San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA · CBSA 41940
Software Engineer Salary in San Jose
VerifiedPublished metro-area wages for software engineers in San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA, from the BLS OEWS May 2024 release — with the local distribution set against California and the national benchmark.
Software Engineers in San Jose earn a median of $208,270 per year, per BLS OEWS May 2024. The middle 50% earn $171,610–$222,550; the top 10% earn at least $239,200. That is 56% above the national median and 22% above the California median. BLS reports 90,280 employed locally.
Median wage
Verified$208,270
+56% vs national
Top 10% earn
≥$239,200
BLS topcodes at this level
Employed in metro
90,280
Reliability High (1.4% RSE)
Software Engineer pay — San Jose vs California vs national
All three distributions are published BLS percentiles on a single shared scale.
| Percentile | Annual wage | vs national |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentileentry / low | $134,830 | +69% |
| 25th percentile | $171,610 | +67% |
| Median50th percentile | $208,270 | +56% |
| 75th percentile | $222,550 | +32% |
| 90th percentiletop earners | ≥$239,200 | +13% |
| Meanaverage | $226,510 | +57% |
How concentrated software engineers are in San Jose
Location quotient compares local concentration to the national rate. Above 1.00 means this metro employs the occupation more densely than the country overall.
Location quotient
7.42
Jobs per 1,000
79.56
Metro rank (pay)
#1 of 381
All engineering roles
$198,002
At a location quotient of 7.42, San Jose is a genuine hub for this discipline — the occupation is roughly 7.4× as concentrated here as nationally, which usually means deeper employer competition and more lateral options.
Frequently asked questions
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Source details
Published wage from BLS OEWS May 2024 for SOC 15-1252 (Software Developers), San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (metro area).
Benchmarks come from published government wage data via BLS OEWS. Local and emerging-role figures are labeled estimates. Full methodology →