Web developers belong to the fastest-growing tech occupation in terms of employment, with the field expected to grow by 13% from 2020 to 2030. This is higher than the average for all jobs filed in the United States.
However, while advanced web development roles often have high salaries due to their increased demand, not all web developers earn equally lucrative incomes. Different factors contribute to this disparity, making exploring web developer salaries complex.
A web developer’s salary can go from $40,000 to $190,000+ depending on their location, level of education, experience, and specialization (full stack, front-end, or backend).
Whether you’re a web developer curious about earning potential or a hiring manager seeking insights for upcoming positions, during this article, we’ll explore the salaries of web developers on a global scale, taking into account these influential factors.
How Much Do Web Developers Make in the U.S.?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for web developers in the U.S. is $75,580 per year, equivalent to $37.78 per hour.
The top earners, who belong to the 90th percentile, earn $144,690 annually or $69.56 per hour, while the lowest earners, at the 10th percentile, earn $40,460 per year or $19.45 per hour.
Platforms like Zippia and Indeed estimate similar values for web developer salaries in 2024. According to Indeed, a web developer’s salary in the U.S. is $79,778 per year or $32.35 per hour.
Zippia estimates an average web developer salary of $78,975 per year or $37.97 per hour.
Other platforms estimate higher earnings for web developer salaries. According to research by ZipRecruiter, a web developer in the U.S. earns $93,848 per year or $45 per hour.
Talent.com estimates a similar value, with web developers earning an annual salary of $92,697 or $44.57 per hour.
Considering these comparable salary figures, we can estimate the average annual salary of a web developer in the U.S. to be $84,175, translating to an hourly rate of approximately $40.49.
Web Developer Salaries: U.S. States
The salary of a web developer will also depend on where they are based. Usually, a web developer living in New York is likely to earn significantly more than a web developer living in Vermont.
These are the states with the highest salaries in the U.S. for website developers (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:
| State | Hourly Rate | Annual Wage |
| Washington | $65.14 | $135,490 |
| Delaware | $52.75 | $109,720 |
| District of Columbia | $52.57 | $109,350 |
| California | $50.18 | $104,370 |
| Maryland | $50.06 | $104,130 |
The states with the lowest annual salaries for web developers are:
| State | Hourly Rate | Annual Wage |
| Connecticut | $26.52 | $55,212 |
| Rhode Island | $25.48 | $52,985 |
| Vermont | $23.95 | $49,841 |
| Alaska | $38.29 | $79,554 |
| West Virginia | $35.25 | $73,294 |
Web Development Salaries Per Country
One of the main reasons why many U.S. companies hire abroad is to expand their talent pool with better talent while paying lower salaries.
But by how much lower are these salaries? Due to the lower cost of living in many other countries, salaries that might appear low by U.S. standards can actually be considered competitive or even high within the context of those countries.
In the table below, you’ll see the average salary of web developers in different countries according to Indeed, Talent, Salary, and Glassdoor:
| Country | Hourly Rate | Annual Wage |
| Canada | $37.66 | $78,333 |
| Mexico | $23.65 | $49,227 |
| Brazil | $23.37 | $48,700 |
| Argentina | $16.94 | $35,228 |
| Germany | $30.80 | $64,075 |
| Sweden | $32.76 | $68,168 |
| Romania | $15.89 | $33,088 |
| Poland | $21.46 | $44,636 |
| Ukraine | $15.48 | $32,190 |
| India | $16.59 | $34,500 |
| The Philippines | $14.18 | $29,504 |
North America, specifically the U.S. and Canada, has the highest salaries of all countries. Latin America has affordable salaries as well as other regions like Eastern Europe and Asia.
Does Specialization Influence Job Salaries?
Besides location, salaries in web development depend on specialization and languages used. Web development roles are often divided into Front-end developers, back-end developers, and full-stack developers.
Generally, front-end developers earn the lowest salaries of the three specializations, while full-stack and back-end developers earn more than the average.
Salaries for Frontend Developers
- Indeed – The average salary is $113,524
- Built In – The average salary is $134,576
- Glassdoor – The average salary is $90,308
Salaries for Backend Developers
- Indeed – The average salary is $156,937
- Built In – The average salary is $153,979
- Glassdoor – The average salary is $113,080
Salaries for Full Stack Web Developers
- Indeed – The average salary is $123,384
- Built In – The average salary is $147,280
- Glassdoor – The average salary is $103,510
Web Developer Salary by Language
Tech stack plays a huge role in determining how much a web developer can earn. Let’s see a quick breakdown of the leading web development languages and the average pay for web developers, starting from the highest to the least.
Average web developer salary by language gotten from PayScale data:
| Programming Language | Average Web Developer Salary |
| Scala | $118,000 |
| Go | $118,000 |
| Rust | $102,000 |
| Kotlin | $101,000 |
| Ruby | $101,000 |
| Perl | $97,000 |
| Java | $93,000 |
| Python | $92,000 |
| C | $92,000 |
| C++ | $90,000 |
| JavaScript | $85,000 |
| C# | $82,000 |
| SQL | $80,000 |
| PHP | $72,000 |
| HTML | $69,000 |
| CSS | $67,000 |
| Visual Basic | $59,913 |
Conclusion
How much do web developers make? As we’ve explored in the article, the salaries of web developers depend mainly on factors such as location, expertise, and the tech stack developers use.
These are some of the key points deducted from our previous research:
- The average salary for web developers in the U.S. is $75,580 per year.
- The U.S. remains the most expensive country to hire web developers, while South America, Eastern Europe, and Asia are the regions with affordable web developers.
- Scala is the highest-paid language with developers earning an average salary of $118,000 annually. The language with the least earning potential currently is CSS.
- Backend and full-stack developers earn higher salaries than frontend developers.
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