End of Year Pay Report 2022

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As quickly as the market heated up at the beginning of this year, it has come to a stark cooldown by the end. Layoffs and hiring freezes punctuate the 4th quarter closing out the year with growing uncertainty for 2023. Despite this, compensation has still generally increased relative to last year at the topmost companies and levels. The following report examines data we've collected this past year and dives into the top paying companies and locations. You can view last year's report here.

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The median total compensation in the United States has generally dropped across the board in 2022 as compared to 2021. Among these titles, Software Engineers were the least affected with a 2.2% decrease in median, while Sales professionals were the most affected with a 16% decrease in median.

Several factors may affect the reported data outside of the economy. Since we've collected significantly more data this year than last year, this year's data may actually be more representative than that of last year's overall. Certain locations and experience levels may also be more represented than others by the uneven spread and awareness of our site. But despite these potential biases, it's interesting to observe the pullback in median compensation.

While medians generally decreased from the previous year in the United States, the variance in compensation for each title is still quite similarly wide if not wider this year. The min and max quartiles in the box and whisker plots represent the 1st and 99th percentiles respectively for each title.

Even within 2022, there's been a lot of discrepancy between the first half and second half of the year for compensation within the United States. You'll notice for roles such as Software Engineer, Software Engineering Manager, and Product Designer there's a much sharper decline in medians between the two halves of the year than between 2021 and 2022. And overall, the decrease in medians have been much more noteworthy within 2022 which marks the juxtaposition between the boom in the beginning of the year and the stark cooldown at the end.

Factors such as the hiring freezes and layoffs have affected this data as well. High paying companies with larger representation earlier in the year may have not had as much representation towards the end as they drastically decreased the number of new offers being issued.

The decline between the two halves of 2022 is most evident through the width of the ranges especially at the max quartiles which have significantly shrunk across the board in the US by the end of 2022. Note that the min and max quartiles in the box and whisker plots represent the 1st and 99th percentiles respectively for each title.

2022 was a big year for remote work. 28% of submitted offers on Levels.fyi, which represents approximately 29,000 data points, were for remote roles in 2022. Within the US, there were significant remote employee presences across most of the major metros and cities. Outside of the US, some of the top cities for remote employees were Toronto, Bengaluru, Vancouver, London, and Montreal. Note that some of these offers could have started off as remote, but eventually transitioned back to in person or hybrid work arrangements later.

Although the data is for a limited set of titles, 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 Engineering Level

The Levels.fyi Software Engineer Leveling Standard is a leveling hierarchy we've abstracted from company-specific names to make compensation aggregation easier. Click through the tabs below to view up to 7 top paying companies by level from 2022. View the compensation for all companies here.

Rank	Company & Level Name	Headquarters	Level Name	Total Compensation
1	L1	New York, NY	L1	$274,000
2	L1	San Francisco, CA	L1	$266,000
3	L3	San Francisco, CA	L3	$238,000
4	IC1	San Mateo, CA	IC1	$234,000
5	Software Engineer	Sunnyvale, CA	Software Engineer	$226,000
6	L3	San Francisco, CA	L3	$221,000
7	L3	Mountain View, CA	L3	$220,000
*	L3	Mountain View, CA	L3	$207,000
*	E3	San Francisco, CA	E3	$202,000
*	1-2	Beijing, China	1-2	$200,000
*	L4	Redwood City, CA	L4	$220,000
*	L3	Los Gatos, CA	L3	$218,000
*	IC1	Bozeman, MT	IC1	$206,000
*	L3	San Francisco, CA	L3	$205,000

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 & Level Name	Headquarters	Level Name	Total Compensation
1	L4	San Francisco, CA	L4	$443,000
2	L4	San Francisco, CA	L4	$361,000
3	IC2 / IC3	San Mateo, CA	IC2 / IC3	$354,000
4	IC2	Bozeman, MT	IC2	$330,000
4	L2 / L3	New York, NY	L2 / L3	$330,000
5	2-1	Beijing, China	2-1	$323,000
6	L2	San Francisco, CA	L2	$320,000
7	G8	San Francisco, CA	G8	$318,000
*	L4	San Francisco, CA	L4	$300,000
*	Senior Software Engineer	Sunnyvale, CA	Senior Software Engineer	$300,000
*	L2	Menlo Park, CA	L2	$296,000
*	T4	San Francisco, CA	T4	$290,000
*	E4	San Francisco, CA	E4	$289,000
*	L4	Mountain View, CA	L4	$317,000
*	E4	San Francisco, CA	E4	$315,000
*	L4	Mountain View, CA	L4	$301,000

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 & Level Name	Headquarters	Level Name	Total Compensation
1	L5	San Francisco, CA	L5	$552,000
2	L5	San Francisco, CA	L5	$551,000
3	L5	Los Gatos, CA	L5	$550,000
4	L3	San Francisco, CA	L3	$488,000
5	IC3	Bozeman, MT	IC3	$466,000
6	L6	San Francisco, CA	L6	$465,000
7	Staff Software Engineer	Sunnyvale, CA	Staff Software Engineer	$458,000
*	2-2	Beijing, China	2-2	$425,000
*	L5	Mountain View, CA	L5	$412,000
*	Senior Software Engineer	San Francisco, CA	Senior Software Engineer	$399,000
*	G9	San Francisco, CA	G9	$451,000
*	L5	San Francisco, CA	L5	$430,000
*	L3	Menlo Park, CA	L3	$424,000
*	IC4	San Mateo, CA	IC4	$421,000

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 & Level Name	Headquarters	Level Name	Total Compensation
1	L4	San Francisco, CA	L4	$688,000
2	IC6	Remote-first	IC6	$673,000
3	L6	San Francisco, CA	L6	$650,000
4	G10	San Francisco, CA	G10	$601,000
5	L6	Mountain View, CA	L6	$590,000
6	E6	Menlo Park, CA	E6	$567,000
7	3-1	Beijing, China	3-1	$564,000
*	Staff Software Engineer	San Francisco, CA	Staff Software Engineer	$545,000
*	L5	Santa Monica, CA	L5	$535,000
*	Staff SWE	San Francisco, CA	Staff SWE	$513,000
*	L6	Mountain View, CA	L6	$503,000

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.

