When it comes to software engineer pay, Chicago doesn't even crack the top 10 in the U.S.
That's according to a new report from Levels.fyi, a site that analyzes tech salaries at companies across the world. It recently published its annual compensation report, which analyzed top-paying companies for software engineers, the highest-paying titles and where engineers earned the most compensation.
The report showed that a software engineer salary typically ranges from $110,000 to $176,000 in the greater Chicago area, with median total compensation at $140,000. Total compensation includes base pay, stock and bonuses.
According to a study conducted by SmartAsset last March, that's more than enough to live comfortably in Chicago. The New York-based financial technology company analyzed how far an annual salary of $100,000 would go in 76 of the nation's largest cities by adjusting for cost of living. The study ranked Chicago at No. 58 on the list, calculating an adjusted take-home pay of $59,500.
The Levels.fyi report showed that IMC, Stripe and Uber offer the highest-paid jobs to software engineers in Chicago.
Not surprisingly, California's Bay Area was the top-paying location for total engineer compensation in the U.S. The median pay for software engineers in the Bay Area is $249,000. The next highest is Seattle at $225,000, followed by New York City at $185,000.
Several other thriving tech hubs are among the top 10, including Portland, Oregon, at No. 5, where engineers make $169,000 a year.
Rounding out the top 10 was the Washington D.C. area with median pay at $148,600 a year.
The top U.S. cities for software engineers outpace most other international cities when it comes to engineer compensation. Tel Aviv, Israel, was the top international city for software engineers, according to Levels.fyi, with a compensation of $137,916, followed by Vancouver, Canada, ($115,656) and Sydney ($110,237).
When it comes to the top-paying companies for entry-level engineers, Optiver, IMC and Adyen have the highest-paying software engineer jobs in Chicago.
Entry-level software engineers make $103,500 a year on average in Chicago, though at that same level, engineers at New York trading firm Jane Street Group LLC, which tops the list according to Levels.fyi, earn a total compensation of $325,000. The next-best U.S. company is Figma Inc., where engineers make $240,500, followed by Roblox Corp., which offers entry-level engineers $238,120 in total compensation.
For senior engineers — those with typically five or more years of experience — the top-paying firm is Databricks Inc., which pays a total compensation of $584,250, according to the report. Netflix Inc. was No 2., at $535,000, followed by Two Sigma, at $500,000.
Senior engineers make $165,000 a year in Chicago.
