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Software Engineer Salary and Equity in United States 2026
How much does a Software Engineer expect to make at United States-based startups? The average expected salary for Software Engineers in United States-based startups is 157k per year, with a range from 90k to 242k. These amounts were gathered from Wellfound self-reported data and represent the median salary range. The salary range for Software Engineers in United States startups varies depending on factors such as industry, experience, skills, and startup stage.
156.8k
Average Salary
4 years
Average years of experience
Salary
The average salary for a Software Engineer in United States is $156,750, which is 17.3% higher than the average United States startup salary of$133,667. Software Engineer salaries in United States are based on exclusive Wellfound data. All data is updated on a weekly basis. Factors that may influence salary include: years of experience, title, size of company, skill-set, and industry.
Top of market
$217,750/yr
Range $185k - $242k
Average
$156,750/yr
Range $135k - $175k
Below Average
$121,000/yr
Range $90k - $149k
Industries
The highest average salary a Software Engineer in United States can get in Unified Communication, that is $307,000. This pay is 16.8% higher than the average Software Engineer salary in United States, which is $262,750. The highest-paying industries in 2023 are: Unified Communication (avg $307,000 per year), HR / Recruiting (avg $277,500 per year), Social News (avg $260,500 per year).
Tech Stack
The highest average salary a Software Engineer in United States can get with PyTorch, that is $262,000. This pay is 96.0% higher than the average salary in United States startups, which is $133,667. Salary range for specific skills will vary based on the supply and demand in the current market.
Top Tech Stacks
The top-paying Software Engineer skills in United States of 2026 are:
1. PyTorch
$262k
2. Puppet
$227.5k
3. Airflow
$224k
4. Deep Learning
$207k
5. Redis
$202k
6. Flask
$202k
7. Objective-C
$191k
8. Flutter
$190k
9. Neo4J
$185.5k
10. Zookeeper
$185k
Years of experience
Below Average
Average
Top of Market
The highest average salary a Software Engineer in United States can get with 10+ years of experience, that is $112,000. This pay is 16.2% lower than the average salary in United States startups, which is $133,667. The salary range varies with years of experience and depends on other factors such as skill set, size of company, and industry.
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Popular skills
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Tech Hubs for Software Engineer
Industries for Software Engineer
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