Where web developers are commanding the biggest salaries

Web developers “take what a designer might have put together and code the design” to create a website or web page, says Dan Martino, digital director and founder of Web Developers. 914 digital, a New York-based digital media company. “If you look at your browser, a developer has taken all the graphics and coded them.”

Working with different programming language tools, developers create and publish websites, and can work on either the front-end or back-end of those sites. It's a relatively specialized skill set as well, which is what has traditionally made web development a high-paying career path.

How much do web developers make?

As mentioned, the average pay for web developers in the United States, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, is about $93,000 per year. But there are other estimates as well, and many factors that can ultimately impact what a particular developer ultimately earns. For example salary Data from reality It shows average base salaries for developers at just under $80,000 per year.

Where the developer lives also plays a big role in what they might expect to earn as well. For example, Washington, D.C. and states like California and Washington — which are home to large tech hubs like Silicon Valley and Seattle — tend to see high average developer salaries. But experts say things are changing.

“There has been some movement away from some of the tech hubs,” says Nick Bunker, director of North American economic research at Indeed. “Some of the biggest declines, in terms of overall web developer job numbers, were in San Francisco, Seattle, and San Jose,” he explains. This is part of a broader slowdown in the tech sector, but Pinker says developers “with the right skills, abilities and relationships to get in” are more likely to earn a good salary.

Cities and states with a large technology presence are one factor that can increase developers' profits. So, again, states like California, Washington, Virginia (bordering the District of Columbia), Massachusetts (Boston), and Texas (Austin), tend to be in the upper tier in terms of developer salaries.

Cost of living

Naturally, different cities and states have varying levels of affordability and costs of living. For example, a web developer earning an average salary in California may not feel like they have the same purchasing power as a developer earning the same salary in, say, Wyoming.

For potential developers, this is something to keep in mind. As remote work becomes more widespread, there may be an opportunity to try to take advantage of negotiating a higher salary compared to the local cost of living.

Web developer salary by state

Here's how web developer salaries rank by state, according to Latest data available (May 2023) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in descending order. You will also see the corresponding annual average cost of living index for the state, According to calculations by the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC)..

“MERIC derives each state's cost of living index by averaging indices for participating cities and metropolitan areas in that state,” the MERIC website says, weighing the costs of categories such as groceries, housing, utilities and transportation. In general, for simplicity's sake, the higher a state's cost of living index, the higher the cost of living.

Here's how the average income of web developers ranks in each state, and each state's corresponding cost of living index, per MERIC:

Ready meals

Web developers tend to have relatively high salaries, but compensation can vary widely depending on many factors, including where you live. In general, developers are more likely to earn higher salaries in states with tech hubs, like California or Washington, where cities like San Francisco and Seattle are home to many major tech companies.

But with changes in the technology sector and the rise of remote work, developers may have more options to gauge their options and try to live in areas with lower costs of living. But it's also important to keep in mind that starting in 2024, the tech sector will shrink slightly, and there won't be as many jobs as there were a few years ago.

“This is a slowdown in a job that pays very well, compared to other jobs,” Bunker says. “There has been a noticeable decline,” he says, but in the long term, web development should remain an area of ​​growth and opportunity.