Research Engineer / Performance Engineer, RL Distributed Systems
San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | Seattle, WA $500k – $850k/yr
visa sponsorshippythonrustc++Direct from employer 12d ago
Backend Developer salary in the United States
What employers are offering right now, from 182 live Backend Developer postings in the United States that publish a pay range. Updated October 2026.
Median
$215k
a year, base pay
Middle half
$195k–$245k
25th to 75th percentile
Highest posted
$675k
range midpoint
How the offers are spread
$140k
$172k
$204k
$236k
$268k
$300k
$332k
$364k
Backend Developer pay by level
| Level | Median | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| Mid level | $171k | 9 |
| Senior | $202k | 69 |
| Staff & principal | $242k | 47 |
Backend Developer pay by location
| Location | Median | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $241k | 60 |
| New York | $230k | 53 |
| SF Bay Area | $226k | 80 |
| Remote (US) | $208k | 59 |
| Seattle | $207k | 14 |
| Los Angeles | $197k | 6 |
| Toronto | $185k | 19 |
Top-paying companies for Backend Developer roles
Highest-paying open Backend Developer jobs
All 226 open jobs →Staff+ Software Engineer, Distributed Systems
New York City, NY; San Francisco, CA $320k – $485k/yr
visa sponsorshippythonrustllmDirect from employer 26d ago
Staff+ Software Engineer, Infrastructure (Distributed Systems)
San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | Seattle, WA $320k – $485k/yr
visa sponsorshippythonjavarustDirect from employer Oct 29
Backend Software Engineer, GTM Innovation
San Francisco Full-time $347k – $445k/yr
Direct from employer Feb 4
Backend Software Engineer - Codex for Finance
San Francisco Full-time $347k – $385k/yr
pythontypescriptrustDirect from employer Aug 11
Backend Software Engineer, Applied Foundations
San Francisco · Mountain View Full-time $266k – $445k/yr
pythonrustc++Direct from employer May 7
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Backend Developer salary: common questions
- What is the average Backend Developer salary in the United States?
- The median midpoint of 182 live Backend Developer postings in the United States is $215k a year. Half of them fall between $195k and $245k.
- How does Backend Developer pay change with seniority?
- senior postings $202k. Staff, principal and director roles usually pay more and often add equity.
- Which companies pay Backend Developer roles the most?
- Among companies with at least two postings, the highest medians are at Anthropic ($403k), OpenAI ($332k), Monaco ($300k), Siro ($272k).
- Where do these numbers come from?
- From the pay ranges employers publish in their own job postings (required in states such as California, Colorado, New York, Washington and Illinois). We take the midpoint of each range, convert hourly pay at 2,080 hours a year, and update the figures daily as postings open and close. They show base pay, not bonus or equity.
Other salaries in the United States
- Engineering Manager · $263k
- Research Scientist · $244k
- AI & Machine Learning · $231k
- Data Scientist · $226k
- Software Engineer · $225k
- Product Manager · $223k
- Cybersecurity · $221k
- Mobile Developer · $218k
- Full Stack Developer · $215k
- Data Engineer · $213k
- Legal & Compliance · $208k
- DevOps Engineer · $205k
- Frontend Developer · $202k
- Solutions Engineer · $200k
- Program Manager · $198k
- Product & UX Designer · $196k
- Hardware Engineer · $195k
- Marketing · $180k
- Sales · $171k
- QA Engineer · $170k
- Finance & Accounting · $170k
- Data Analyst · $165k
- HR & Recruiting · $165k
- Operations · $164k
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JobApplyPilot reads employers' own job postings. Pay shown is base salary from published ranges, not total compensation.