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State of Devs 2026

Workplace

Your current workplace.
$70,332
Difference between U.S. salary average and the rest of the world.

Salário anual

The three strongest predictors of a high income continue to be having more experience, working for a larger company, and being located in the U.S..
Seu salário anual em dólares americanos.
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
1
$0k-$20k
294
2
$20k-$40k
467
3
$40k-$60k
658
4
$60k-$80k
777
5
$80k-$100k
669
6
$100k-$150k
841
7
$150k-$200k
461
8
>$200k
348
9
N/A
291
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
4,806
88%
$92,990
$90,000
10

Income Evolution

While the U.S. does offer the highest salaries, it only ranks 11th when looking at countries with the highest proportion of increasing income. Instead, the top 10 is largely made up of Nordic countries and their neighbors, which could presage a reshuffle of the salary rankings in the coming years.
How has your total income evolved over the past 12 months?
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
1
Increased
2,398
2
Stayed the same
1,878
3
Decreased
544
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
4,820
88%
10
66%
Percentage of respondents working for large (1000+ employees) companies who saw their income increase over the past year.

Company Size

While working for larger companies remains correlated with earning more and seeing your income increase, it's also interesting to look at what happens when you don't work for a company at all.

In addition to working fewer hours per week, freelancers also reported lower AI usage and more negative attitudes towards AI in general, pointing to a possible solution for those seeking an alternative path–at the cost of lower revenues.

How many people work at your organization, including yourself?
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
1
1
296
2
1-5
288
3
5-10
236
4
10-20
362
5
20-50
556
6
50-100
505
7
100-1000
1,176
8
>1000
1,199
9
N/A
295
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
4,913
90%
413.9
550
10
$44,939
Average salary difference between job titles containing 'engineer' and those containing 'developer'.

Job Title

Carrying the “engineer” still comes with an income premium compared to being “just” a developer.

We can also see front-end development still makes up the bulk of the work, which makes sense given the web-centric focus of the survey's audience.

What is your job title?
Respostas livres
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
01
Software Engineer
02
Developer
03
Senior Engineer
04
Senior Developer
+1
05
Frontend Developer
-1
06
Technical Lead
+1
07
Fullstack Developer
-1
08
Principal Engineer
09
Lead Developer
+3
10
Frontend Engineer
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
4,321
79%
20
10

Work Areas
✨

Plotting work areas against average yearly income and average years of experience reveals a fairly strong correlation between the two.

Yet a few areas (such as AI and platform engineering, and hiring/interviewing) sit above the trendline, meaning they correlate with higher incomes than what you'd normally expect to see.

Which of these areas of software development are part of your day-to-day work?
Multiple
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
01
Front-end development (JS/TS)
4,064
02
Front-end development (CSS)
3,577
03
Back-end development
3,333
04
Systems design & architecture
2,289
05
DevOps
1,993
06
Technical leadership
1,974
07
Developer tools/tooling
1,935
08
Quality assurance
1,473
09
Project management
1,413
10
Accessibility testing
1,356
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
4,868
89%
6.9
20
10

Your Path to Becoming a Senior Web Developer

Want to upgrade your career? Deep-dive into JavaScript, React, Web performance, CSS, deploying websites, TypeScript, and functional programming to go from junior to senior today.
Obrigado aos nossos parceiros por nos apoiarem! Saiba mais.
4
Median number of job applications need by respondents to find their current job.

Number of Applications

Finding a new job is always a challenge, but thankfully it's one that gets easier over the years, as more experienced developers needed fewer tries on average to get hired.
How many positions did you apply to before getting your current job?
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
1
None (did not apply)
1,463
2
1
669
3
2-5
1,160
4
5-10
502
5
10-50
596
6
50-100
203
7
100+
207
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
4,800
88%
13.1
4
10

Job Finding

Interestingly, the data shows that finding your job through open-source or community work leads to a 39% income premium compared to the overall median.

And when it comes to effectiveness, generic job-finding methods such as LinkedIn or job boards require submitting more applications than going through your own personal network, or even applying to a company directly.

How did you find your current job?
Multiple
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
01
Personal network
1,370
02
Direct application to the company
887
03
Recruiter
735
04
702
05
Job board
632
06
Referral
586
07
Founded the company or self-employed
503
08
Contacted by company
+3
458
09
Internship
+3
188
10
Internal promotion or transfer
-2
153
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
4,640
85%
1.4
10
0.7
Difference in respondent's average job happiness (on a 5-point scale) between companies that allow remote work and those that don't.

