Side-by-side distribution
COBOL
$130,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 20%
- Live roles
- 45
JavaScript
$137,650
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 21.8%
- Live roles
- 261
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Mainframe Developer – IMS Database & zOS
Mainframe Developer
Application Technical Specialist (Unix Administrator / DCR or COBOL Programmer)
Sr. Developer, Mainframe (COBOL, z/OS, CICS, JCL) Omaha or KC
Senior Mainframe Developer
Software Developer Lead-OpenShift & Mainframe
Mainframe Developer - Cards & Rewards
Mainframe Developer
Senior Mainframe Developer
Highest-paying jobs
JavaScript of Senior Software Engineer, AI Training
Junior Systems Engineer (Hybrid) - Jira/Confluence/Agile/Java/JavaScript
Front-End Developer/508 Compliance Specialist (Hybrid) - JavaScript/MongoDB/HTML/Cypress/AWS
Software Engineer 1/2/3 - Grafana/Bash/Python/JavaScript/React/TypeScript
Software Engineer - Python/FASApi/JavaScript/JSON/CSS/MongoDB/Docker
Automated Test Engineer (Hybrid) - Cypress/JavaScript/Agile/Git/Jira/AWS/CI/CD
Software Engineer 1/2/3 (Hybrid) - JavaScript/React/Angular/Java/Linux
Front-End Developer (Mid/Senior) - Java/Quarkus/HTML/CSS/JavaScript/Oracle/AWS
Technical AI Requirements Systems Engineer (Mid/Senior) (Hybrid) - Java/JavaScript/AI/ML
Sr./Staff JavaScript Developer - Web SDK
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
CAI
|
$142,480 | 2 |
| US USAA | $166,055 | 1 |
|
Bank of America
|
$141,400 | 1 |
|
Regions
|
$140,690 | 1 |
|
AG Consulting Partners, Inc.
|
$130,000 | 1 |
|
FNBO
|
$119,022 | 1 |
|
PNC
|
$115,000 | 1 |
| TF Thermo Fisher Scientific | $99,750 | 1 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Air Apps
|
$58,826 | 11 |
Esri
|
$112,580 | 9 |
|
Captivation Software
|
$200,000 | 8 |
Virtu Financial
|
$175,000 | 2 |
|
Oscilar
|
$158,083 | 2 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$140,800 | 2 |
1Password
|
$123,000 | 2 |
HelloFresh
|
$96,943 | 2 |
COBOL vs JavaScript: which pays more?
The median for COBOL is $130,000 per year (typically $119,022–$141,400), versus $137,650 for JavaScript ($94,997–$200,000). That puts JavaScript about 6% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so COBOL and JavaScript 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.