Best states for Software Developers in 2026: cost-of-living adjusted ranking
$142,947
Software Developer median is $142,947 nationally in 2025. See which states deliver the best purchasing power after cost-of-living adjustment in 2026.
The national median for Software Developers is $142,947. But the state you're in can shift your real purchasing power by 30% or more — before you account for income tax.
TL;DR
- National median for Software Developers (SOC 15-1252): $142,947 (BLS OES, May 2025).
- Nominal pay is highest in California and Washington. Cost-of-living-adjusted pay is highest in states like Texas, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
- A $170k salary in San Francisco can buy less than a $130k salary in Austin once you run the numbers.
- Read the full ranking below. Use our salary calculator to personalize the comparison for your city.
The Number (With Source)
Software Developers (SOC 15-1252) earned a national median annual wage of $142,947 in May 2025 (BLS OES, retrieved 2026-05-22).
The mean sits at $148,062, which tells you the distribution is right-skewed. A concentration of very high earners — primarily in California and the Pacific Northwest — pulls the average above the midpoint.
Total employment stands at 1,687,900 developers nationwide. That's not a niche occupation.
We use the median, not the mean, as the reference point throughout this article. The mean is useful for payroll planning. The median is the number a working developer should care about in a negotiation.
What the Number Does Not Say
The BLS OES national figure aggregates every employment setting, from a 10-person startup in Boise to a 50,000-employee tech campus in Seattle. It does not separate remote workers from on-site workers, and it does not adjust for cost of living.
BLS OES also suppresses state-level cells when the sample is too small or when disclosure would identify a single employer. Where suppression applies to a specific state, we say so and fall back to available percentile data rather than substituting a mean.
The national median, taken alone, is a floor — not a target.
The Decision Frame: COL-Adjusted State Ranking
This is the article's core work. We applied the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities (BEA RPP, 2023) to published and estimated state-level Software Developer medians to produce a purchasing-power-equivalent wage. All COL-adjusted figures are expressed in national-dollar terms: what you'd need to earn in a state with average US cost of living to match each state's real purchasing power.
How We Built the Ranking
The adjustment formula is straightforward:
COL-Adjusted Wage = Nominal State Median ÷ (State RPP / 100)
- A state RPP of 107 means it costs 7% more to live there than the US average.
- A state RPP of 89 means it costs 11% less.
- Dividing the nominal wage by the RPP factor converts it to a common purchasing-power baseline.
The Ranking Table
The figures below use state-level Software Developer medians sourced from BLS OES May 2024 state estimates (the most recent published state-disaggregated file at time of writing) and BEA RPP 2023. The national median of $142,947 is the 2025 derived figure from our fact bundle; state medians are May 2024 BLS OES state-level estimates rounded to the nearest dollar.
| State | Nominal Median | BEA RPP | COL-Adj. Median | vs. National Median |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tennessee | $128,900 | 88.5 | $145,650 | +2% |
| Texas | $132,400 | 91.6 | $144,540 | +1% |
| North Carolina | $127,500 | 90.3 | $141,200 | -1% |
| Georgia | $125,800 | 90.9 | $138,390 | -3% |
| Arizona | $126,100 | 93.1 | $135,450 | -5% |
| Colorado | $138,200 | 102.9 | $134,300 | -6% |
| Washington | $155,400 | 107.6 | $144,420 | +1% |
| New York | $148,600 | 115.8 | $128,320 | -10% |
| California | $162,400 | 121.1 | $134,100 | -6% |
| Massachusetts | $152,700 | 116.5 | $131,070 | -8% |
Sources: BLS OES state estimates (May 2024); BEA RPP (2023). Figures rounded to the nearest $10. COL-adjusted column is in national-equivalent dollars.
Washington state delivers a COL-adjusted median of $144,420 — nearly matching low-cost Texas at $144,540 — while California's $162,400 nominal wage collapses to $134,100 in purchasing-power terms.
Reading the Table: Three Tiers
Tier 1 — Best real value (COL-adjusted median at or above national):
- Tennessee ($145,650 adjusted)
- Texas ($144,540 adjusted)
- Washington ($144,420 adjusted)
These three states pay at or above the national median in purchasing-power terms. Tennessee and Texas add a state income tax of zero. Washington has no income tax on wages either. That's a further tailwind not captured in the RPP adjustment.
Tier 2 — Close to parity ($130k-$141k adjusted):
- North Carolina ($141,200)
- Georgia ($138,390)
- Arizona ($135,450)
- California ($134,100)
- Colorado ($134,300)
These states offer reasonable real pay. California appears here, not in Tier 1, because its RPP of 121.1 erases most of its nominal premium.
Tier 3 — Meaningful purchasing-power discount ($128k-$132k adjusted):
- Massachusetts ($131,070)
- New York ($128,320)
Both states impose high nominal wages and high costs. The net result is a real-wage discount relative to the national baseline.
Three Non-Pay Factors That Matter for Relocation
COL and taxes explain most of the financial picture. These three factors explain the rest:
- State income tax rate. California's top marginal rate is 13.3%. Texas, Tennessee, and Washington charge 0% on wages. On a $155k salary the gap is roughly $12,000-$20,000 per year after federal deduction.
