Software Engineer salary in California
A real-employer view of Software Engineer pay, clustered from DOL OFLC certified filings. Variants like Senior, Lead, and II/III titles fold into this cluster — the wage range below reflects all of them.
Software Engineer in California: actual employer-disclosed pay
Public records from 175 certified H-1B Labor Condition Applications filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. Median offered wage: $149,000. Every figure below is an actual offered salary an employer attested to under federal law.
By DOL wage level
DOL classifies every offer into one of four wage levels based on the role's experience and skill requirements.
| Level | Filings | Median offer |
|---|---|---|
| Level I — entry | 22 | $102,755 |
| Level II — qualified | 70 | $139,000 |
| Level III — experienced | 35 | $165,422 |
| Level IV — fully competent | 38 | $198,027 |
Top employers filing for this role
Companies with the most certified filings for Software Engineer in California. Median offer is across all of that employer's filings. Click a company for its full H-1B salary breakdown.
| Employer | Most-filed title | Filings | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Platforms, Inc | Software Engineer | 18 | $216,500 |
| Juniper Networks, Inc. | Software Engineer | 13 | $133,432 |
| Tesla, Inc. | Software Engineer | 8 | $163,011 |
| Snowflake Inc. | Software Engineer | 6 | $194,476 |
| SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LLC | Software Engineer II | 4 | $163,700 |
| ASML US, LP | Senior Software Engineer 1 | 3 | $165,422 |
| Dell Marketing L.P. | Software Engineer 2 | 3 | $143,100 |
| Fiserv Solutions, LLC | Senior Software Engineer | 3 | $179,500 |
| General Motors | Senior Software Engineer | 3 | $183,891 |
| MATTSON TECHNOLOGY, INC. | Software Engineer 2 | 3 | $113,277 |
Recent sample filings
A snapshot of recent certified offers. Each line is a real, public, verifiable record.
- Senior Software Engineer at Moody's Analytics, Inc.$174,118NewarkWage Level IIDecided Mar 26, 2026I-200-26078-716007
- Software Engineer 3 at SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT LLC$151,436San MateoWage Level IIDecided Mar 26, 2026I-200-26078-715452
- Software Engineer at Social Finance, LLC$165,000San FranciscoWage Level IIDecided Mar 20, 2026I-200-26072-703106
- Software Engineer at SRS Consulting, Inc.$135,000Santa ClaraWage Level IIDecided Mar 20, 2026I-200-26072-700699
- Software Engineer at Snowflake Inc.$201,053Menlo ParkWage Level IVDecided Mar 19, 2026I-200-26071-699176
- Software Engineer 3 at ASML US, LP$129,792San JoseWage Level IIDecided Mar 13, 2026I-200-26065-684688
- Software Engineer at SK Hynix NAND Product Solutions Corp$129,792San JoseWage Level IIDecided Mar 12, 2026I-200-26064-683598
- Software Engineer, Tooling and Development Infrastructure at HP Inc.$113,277San FranciscoWage Level IIDecided Mar 9, 2026I-200-26061-674777
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification. Disclosed wages reflect what employers attested to pay; actual paid wages may differ. Only certified filings are shown — denied and withdrawn cases are excluded.