End of Year Pay Report 2020

End of Year
Pay Report 2020

Levels.fyi's annual report for software engineering compensation. See top paying companies, locations & trends.

🎙 A Note from the Founders

We started Levels.fyi in 2017 with a mission to help people make better career decisions. To date, we've collected the most accurate public data on salaries, benefits, leveling, and more. This year alone, we have more than doubled our salary dataset and have over 50,000 data points spread across over 1,200 cities around the world.

Thank you to the tens of thousands of you who've contributed and empowered hundreds of thousands of job seekers. If you haven't yet, please take 2 minutes to add your salary, benefits or leveling and spread the word. The following report examines data we've collected this year and dives into compensation at companies by level and location.

— Zuhayeer and Zaheer

Compensation figures below reflect median total yearly compensation including salary, stock, and bonuses collected from this past year only. Although the data is for software engineers, the top paying companies and locations often carry across tech roles. As always, compensation and leveling depend on a variety of factors including interview performance, past experience, competitive offers, etc. The compensation numbers here are for the top paying tech companies and locations - it may not reflect compensation for the rest of the market.

💸 Top Pay by Level

The Levels.fyi Standard is a leveling hierarchy we've abstracted from company-specific names to make aggregation easier. Click through the tabs below to view up to 7 top paying companies by level from 2020. View the compensation for all companies here.

Rank	Company & Title Name	Headquarters	Title Name	Compensation
1	T3	San Francisco, CA	T3	$230,000
2	IC1	San Mateo, CA	IC1	$222,000
3	L1	San Francisco, CA	L1	$213,000
3	L3	San Francisco, CA	L3	$213,000
4	Software Engineer	Sunnyvale, CA	Software Engineer	$200,000
5	E3	San Francisco, CA	E3	$199,000
6	L1	Menlo Park, CA	L1	$197,000
7	Software Engineer	San Francisco, CA	Software Engineer	$195,000

Typically 0-2 years of experience. Expand Details...

New-grads or little to no industry experience. Develop and maintain low to moderately complex components working on a team. Typically receives guidance and support from more experienced team members.

Rank	Company & Title Name	Headquarters	Title Name	Compensation
1	L4	San Francisco, CA	L4	$295,000
2	L4	San Francisco, CA	L4	$294,000
3	Senior Software Engineer	Redwood City, CA	Senior Software Engineer	$290,000
3	T4	San Francisco, CA	T4	$290,000
3	Senior Software Engineer	Sunnyvale, CA	Senior Software Engineer	$290,000
4	L2	San Francisco, CA	L2	$287,000
5	L4	San Francisco, CA	L4	$278,000
6	E4	San Francisco, CA	E4	$265,000
7	2-1	Beijing, China	2-1	$260,000

Typically 2-5+ years of experience. Expand Details...

Develop and own moderate to complex components. Possibly lead a small team or project. Ability to mentor engineers, provide technical guidance, code reviews, design and deliver on small projects end-to-end. Impact is typically at the immediate team scope. At many companies, this is considered a 'career-level', as in you can spend the rest of your career operating at this level without being pushed out for not being promoted.

Rank	Company & Title Name	Headquarters	Title Name	Compensation
1	Staff Software Engineer	Sunnyvale, CA	Staff Software Engineer	$461,000
2	Senior Software Engineer	Los Gatos, CA	Senior Software Engineer	$455,000
3	L5	San Francisco, CA	L5	$450,000
4	L3	San Francisco, CA	L3	$420,000
5	L5	San Francisco, CA	L5	$418,000
6	L3	Menlo Park, CA	L3	$412,000
7	2-2	Beijing, China	2-2	$400,000

Typically 5+ years of experience. Expand Details...

Typically less than 30% of employees in a company are at this level. Expected to lead and own complex technical initiatives. Begin setting the vision and future direction of team. Impact across multiple related teams within an org. Role shifts more towards design rather than implementation depending on size and expectations at company.

Rank	Company & Title Name	Headquarters	Title Name	Compensation
1	L4	San Francisco, CA	L4	$590,000
2	E6	Menlo Park, CA	E6	$563,000
3	L6	San Francisco, CA	L6	$550,000
4	Principal SDE	Seattle, WA	Principal SDE	$540,000
5	L5	Santa Monica, CA	L5	$538,000
6	IC6	Santa Clara, CA	IC6	$511,000
7	3-1	Beijing, China	3-1	$493,000

Typically 10+ years of experience. Expand Details...

