev shops”
Weird spread. Some senior folks at ~120–150k in mid-cost cities even with 8+ YOE.
So two “Senior SWEs in Boston” might differ by 80–100k purely because one is building infra at a FAANG-adjacent place and the other is at some 70-year-old insurer gluing forms to Oracle.
3. Equity is where recruiters quietly inflate the story
Where I mildly disagree with the framing: ignoring equity is useful for apples-to-apples, but you cannot ignore it in big tech or late-stage startups.
Typical patterns in 2024:
- Large public tech:
Equity is often 20–40% of total comp at mid/senior, sometimes more at staff.
Problem: refreshers have gotten stingier and stock prices can swing hard. - Late-stage / hyped startups:
Recruiter says “TC 350k”
Reality:- 190k base
- 15% target bonus you may or may not see
- 100k+/yr paper equity at a valuation that assumes fairy dust
If you want “realistic comp,” discount startup equity mentally by 50–80% unless:
- Revenue is meaningful
- You see liquidation prefs and fully diluted count
- You’re comfortable that it might end up zero
4. Where I see actual real-world cash in 2024
Based on people I know / recent offers:
- New grad, non-elite school, mid-cost city, normal company
95–120k base, little or no bonus, tiny or no equity. - New grad at strong big tech, SF/NYC/Seattle
145–170k base, 10–15% bonus target, some RSUs. Cash ~160–190k. - Mid-level, 4–5 YOE, mid-cost city, boring industry
120–150k base, 5–10% bonus. Total 130–165k is very common. - Mid-level, 4–6 YOE, big tech hub office
170–200k base, 10–15% bonus. Cash ~190–230k. - Senior, 7–10 YOE, non-FAANG product company, mid-cost
Seeing a lot of 170–200k base, 10–15% bonus. So 190–230k cash, which is slightly under the high-end bands @viajeroceleste mentioned for top companies. - Senior, FAANG or FAANG-like, SF/NYC
190–230k base, 15–20% bonus. Cash ~230–270k, plus equity that, when stocks are up, can push you into the 350–450k range. - Staff in mid / low cost markets, not at name-brand tech
Often 190–230k base, 10–20% bonus. Cash ~210–270k. The “600k staff” stories are mostly big tech + heavy equity.
So the headline staff numbers you see floating around Blind are very real but only for a thin slice of companies and levels.
5. Geo stuff that gets glossed over
- A “high cost” band only helps you if your company is pricing to that market.
A bank in NYC may still pay like a “mid” city tech company. - Fully remote roles: a lot of companies quietly use something like
base = 0.7–0.9 × SF band
and stick you in a “national” band unless you’re in SF/NYC/Seattle. - Some states with pay transparency (CA, CO, NY, WA) post absurdly wide “95k–280k” bands just to be compliant. That doesn’t mean 280k is realistic for you.
6. Why the online numbers are so chaotic
You’re probably looking at a mix of:
- Blind / levels: skew toward top companies, high performers, and big equity refresh cycles
- Glassdoor / Indeed: polluted by old data and title confusion
- Recruiters: talking in total comp & OTE & multi-level bands, often top-of-band to hook you
If your reality check:
- Is more than ~20–25% below the low ends that @viajeroceleste described
Then either:- You’re not at a real product tech company, or
- Your title doesn’t match how the market uses it, or
- You’re in a seriously underpaying pocket and should test the market.
7. Concrete sanity check you can run on yourself
Without re-doing their step list:
- Take your current role and write:
title / YOE / city / company type (big tech, startup, enterprise, consulting, internal IT) - Compare only to same company type + location tier.
- Expect something like:
- New grad: 90–150k cash in most places, 150–190k tops in hubs + strong tech
- Mid: 130–220k cash in most places, up to ~260–300k at top names in hubs
- Senior: 160–260k cash most places, 280–450k cash+ at elite places in high-cost hubs
- Staff: 210–300k cash “normal”, 380–600k cash+ with heavy equity at big tech
If your current number sits way below what matches your profile, that’s your signal, not what a recruiter throws in a JD.
tl;dr: The ranges @viajeroceleste posted are solid for “real tech” roles. The chaos you see comes from: industry type, geo pay policies, title mismatch, and recruiters quietly padding TC with optimistic equity. If you share your actual YOE / city / company flavor, people can usually peg you to a much narrower and more honest band.