Software Engineering Salaries in Europe vs The United States (2021)

Software engineering salaries have outpaced the national average over the last 20 years with the median software engineer in the US earning more than $1,800 per week.

Average salaries for the same role differ strongly depending on various factors, however, including company size and industry but by far the most significant factor is location. Where a software engineer in India may expect to get paid ₹563,660 / $7,560 per year, the same position in San Francisco would earn at least this per month.

We've compiled a list of averages salaries for different software engineering positions in Europe vs the USA. Specifically we breakdown of the average yearly compensation you'd expect to receive per city (for 4 different cities) in the USA and Europe across Engineering, Data and Devops roles. We compare for 10 different roles by junior or entry level, senior, lead and managerial positions.

All data collected is from Glassdoor.

Junior Software Engineer Average Salary

According to Glassdoor an entry level software engineer with less than 2 years of experience earns on average. A starting salary for an entry level software developer in these cities is around $60,000.

1. San Francisco: $87,798
2. New York: $76,265
3. London: $34,853
4. Amsterdam: $40,654
5. Average: $60,000

The highest salary for a Junior Software Engineer was for those working in San Francisco ($88k). The next highest was New York ($76k) followed by Amsterdam ($41k) and London ($35k).

Software Engineer Average Salary

A software engineer with 2-5 years of experience would expect to earn the following yearly wage on average:

1. San Francisco: $128,676
2. New York: $133,068
3. London: $63,000
4. Amsterdam: $60,000
5. Average: $96,000

The highest salary for a Software Engineer job was for those working in San Francisco ($129k). The next highest was New York ($133k) followed by London ($63k) and Amsterdam ($60k).

Senior Software Engineer Average Salary

A software engineer who has at least 5 years of experience earns the following on average:

1. San Francisco: $175,669
2. New York: $167,816
3. London: $86,350
4. Amsterdam: $86,000
5. Average: $133,000

The highest salary for a Senior Software Engineer was for those working in San Francisco ($176k). The next highest was New York ($168k) followed by London ($86k) and Amsterdam ($86k).

Check out our latest senior software jobs with a 4 day work week.

Lead Software Engineer Average Salary

If you have more than ~8 years of experience as a software engineer you would expect to earn the following salary:

1. San Francisco: $201,200
2. New York: $200,500
3. London: $111,300
4. Amsterdam: $110,200
5. Average: $155,230

The highest salary for a Lead Software Engineer was for those working in San Francisco ($201k). The next highest was New York ($201k) followed by London ($111k) and Amsterdam ($110k).

DevOps Engineer

A DevOps engineer with a few years of experience averages the following yearly salary in the US and Europe:

1. San Francisco: $155,055
2. New York: $140,738
3. London: $84,750
4. Amsterdam: $58,200
5. Average: $109,000

The highest salary for a DevOps Engineer was for those working in San Francisco ($155k). The next highest was New York ($140k) followed by London ($85k) and Amsterdam ($58k).

Engineering Manager

An engineering manager who has at least 5 years of experience as a software developer and at least 1 year of management may expect to earn the following salary:

1. San Francisco: $201,053
2. New York: $186,462
3. London: $125,000
4. Amsterdam: $115,289
5. Average: $154,500

Director of Engineering

A software engineer who has at least 10 years of experience in both technical and management roles may earn the following as a director of engineering. It should be noted, however, that the range for which you might expect to get paid as a director of engineering can vary widely. Once you have reach this level, salary becomes more linked to the size of company and team whom you will be leading.

1. San Francisco: $202,208
2. New York: $174,123
3. London: $124,082
4. Amsterdam: $101,333
5. Average: $150,200

The highest salary for a Director of Engineering was for those working in San Francisco ($202k). The next highest was New York ($174k) followed by London ($124k) and Amsterdam ($101k).