Remote Work

Lack of remote work is correlated with both lower median income and lower job satisfaction. And larger organizations seem to have a harder time transitioning to remote work, with the median number of employees being only 35 when looking at fully-remote companies.
What best describes your employer's remote work policy?
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
01
No remote work
228
02
Hybrid
1,895
03
Exclusively remote
1,078
04
Up to the employee
1,384
05
Hybrid
06
Mostly remote
+1
07
Working from home
08
Freelancer/self-employed
09
Respostas eliminadas
+1
31
10
Respostas não correspondidas
+1
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
4,585
84%
10

Work Hours

While it may look like working more means earning more, income varies much more due to other confounding factors (years of experience, company size, etc.) than due to sheer amount of time spent at work.

In fact, if we isolate U.S. developers with 10-14 years of experience in order to eliminate those factor's influence, we see that the correlation between work hours and salary all but disappears.

In a typical week, how many hours do you work?
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
1
Under 30
497
2
31-35
497
3
36-40
2,625
4
41-45
509
5
46-50
355
6
Over 50
224
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
4,707
86%
39.6
40
10

Job Happiness

While the majority of developers remain happy about their job, the data does show a slight increase in unhappy respondents compared to last year (white striped bars).
How happy are you with your current job?
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
1
Very Unhappy
188
2
Unhappy
595
3
Neutral
1,231
4
Happy
2,062
5
Very Happy
684
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
4,760
87%
3.5
4
10

Workplace Perks

Once again coworker relationships, work-life balance, and overall working conditions rank far higher than raw compensation.
What do you enjoy about your current workplace?
Multiple
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
01
Relationships with coworkers
3,232
02
Work-life balance
2,895
03
Working conditions
2,813
04
Work content
2,152
05
Company culture
2,005
06
Compensation
1,860
07
Job security
1,782
08
Training & professional development
798
09
Being self-employed
10
Outras respostas
82
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
4,586
84%
3.8
10

Workplace Difficulties

Poor management was a write-in answer last year, and adding it as part of the official selectable items in this edition made it shoot straight to the top as the workplace difficulty respondents struggle with the most.
What are the negative aspects of the working environment at your current employer?
Multiple
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
01
Poor management
+8
1,748
02
Compensation
-1
1,710
03
Work content
1,321
04
Training & professional development
-2
1,252
05
Job security
1,224
06
Company culture
-2
1,124
07
Work-life balance
-1
893
08
Working conditions
-1
489
09
Relationships with coworkers
-1
468
10
ai_fatigue
11
Outras respostas
124
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
3,931
72%
2.6
10

Mental State
✨

This question's response items were inspired by common signs of burnout, and with respondents selecting 4.5 items on average it's fair to say this is a problem that affects a lot of us.
Which of the following have you experienced recently?
Multiple
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
01
Having reduced motivation or interest for work
2,943
02
Feeling increasingly cynical about my work or industry
2,700
03
Feeling emotionally drained at the end of the workday
2,553
04
Finding myself procrastinating more
2,389
05
Having trouble focusing on tasks I used to enjoy
2,289
06
Having a reduced sense of accomplishment at work
2,237
07
Feeling less effective at work
2,021
08
Having trouble sleeping or irregular sleep patterns
1,595
09
Having trouble disconnecting from work outside of work hours
1,479
10
AI fatigue
11
Outras respostas
27
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
4,484
82%
4.5
10

Keyboard
✨

Mechanical keyboards are having a bit of a moment, but many developers are still fine with the default laptop keyboard.
What kind of keyboard do you typically use for work?
Respostas livres

View:

0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
01
Apple keyboard
2
02
Mechanical keyboard
9
03
Logitech
1
04
Laptop keyboard
05
Ergonomic keyboard
6
06
Keyboard layouts
3
07
Regular keyboard
08
Split keyboard
09
Dell keyboard
10
Microsoft keyboard
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
4,056
74%
10

Monitors
✨

Having two monitors may be the norm, but a sizeable minority still manages to survive with just one.
How many monitors do you typically use when working?
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
1
None
141
2
1
1,426
3
2
2,454
4
3
799
5
4 or more
64
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
4,884
89%
1.8
2
10