Insights · Pay and cost of living
Groundwork research · Published October 11, 2026 · Data as of September 29, 2026 · 4 min read
Software developers earn the most in San Jose, CA, where the median is $213,110 a year and prices run 10.4% above the national average. We divided each metro's median by its price level to see where that pay goes furthest. After the adjustment, 7 of the 116 metros with at least 1,000 software developers pay a median above $150,000.
San Jose, CA
metros, after prices
$128,740 before prices
Lansing, MI
Median annual pay divided by the metro's price level, for the 116 metros with at least 1,000 software developers in the BLS survey.
Each bar is a metro's median annual wage for software developers divided by its price level, where 100 is the national average. Under each name are the median itself, the metro's prices and, where the order changed, its place by median pay alone.
Median annual pay for software developers after prices
San Jose, CA and San Francisco, CA stay first and second. Seattle, WA and New York, NY, 3rd and 4th by median pay, are 7th and 8th once prices count, since theirs run 11.1% and 12.6% above the national average. In the middle of the 116 metros the median is $128,740 before prices and $130,900 after them.
A metro climbs when its prices run below those of the metros it passes. Peoria, IL gains 33 places and Rochester, MN gains 13, with prices 8.8% and 9.2% below the national average.
48th by median pay ($130,590), 15th after prices ($143,142). Prices run 8.8% below the national average.
22nd by median pay ($134,450), 9th after prices ($148,038). Prices run 9.2% below the national average.
9th by median pay ($162,090), 4th after prices ($153,412). Prices run 5.7% above the national average.
6th by median pay ($164,560), 3rd after prices ($156,423). Prices run 5.2% above the national average.
Each figure is a median: half of a metro's software developers earn more. The price level averages everything a household buys, with housing the largest part, so it describes a typical household in the metro and your own costs can run above or below it. Medians are survey estimates, and metros a few percent apart are close to a tie.
BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates: the median annual wage and the employment of software developers (SOC 15-1252) in each metropolitan area.
BEA Regional Price Parities for 2024, all items, for the same metros (100 is the national average). Adjusted pay is the median divided by the price level over 100, the deflation
BEA's real-income figures use and the one the report's affordability line uses. A metro counts with at least 1,000 software developers, a published median and a
price level: 116 do. Pay is rounded to whole dollars and prices to one decimal, and metros tied on adjusted pay are listed by name. The wage survey and the price parities cover
different periods (May 2025 and 2024). Built by scripts/build_insights.py.
Sources: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics; BEA Regional Price Parities by state and metro area.
Informational only; not legal, immigration, or financial advice.
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