Data Analyst

According to Glassdoor a data analyst with around 1 year of experience may expect to earn the following salary:

1. San Francisco: $92,112
2. New York: $73,222
3. London: $43,022
4. Amsterdam: $63,798
5. Average: $68,000

The highest salary for a Data Analyst was for those working in San Francisco ($92k). The next highest was New York ($73k) followed by Amsterdam ($64k) and London ($43k).

Data Scientist

Data scientists are one of the most in demand jobs in the world right now and as a result have higher average salaries than their software engineering counterparts. For example, a data scientist with 2-4 years of experience would expect to earn the following yearly wage:

1. San Francisco: $165,225
2. New York: $114,906
3. London: $72,478
4. Amsterdam: $101,064
5. Average: $113,000

The highest salary for a Data Scientist was for those working in San Francisco ($165k). The next highest was New York ($115k) followed by Amsterdam ($101k) and London ($72k).

Senior Data Scientist

A software data scientist who has at least 4 years of experience earns the following on average:

1. San Francisco: $183,839
2. New York: $161,902
3. London: $98,000
4. Amsterdam: $142,030
5. Average: $132,030

The highest salary for a Senior Data Scientist was for those working in San Francisco ($184k). The next highest was New York ($161k) followed by Amsterdam ($142k) and London ($98k).

Lead Data Scientist

If you have more than ~5 years of experience as a data scientist you would expect to earn the following salary:

1. San Francisco: $220,475
2. New York: $190,739
3. London: $135,048
4. Amsterdam: $165,726
5. Average: $187,200

The highest salary for a Lead Data Scientist was for those working in San Francisco ($220k). The next highest was New York ($191k) followed by Amsterdam ($166k) and London ($135k).

Machine Learning Engineer

Machine learning engineers are at the intersection of software engineering and data science: 2 sought after skills. Given this, salaries can be much higher even for a machine learning engineer with only a few years of experience. If you have more than 2 years of experience as a machine learning engineer you could expect to earn:

1. San Francisco: $165,625
2. New York: $145,071
3. London: $80,212
4. Amsterdam: $105,679
5. Average: $124,000

The highest salary for a Machine Learning Engineer was for those working in San Francisco ($166k). The next highest was New York ($145k) followed by Amsterdam ($106k) and London ($80k).

Data Engineer

Data engineering is one of the most in demand tech skills according to a 2019 survey which is reflected in the average salary. A data engineer with 2 years of experience earns the following on average:

1. San Francisco: $142,106
2. New York: $117,246
3. London: $74,744
4. Amsterdam: $67,392
5. Average: $100,250

The highest salary for a Data Engineer was for those working in San Francisco ($142k). The next highest was New York ($117k) followed by London ($75k) and Amsterdam ($67k).

Senior Data Engineer

A data engineer with ~4 years of experience earns the following on average:

1. San Francisco: $189,564
2. New York: $177,844
3. London: $101,883
4. Amsterdam: $97,400
5. Average: $142,100

The highest salary for a Senior Data Engineer was for those working in San Francisco ($190k). The next highest was New York ($178k) followed by London ($102k) and Amsterdam ($97k).

Rising demand, limited supply

Across the world, talented software engineers have been in high demand for more than 20 years and that trend doesn't look to be going away any time soon. If we ignore the dot com bubble, the percentage of tech companies in the S&P 500 has been steadily increasing since 2002. This increase can be partly attributed to the rapid digital transformation that organizations are currently going through.

Overall, there are fewer qualified individuals in the employee pool, including annual graduates, than the number of software engineering jobs every year pushing salaries higher.

The salary breakdown above is based on the average salaries per year as posted on Glassdoor. Granted, there is an invisible range as it pertains to average salaries for the jobs mentioned above as there is missing salaries data. Some positions have a much wider range (e.g. Director of Engineering) in comparison to other roles with a higher supply of candidates (e.g. Junior Software Engineer)

It goes without saying however: all software engineering jobs are in high demand, especially those with a data focus. This can be seen below where the jobs with the highest project growth rate are data scientists, artificial engineers and data analysts.

