Software Developers salary in Raleigh, North Carolina

About 12,290 Software Developers work in the Raleigh metro, making it one of the larger concentrations of the role in the Southeast. The median annual wage was $131,390 in 2024, essentially flat with the North Carolina state median of $131,000. Both figures sit about 5% below the national median of $138,520.

The mean wage of $135,620 runs roughly $4,200 above the median. That gap reflects a smaller group of senior or specialized developers pulling the average up, though the effect is modest compared to what we see in coastal tech hubs.

The spread between the 10th and 90th percentiles is the more instructive number here. Entry-level developers near the bottom of the local distribution earned around $82,900, while those near the top earned $180,630. Top earners made roughly 2.2 times what bottom earners made. That range is wide enough that experience, sub-specialty, and employer type matter a lot more than the metro median alone suggests.

Raleigh's position just below the national figure is worth naming directly. The city has a well-established tech presence built around Research Triangle Park, but wages here have not closed the gap with coastal markets. For developers weighing location, the lower cost of living relative to San Francisco or Seattle may close some of that difference in practice, though we don't publish cost-of-living figures at the metro level.