I went through the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release for May 2025, the occupation "Software Developers" (SOC 15-1252), and tried to read it the way you'd read a dashboard rather than a headline. Here's what stood out.

The headline

BLS puts the national median at $135,980 a year, or $65.38 an hour, across an estimated 1,687,890 jobs. That's the number you'll see quoted everywhere, and it's accurate. It just isn't the number most of us should anchor on.

The spread is the story

The same table publishes percentiles:

The 90th percentile is 2.6 times the 10th. Half of all software developers earn somewhere between about $105k and $172k, which is a $67k-wide band. If you're a junior dev in a mid-size market, comparing yourself to the median is like comparing your first car to the average car on a dealership lot. Compare yourself to the 25th percentile first, then work out what moves you up.

One thing worth remembering about percentiles: BLS reports them across everyone in the occupation, not by seniority. The 90th percentile isn't "senior engineer pay." It's a mix of senior people, people in expensive metros, and people at employers that pay at the top of the market. Those three things overlap a lot, which is part of why the top end looks so far away from the middle.

Where you live still matters

At state level, the gap between top and bottom is 1.83×:

• California: $174,410 (28% above national)
• Washington: $166,540
• New York: $166,180
• Massachusetts: $165,210
• Mississippi: $95,330 (30% below national)

Only 9 of 50 states pay above the national median. That's a useful sanity check: the national figure is dragged up by a small number of very large, very well-paid markets. Most states sit under it.

The metro picture is even sharper. Among 21 large metros, San Jose comes in around $213,110, San Francisco around $186,640, and Seattle and New York around $167k. At the other end, Houston and San Antonio land around $129k and $128k, a bit below the national median.

The practical takeaway: if a recruiter in San Jose offers you "the national median," that's roughly 36% below the local midpoint, not a fair offer. And if you're in Texas and a remote employer pays you the national median, you're doing slightly better than the local market, not worse.

What it looks like after tax

Gross pay is what offers are written in, but net pay is what you budget with. Running the $135,980 median through a simple U.S. take-home estimate (federal income tax plus Social Security and Medicare; state tax and pre-tax deductions not included) leaves roughly $104k a year, about $8,685 a month, with deductions around 23% of gross. At the 10th percentile, deductions are about 19%; at the 90th they climb to about 26%. Your state tax and 401(k) contributions will move this, so treat it as a floor for the conversation rather than your actual number.

How I'd actually use this

1. Find your percentile, not the median. Early-career in a mid-cost metro? The 25th to 50th percentile band is your realistic range. Anchor your ask in the upper half of that.
2. Localise before you negotiate. Pull your state or metro figure. A national number is the wrong benchmark in both very expensive and very cheap markets.
3. Compare net, not gross, when relocating. A $30k raise to move to a high-tax, high-rent city can shrink fast once tax and housing come off.
4. Check the date. These are May 2025 figures. If you're negotiating in 2026, assume the market moved a little and say so.

I keep a page that pulls these BLS figures together with the state and metro breakdown and the take-home estimate, if you want the full tables: software engineer salary in the US.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025, Software Developers (SOC 15-1252). Public domain.