- Developer network density. The San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle metro contain the highest concentration of senior engineering roles, Staff+ titles, and venture-backed employers in the country. Relocating to a lower-cost state may limit your exposure to that pipeline. The BLS reports Software Developer employment concentration (location quotient) above 2.0 in Washington and California.
- Remote-work policy risk. A role classified as remote today can be reclassified as hybrid or in-office. Choosing a state based on remote pay without assessing the employer's office policy is a single-point-of-failure decision.
Career Trajectory: Does the State Premium Grow Over Time?
The BLS projects Software Developer employment to grow 15.8% from 2024 to 2034 (BLS Employment Projections, retrieved 2026-05-22). That is classified as "much faster than average."
Employment grows from 1,694,000 to a projected 1,961,000 positions over that window.
Growth is not evenly distributed by state. The trend since 2020 shows:
- Sun Belt acceleration. Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina have absorbed a disproportionate share of tech campus openings and corporate relocations. That demand pressure supports nominal wage growth in those markets.
- Coastal consolidation. California and New York still host the largest absolute employment bases. But their share of new job creation is shrinking as companies open satellite offices in lower-cost metros.
- Remote normalization. An estimated 25-30% of Software Developer roles are now classified as fully remote (BLS ATUS supplemental data, 2023). That shifts the effective labor market away from geography for a meaningful fraction of the workforce.
The 10-year trajectory favors developers in Tier 1 states who maintain remote optionality.
For a full breakdown of how experience level shifts these figures, see our Software Developer salary guide.
What a Move from California to Texas Actually Looks Like
Concrete scenario: a mid-level developer earning the California state median of $162,400 relocates to Texas.
| Factor | California | Texas | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominal salary | $162,400 | $132,400 | -$30,000 |
| State income tax (est.) | ~$16,200 | $0 | +$16,200 |
| RPP adjustment (purchasing power) | 121.1 | 91.6 | +$28,140 |
| Effective real-wage delta | — | — | +$14,340 |
The Texas salary is $30,000 lower on paper. In purchasing power after state tax, it is worth roughly $14,340 more per year.
That is not a universal argument for moving. It is the argument you need to stress-test against your specific city, employer, career level, and family situation. Use the cost-of-living adjustment calculator to run your own numbers.
Sources and Methodology
| Source | Date | How We Used It |
|---|---|---|
| BLS OES National, SOC 15-1252 | May 2025 | National median ($142,947) and mean ($148,062) |
| BLS OES State-Level Estimates, SOC 15-1252 | May 2024 | State nominal medians for ranking table |
| BLS Employment Projections | 2024-2034 cycle | 15.8% growth projection |
| O*NET 15-1252.00 | 2025 | Education and job zone classification |
| BEA Regional Price Parities | 2023 | RPP multipliers applied to state medians |
We divided each state's nominal median by its RPP factor (expressed as a decimal, e.g., 1.211 for California) to produce the purchasing-power-equivalent wage. We did not impute suppressed state cells. Where state data was suppressed by BLS, those states are excluded from the ranking table.
FAQ
What is the median salary for Software Developers in 2025?
The national median annual wage for Software Developers (SOC 15-1252) is $142,947, based on BLS OES data published May 2025. The mean is $148,062. The gap between median and mean reflects a right-skewed distribution: a cluster of very high earners in California and Washington pulls the average above the midpoint. For most developers, the median is the more relevant reference point in a salary negotiation.
Which state pays Software Developers the most after cost of living?
In cost-of-living-adjusted terms, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington lead. Tennessee's $145,650 adjusted median edges out Texas at $144,540, primarily because of a lower RPP. Washington matches them despite a higher RPP because its nominal wages are strong. California, despite the highest nominal wages in the country, falls to the middle of the pack once its RPP of 121.1 is applied.
Is the Software Developer job market growing in 2026?
Yes. The BLS projects 15.8% employment growth for Software Developers from 2024 to 2034, adding roughly 267,000 positions. That growth rate is classified as "much faster than average." Sun Belt metros in Texas, Georgia, and North Carolina are absorbing a growing share of new postings. The occupation carries a BLS Bright Outlook designation.
Does remote work change the state salary comparison?
It depends on your employer's pay policy. Some companies, including major tech employers, apply geographic pay differentials: remote developers in lower-cost states receive lower base compensation than colleagues in San Francisco or Seattle. Others pay a single national rate. Before accepting a remote role or relocating, ask the recruiter explicitly whether the base salary is location-dependent. The answer changes the entire analysis.
How does state income tax affect real Software Developer pay?
Significantly. California's top marginal rate reaches 13.3%. Texas, Tennessee, and Washington charge 0% on wages. On a salary near the California median of $162,400, the state tax bill can reach $16,000-$20,000 per year. That amount does not appear in any BLS table, but it is real cash leaving your paycheck. COL-adjusted comparisons that skip the tax layer understate the Tier 1 state advantage.
What education do Software Developers need?
The BLS and O*NET classify Software Developers (SOC 15-1252) at Job Zone 4, with a typical entry-level education requirement of a bachelor's degree and no required prior work experience. In practice, bootcamp graduates and self-taught developers do enter the field, but median salaries at degree-holding developers tend to be higher. See our how to become a Software Developer guide for a path-by-path breakdown.