2023 Programmer Salary Report: Median Compensation Across Companies, Levels, and Regions

Levels.fyi recently released its 2023 programmer salary report, aggregating more than 150,000 compensation submissions to present median total earnings (salary, stock, and bonuses) for software engineers worldwide.

The report notes a market shift: after a rapid early‑year surge, the fourth quarter saw cooling, layoffs, and hiring freezes, yet top‑tier companies and senior levels still posted overall pay increases compared to the previous year.

For entry‑level engineers, Two Sigma leads with a $274,000 median, followed by Stripe at $266,000 and Databricks at $221,000.

Mid‑level engineers see Databricks at the top with $443,000, followed by Cruise (GM’s autonomous division) at $361,000 and Roblox at $354,000; ByteDance appears as the sole Chinese company at $323,000.

Principal engineers earn the highest median at Facebook ($1,044,000), with Stripe ($900,000), Airbnb ($796,000), Apple ($752,000), Netflix ($725,000), Twitter ($700,000), and Snap Inc. ($690,000) trailing.

Geographically, the United States’ top three regions are San Francisco ($234,000), Seattle ($213,000), and New York ($187,000). In Asia, Tel Aviv leads ($159,000), followed by Shanghai ($89,000), Hong Kong ($85,000), Beijing ($79,000), Shenzhen ($77,000), and Hsinchu, Taiwan ($69,000).

The report emphasizes that these figures reflect compensation at the highest‑paying tech firms and locations and may not represent broader market averages.