Software Developers salary in Sacramento, California

About 7,410 Software Developers worked in the Sacramento metro in 2024, putting it among the mid-sized tech labor markets in California. The median annual wage was $141,030, roughly $2,500 above the national median of $138,520 but about $29,900 below the California median of $170,910. Sacramento pays more than most of the country, just not more than the state it sits in.

That gap with California's statewide figure is worth looking at. The state median is pulled up by the Bay Area and parts of Los Angeles, where concentrations of senior engineers at large tech companies push wages well above what most metros see. Sacramento's numbers reflect a different mix of employers, including state government agencies, regional tech firms, and healthcare IT operations.

The spread within Sacramento is wide. The 10th-percentile wage was $94,380 and the 90th percentile reached $210,460. Top earners in this metro make roughly 2.2 times what those near the bottom of the distribution earn. That range is typical for a software development occupation, where experience, specialization, and the type of employer each move the needle substantially. The mean wage of $149,340 sits about $8,300 above the median, which tells us a smaller group of higher earners pulls the average up.

For a California metro outside the major coastal tech centers, Sacramento holds its own against the national figure while sitting clearly below what the statewide numbers suggest at first glance.