Rank	Company & Level Name	Headquarters	Level Name	Total Compensation
1	E7	Menlo Park, CA	E7	$1,044,000
2	L5	San Francisco, CA	L5	$900,000
3	G11	San Francisco, CA	G11	$796,000
4	ICT6	Cupertino, CA	ICT6	$752,000
5	L6	Los Gatos, CA	L6	$725,000
6	Senior Staff SWE	San Francisco, CA	Senior Staff SWE	$700,000
7	L6	Santa Monica, CA	L6	$690,000
*	L7	Mountain View, CA	L7	$663,000

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.

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.

Other Growing Titles

While we don't have a leveling standard developed for these roles, we show the top 5 highest compensating companies by using the median value at the company within the entire job family irrespective of level. Note that these are the absolute highest medians, and may not reflect the entire market.

Software Engineering Manager

View More on the Live Leaderboard

Rank	Company & Level Name	Headquarters	Level Name	Total Compensation
1	L8	San Francisco, CA	L8	$910,000
2	M1	San Francisco, CA	M1	$737,000
3	Manager	Los Gatos, CA	Manager	$735,000
4	M1	San Francisco, CA	M1	$697,000
5	IC6	Remote-first	IC6	$680,000

Product Manager

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Rank	Company & Level Name	Headquarters	Level Name	Total Compensation
1	L5	San Francisco, CA	L5	$489,000
2	L3	San Francisco, CA	L3	$481,000
3	IC4	San Mateo, CA	IC4	$436,000
4	L6	Provo, UT	L6	$435,000
5	T5	San Francisco, CA	T5	$435,000

Product Designer

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Rank	Company & Level Name	Headquarters	Level Name	Total Compensation
1	L5	Los Gatos, CA	L5	$400,000
2	L4	San Francisco, CA	L4	$350,000
3	T5	San Francisco, CA	T5	$335,000
4	IC6	Remote-first	IC6	$330,000
5	E6	San Francisco, CA	E6	$329,000

Hardware Engineer

View More on the Live Leaderboard

Rank	Company & Level Name	Headquarters	Level Name	Total Compensation
1	L6	Mountain View, CA	L6	$376,000
2	ICB 5	San Jose, CA	ICB 5	$370,000
3	IC6	Menlo Park, CA	IC6	$350,000
4	L6	Mountain View, CA	L6	$310,000
5	L5	Sunnyvale, CA	L5	$295,000

Employer at one of these companies? Claim your page to receive your badge for being a top paying company in 2022. Hiring? Target senior tech talent with Levels.fyi. Sign up for a demo of our employer branding and recruiting tools here.

Top Pay by Location

We crunched the numbers across the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Rest of World for software engineering compensation. We found the following cities to have the highest total median pay (including stocks and bonuses).

Top US Metros

Rank	Location	Median Pay
1	San Francisco Bay Area	$234,000
2	Greater Seattle Area	$213,000
3	New York City Area	$187,000
4	Greater Portland Area	$174,000
5	Greater Los Angeles Area	$170,000
5	Greater San Diego Area	$170,000
6	Greater Austin Area	$169,000
7	Greater Boston Area	$160,000
8	Greater Denver and Boulder Area	$158,000
9	Greater Sacramento Area	$149,000
10	Northern Virginia Washington DC	$148,000

Top European Cities

Rank	Location	Median Pay
1	Zurich, Switzerland	$178,000
2	London, United Kingdom	$116,000
3	Dublin, Ireland	$112,000
3	Copenhagen, Denmark	$112,000
4	Amsterdam, Netherlands	$104,000
5	Luxembourg	$96,000
6	Geneva, Switzerland	$88,000
7	Cambridge, United Kingdom	$87,000
7	Berlin, Germany	$87,000
8	Munich, Germany	$85,000
9	Oslo, Norway	$80,000
10	Stuttgart, Germany	$79,000

Top Asian Cities

Rank	Location	Median Pay
1	Tel Aviv, Israel	$159,000
2	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	$94,000
3	Singapore	$90,000
4	Shanghai, China	$86,000
5	Hong Kong	$85,000
6	Seoul, South Korea	$83,000
7	Beijing, China	$79,000
8	Shenzhen, China	$77,000
9	Tokyo, Japan	$69,000
9	Hsinchu, Taiwan	$69,000
10	Bengaluru, India	$37,000

Rest of World

Rank	Location	Median Pay
1	Vancouver, Canada	$123,000
2	Sydney, Australia	$112,000
3	Toronto, Canada	$110,000
4	Melbourne, Australia	$97,000
5	Brisbane, Australia	$85,000
6	Edmonton, Canada	$84,000
6	Calgary, Canada	$84,000
7	Montreal, Canada	$83,000
8	Wellington, New Zealand	$81,000
9	Auckland, New Zealand	$80,000
10	Perth, Australia	$78,000