State of US Salaries

Report

H I R E D S S TATE O F S ALARI E S RE P O RT
Hired, the company on a mission to get everyone a job they love, has tapped into its
data to reveal insights on software engineers salaries and the hiring market more
generally. Because Hired facilitates the job searching process from the initial interview
request all the way to the final job offer, we have unprecedented visibility into salaries
across a variety of positions and companies. Most of the tools available to companies
and job seekers are flawed and inaccurate. Salary calculators dont account for
company size, years of candidate experience or location, while many job sites are
based on anonymous, self-reported data which can vary widely in accuracy. Hireds
data, on the other hand, is based on actual job offers made to real people.
Our inaugural State of Salaries report is part of a larger effort to bring more
transparency to the hiring process. We want to empower candidates to understand
their market value based on their skills and experience so that they can approach the
job searching process armed with information. We also want to help companies
recruit and hire with insight. We believe this transparency benefits everyone, so that
individuals can find jobs they love and companies can attract the individuals who will
drive their businesses forward.

WHERE DOES YOUR SOFTWARE

ENGINEERING PAYCHECK GO THE
FURTHEST?
San Francisco is infamous for high salaries and
even higher rents. While San Francisco salaries
are huge - $132K on average for software
engineers - adjusting for cost of living paints a
different picture. We used a standardized cost of
living calculator to show how average salaries in
each city would compare to San Francisco.
For example, an engineer in Austin making
$110,000 would need to make $195,000 in San
Francisco to maintain the same quality of life.

AVERAGE SOFTWARE ENGINEER SALARY:

ATLANTA: $96K
AUSTIN: $110K
BOSTON: $117K
CHICAGO: $108K
DENVER: $116K
LOS ANGELES: $122K

NEW YORK: $125K

SAN DIEGO: $115K
SEATTLE: $125K
SF BAY AREA: $132K
WASHINGTON D.C: $115K

AVERAGE SOFTWARE ENGINEER SALARY:

ADJUSTED BASED ON COST OF LIVING IN SAN FRANCISCO

SEATTLE
$164K

BOSTON
$142K

SF BAY AREA
$132K

NEW YORK
$123K

CHICAGO
$155K

WASHINGTON D.C.
$136K

DENVER
$180K

LOS ANGELES
$152K

While its easy for job seekers to get stars in their

eyes over the salaries in San Francisco, when you
adjust for cost of living, an engineers salary goes
further in every city in our analysis with the
exception of New York.

SAN DIEGO
$142K

ATLANTA
$163K

AUSTIN
$195K

AVERAGE OFFER TO CANDIDATES RELOCATING

FROM SAN FRANCISCO:
SEATTLE

STARTING A CAREER?
DO IT IN SAN FRANCISCO.
Forgetting cost-of-living adjustments
for a moment, our data indicates that
there are advantages to starting your
career in San Francisco. Candidates
leaving the Bay Area command
higher offers than candidates from
any other city in our analysis.
Bottom line: No matter where you
want to work, engineers that start
their careers in San Francisco have
a higher earning potential once they
move to other job markets.

$134K
$9k

BOSTON
$133K
$16k

$132K

NEW YORK
$133K
$8k

CHICAGO
$125K
$17k

WASHINGTON D.C.
$131K
$16k

DENVER
$123K
$7k
LOS ANGELES
$133K
$11k
SAN DIEGO
$134K
$19k

ATLANTA
$111K
$15k

AUSTIN
$119K
$9k

Black: Average offer for candidates relocating from San Francisco

Green: The difference in salary between candidates who relocated from San Francisco and the average
software engineer in that city

TRANSPLANTS VS. LOCALS: HOW DO SALARY OFFERS COMPARE?

In most cities, companies offer higher salaries to candidates who are relocating from another market. The only
exception is San Francisco, where local candidates command higher salaries than those relocating from outside
the Bay Area.
ATLANTA: $94K, $105K

DENVER: $113K, $122K

SEATTLE: $123K, $128K

AUSTIN: $108K, $113K

LA: $119K, $127K

S.F. BAY AREA: $134K, $124K

BOSTON: $114K, $123K

NEW YORK: $125K, $126K

WASHINGTON D.C.: $110K, $122K

CHICAGO: $105K, $116K

SAN DIEGO: $103K, $125K

Local: Average offer made to local candidates

Transplant: Average offer made to candidates relocating from a different city

ATLANTA: 10.5

STARTING A NEW OFFICE? THESE

CITIES GIVE YOU THE MOST ENGINEERING
BANG FOR YOUR BUCK:

CHICAGO: 9.5
AUSTIN: 9
BOSTON: 8.5
DENVER: 8.5

While job seekers are particularly interested in their potential

salaries, employers can use average salary data to scale their
teams. If youve got a $1M annual engineering budget, you
can hire approximately 10 engineers in Atlanta, compared to
9 in Boston or just 8 in San Francisco.

SAN DIEGO: 8.5

WASHINGTON D.C.: 8.5
LOS ANGELES: 8
NEW YORK: 8
SEATTLE: 8
SF BAY AREA: 7.5

MID-SIZED COMPANIES OFFER HIGHEST SALARIES:

Our data shows that salary and number of employees are positively correlated until we reach the 201-500
employee mark, and then the numbers start to go back down. One possible reason for this is the availability of
salary alternatives as part of an overall compensation package. For example, companies with less than 200
people are usually in the series b or below stage, and can offer more equity, whereas many companies with more
than 500 people are publicly traded and can offer stock packages. Those in the middle have less equity to give
and typically arent publicly traded, so higher salaries may be a way to keep offers competitive.

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES:
SALARY:

METHODOLOGY
This report is based on proprietary information gathered and analyzed by Hireds
product data science team. For the purpose of this report, we focused on software
engineers in 11 cities. The salaries included reflect more than 80,000 interview
requests and job offers from the past year facilitated through our marketplace of
more than 3,000 participating companies and 10,000 job seekers.

ABOUT HIRED
Hired is on a mission to get everyone a job they love. Starting with in-demand tech
and sales roles, weve built a marketplace that brings together highly qualified
individuals with the companies who want to hire them. Users on the Hired platform
receive objective guidance throughout the interview process from a dedicated Talent
Advocate, as well as the ability to compare new opportunities side by side so they
can make their next career move with confidence. Employers get access to a
hand-picked pool of candidates who are interested in new roles, as well as unmatched
transparency into competing offers so they can recruit and hire with insight. The end
result is an efficient, effective and enjoyable experience thats far faster than
traditional methods. Hired is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in nearly a
dozen cities in North America and Europe and plans to expand to a variety of
industries and job categories.