Side-by-side distribution
Backend Engineer
$187,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 34.4%
- Live roles
- 2,364
Full-Stack
$176,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 30.1%
- Live roles
- 2,801
Highest-paying jobs
Senior/Staff Backend Engineer, Applied AI
Software Engineer, Backend
Senior Backend Engineer, Markets
Senior Backend Engineer, Perpetuals
Senior Backend Engineer, Trust & Safety
Senior Backend Engineer, Exchange Infrastructure
Backend Engineer, Markets
Senior Backend Engineer, Payments
Staff+ Software Engineer, Backend
Senior Staff Software Engineer, API
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Staff Full Stack Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Senior AI Fullstack Engineer
Fullstack Software Engineer, Agent Platform
Staff Full Stack Engineer ($400k - $500k salary)
Founding Engineer - Full Stack
Full Stack Engineer, Fleet Scheduling
Full-Stack Engineer, ChatGPT Education & Learning
Staff+ Software Engineer, Full-stack
Full Stack Software Engineer, Cybersecurity Products
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Affirm
|
$158,000 | 33 |
Air Apps
|
$67,479 | 33 |
Grafana Labs
|
$137,917 | 26 |
|
OpenAI
|
$339,000 | 14 |
Databricks
|
$195,500 | 13 |
Verkada
|
$220,000 | 12 |
GitLab
|
$187,200 | 10 |
Satispay
|
$57,178 | 10 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
OpenAI
|
$337,500 | 19 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$131,425 | 18 |
SpaceX
|
$142,500 | 12 |
|
Databricks
|
$195,500 | 11 |
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 9 |
|
Affirm
|
$194,766 | 9 |
| GR GRVTY | $200,000 | 8 |
Sift Stack, Inc.
|
$192,500 | 8 |
Backend Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $215,000 | 161 |
| Seattle | $214,700 | 49 |
| New York | $205,129 | 166 |
| Los Angeles | $198,500 | 13 |
| Boston | $195,750 | 12 |
| Denver | $193,171 | 6 |
| Austin | $185,000 | 5 |
| Chicago | $165,000 | 3 |
| Singapore | $156,000 | 5 |
| Toronto | $144,279 | 29 |
Full-Stack salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $210,000 | 161 |
| Seattle | $203,750 | 32 |
| New York | $200,000 | 166 |
| Boston | $200,000 | 17 |
| Denver | $188,000 | 9 |
| Chicago | $185,000 | 14 |
| Los Angeles | $175,000 | 21 |
| London | $154,346 | 11 |
| Austin | $147,500 | 10 |
| Toronto | $136,394 | 40 |
Backend Engineer vs Full-Stack: which pays more?
The median for Backend Engineer is $187,500 per year (typically $146,042–$225,000), versus $176,000 for Full-Stack ($140,000–$207,500). That puts Backend Engineer about 7% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Backend Engineer and Full-Stack are compared on equal terms regardless of the currency each role was originally posted in. Only roles that publish a salary range feed the medians; numbers refresh every few hours as new roles post and older ones close, so this comparison reflects the market right now rather than a fixed survey. Use it as a directional benchmark when weighing one path against the other.