This level is much more coveted than the previous ones. Typically less than 10% of employees in a company are at this level. Impact spans across organizations. Entrusted with business-critical projects and for setting technical vision for an org or multiple orgs. Responsible for reviewing and providing feedback on technical designs across an org. Little to no day-to-day coding. Role depends highly on organizational and company needs and becomes loosely defined. Expected to operate fully autonomously.

This level is representative of a small percentage of people at a company. Therefore, some companies may not have had enough data points to be listed.

Rank	Company & Title Name	Headquarters	Title Name	Compensation
1	E7	Menlo Park, CA	E7	$895,000
2	L7	Santa Monica, CA	L7	$830,000
3	L7	Mountain View, CA	L7	$758,000
4	L6	San Francisco, CA	L6	$590,000
5	Architect	San Francisco, CA	Architect	$525,000

Typically 15+ years of experience. Usually less than 3% of employees in a company are at this level. Smaller companies may not have any individuals at this level. Impact spans across the company and sometimes industry. Expected to operate fully autonomously.

🌎 Top Pay by Location

We crunched the numbers across the United States and internationally and found the following cities to have the highest median pay. Click on a state or country for available compensation information.

Top US Metros

Rank	Location	Median Pay
1	San Francisco Bay Area, CA	$232,000
2	Seattle, WA	$197,000
3	New York, NY	$182,000
4	Los Angeles, CA	$175,000
5	Pittsburgh, PA	$174,000
6	San Diego, CA	$160,000
7	Boston, MA	$155,000
7	Baltimore, MD	$155,000
8	Austin, TX	$148,000
9	Portland, OR	$142,000
10	Denver, CO	$140,000

Top International Cities

Rank	Location	Median Pay
1	Zurich, Switzerland	$211,000
2	Tel Aviv / Yafa, Israel	$159,000
3	Vancouver, Canada	$133,000
4	London, United Kingdom	$133,000
4	Amsterdam, Netherlands	$130,000
5	Sydney, Australia	$118,000
6	Tokyo, Japan	$115,000
7	Munich, Germany	$113,000
8	Dublin, Ireland	$109,000
9	Toronto, Canada	$108,000
10	Beijing, China	$100,000

🏁 Year in Review

Since we started Levels.fyi, users have often reached out on how they can turn the data and tools we offer into actionable next steps. Late this year we introduced the first of many initiatives to tangibly help professionals level up their career. Levels.fyi's Negotiation Service pairs you with recruiters that previously worked at the companies you're applying to. Our team knows how compensation and negotiation works from the inside. It's exhilarating to see the difference this is making in people's lives and we couldn't be more excited to make a bigger dent in the next year.

Hiring took a sharp turn in March due to COVID-19 but we've seen it steadily recover. Although many have lost jobs, we've also noticed that pay has been steady and even continued to increase. Several companies have gone permanently remote or have relocated their headquarters and we expect this trend to continue. Most companies are adjusting pay by location (as was also done prior to this recent wave). The rise of remote expands the pool of talent that companies have access to and also allows candidates to reach more companies. We suspect 2020 will have a longer term impact on compensation – the jury's still out on what exactly it'll shape up to be. Many compensation professionals themselves are struggling on if and how to adjust.

Although it's been a difficult year, we've been heads down on building. Here are some of our highlights for this year:

Who's Still Hiring - Find companies that are still hiring. If your company's still hiring, submit a posting here.
New Tools
- Negotiation Help - Our team of recruiters have helped over a thousand professionals negotiate higher job offers including some over $100k per year.
- Total Compensation Calculator - Calculate and compare how much you'll actually get paid
More Data (companies, roles, locations, etc) - In the last year we've dramatically expanded the set of role, companies and location pages. Even if there isn't a dedicated page, you can search all the data here.
Blog - Level up with the latest insights on our new blog!

🚀 What's Next

We recognize that we have much to do in broadening our data set across more roles, sectors and geographies. Each of these has their own nuances and we're focused on providing the best experience regardless of your background. Our work here will continue and we hope to accelerate it with our expanded team. Our Negotiation service is just the start of how we can help professionals achieve better outcomes for their goals – look out for more updates on this front over the next few months.

As we've grown, we came to realize that we've been nurturing a budding community – something we hope to build more rails for to help folks connect and help each other. We've built all of our products on the pillars of customer feedback. If you have an idea or suggestion, we'd love to hear from you (we read every email)!

A big thank you to all of our users who continue to support us! We look forward to serving you even better in 2021!

How can I contribute?

We're only as good as the data we collect. Contribute through the links below and help us spread the word so we can create even richer tools for you and the community.

Submit leveling information for your company
Add your compensation anonymously
Add benefits at your company
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