Average Software Salary by Country

Now lets compare software engineering salaries at a country level:

Average Salary of Software Engineer in Europe

The range of salaries a software engineer might expect to receive varies widely across Europe. For example, an Engineeri is Switzerland (highest major city) may expect to receive around €108,000 whereas a developer in Athens (lowest major city) may only expect to receive €26,000.

In general, software engineers located in cities across the UK, Switzerland and Scandinavia are paid the highest salary. Italy, Hungary and Greece have the lowest paid software development jobs.

Average Salary of Software Engineer in the USA

What you get paid in the US largely depends on whether you are living on the east or west coast, vs in one of the Central States. For example, a software developer based in California may expect to get paid $119,000 whereas someone with the same skill set is likely to get paid almost 50% less in North Dakota.

One exception to this rule is Texas, where salaries are comparatively high, when benchmarked vs those States around them.

Here is the average base salary for a software engineer in various major cities in the USA:

1. San Francisco: $135k
2. Seattle: $133k
3. New York: $109k
4. Los Angeles: $102k
5. Denver: $97k
6. Washington: $97k
7. Chicago: $94k
8. Houston: $90k
9. Atlanta: $90k
10. Philadelphia: $89k
11. Miami: $87k
12. Detroit: $85k
13. Tampa: $82k

All data is from Glassdoor.

Software developer salaries by location

From our analysis, across the various specializations San Francisco and New York have the highest average salaries, which is obviously offset by the higher cost of living in comparison to London & Amsterdam.

Software engineers in London and Amsterdam should expect a lower salaries than those living in New York or San Francisco. Still, the market and compensation for these specialized talents have been on the rise in Europe, which has seen experienced software engineers looking to immerse themselves in the vibrant cultures of these European cities.

Still, San Francisco seems to have a higher total compensation which includes base salary, bonuses, and in some instances, equity within the tech firms. The bonus schemes will often go as high as 20% of the base salary in cash. Senior engineers will also have meaningful equity as part of the packages presented to them.

Given that Silicon Valley is the global center of tech firms and startups, this has seen companies within these regions pull a more incredible pool of specialized talent. San Francisco still has tech supremacy. Companies within these regions have the financial weight to pay out higher in all the job segments above. Directors of Engineers have the highest salaries at an average of $ 202,208 in San Francisco.

Software Engineering Salaries by Experience

As is expected junior software engineers (often be fresh graduates or specialists with less than two years of experience) earn the lowest salary, according to Glassdoor. This is purely a market dynamic given the quantity of junior software developers vs those with experience. This also makes it harder for junior engineers to negotiate salaries when offered a job. To negotiate a high salary junior engineers may have to take a risk on high-growth companies who are either on the road to becoming a public company or by joining before an IPO. In any case, once a junior gets a few years of experience under their belt they create much more leverage when negotiating their salaries.

On average salaries are around 33% higher for a software engineer who has 10 years experience vs someone with 1 year job experience.

From our analysis, junior software engineers are paid the highest comparative wage in San Francisco when we normalise by location. For example, a junior engineer living in Amsterdam would expect to get paid around 47% the salary of a senior developer (i.e. $47k vs $86k). Whereas in San Francisco a junior developer would expect to get paid almost 69% of the salary earned by a senior engineer (i.e. $88k vs $128k). If you are based in Europe, junior software developers in Amsterdam are paid more than software engineers based in London.

Conclusion

Tech companies engineers in the USA offer better salaries than those in Europe, however when we consider living costs, the difference in marginal. For example, education, housing, health insurance, and social security are significantly cheaper in Europe when compared to these costs in the US. Also, in Europe you are likely to enjoy greater job security than in the USA, as European employers will often have to deal with more stringent regulations if they want to get rid of you. Not like that's going to happen anyway 😇.