Software Developers salary in Memphis, Tennessee

About 2,500 Software Developers work in the Memphis metro, a smaller footprint than major tech hubs but enough to support a real local market. The median annual wage here was $116,470 in 2024, just under the Tennessee median of $117,340 and about 16% below the national median of $138,520.

That national gap is worth sitting with. Memphis trails US peers by roughly $22,000 at the midpoint. Some of that reflects the kinds of industries that hire software developers locally, which skew toward logistics, healthcare, and regional finance rather than software-first companies. The work is similar; the pay context is different.

The spread across earners is wide. Developers at the 10th percentile earned around $71,120, while those at the 90th earned $161,200. Top earners in Memphis make about 2.3 times what their entry-level peers do. That range likely reflects a mix of seniority and the sub-specialties employers here are actually hiring for, not just years on a resume.

One unusual detail: the mean wage ($116,280) sits slightly below the median ($116,470). In most metro areas the mean runs above the median because a few very high earners pull the average up. The reverse here suggests the upper end of the Memphis market is not producing outlier salaries the way coastal metros do. The distribution is compressed rather than stretched.