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Kafka Developer Salary and Equity in 2026
How much can a Kafka developer expect to make at US-based startups? The average estimated salary for Kafka developers is 138k per year, with a range from 63k to 238k. The salary range for Kafka developers varies depending on factors such as location, industry, experience, and startup stage.
138.3k
Average Salary
5 years
Average years of experience
Salary
The average salary for a Kafka developer is$138,250, which is 7.2% higher than the average startup salary of$129,000. Kafka developer salaries are based on exclusive Wellfound data. All data is updated on a weekly basis. Factors that may influence salary include: location, years of experience, title, size of company, and industry.
Top of market
$218,083/yr
Range $190k - $238k
Average
$138,250/yr
Range $100k - $166k
Below Average
$102,333/yr
Range $63k - $139k
Top Locations
The highest average salary a Kafka developer can get in Austin, that is $186,500. This pay is 34.9% higher than the average Kafka salary in startups, which is $138,250. Salaries will vary based on your location. The top-paying markets in the US, on average, are currently: Austin (avg $186,500 per year), Minneapolis (avg $186,000 per year), Denver (avg $172,000 per year). Remote jobs often pay based on the location you reside in.
Austin
$186.5k
Minneapolis
$186k
Denver
$172k
Santa Monica
$170.5k
Los Angeles
$170k
Chicago
View SalariesSan Diego
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View SalariesLondon
View SalariesIndustries
The highest average salary a Kafka developer can get in Digital Entertainment, that is $400,000. This pay is 35.4% higher than the average Kafka salary, which is $295,450. The highest-paying industries in 2023 are: Digital Entertainment (avg $400,000 per year), Social Media Platforms (avg $320,000 per year), Consumer Internet (avg $307,000 per year).
Tech Stack
Top Tech Stacks
The top-paying developer skills of 2026 are:
1. Celery
$202k
2. Clojure
$195k
3. OpenCV
$192k
4. Clojurescript
$187.5k
5. rundeck
$176.5k
6. react
$175k
7. Scipy
$175k
8. Symfony
$175k
9. RESTful APIs
$174k
10. Vue
$170k
Years of experience
Below Average
Average
Top of Market
The highest average salary a Kafka developer can get with 10+ years of experience, that is $170,000. This pay is 31.8% higher than the average salary in startups, which is $129,000. 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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