Side-by-side distribution
COBOL
$130,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 20%
- Live roles
- 45
Python
$162,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 16.3%
- Live roles
- 1,070
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
Python Senior Software Engineer, AI Training
Software Engineer (C++ or Python) – 2027 Grads
GenAI Python Systems Engineer –Senior Manager
Senior Software Engineer (Networking, Python, C/C++)
Senior Software Engineer, Treasury and Reference Data (Java/Ruby/Python)
Senior DevOps Engineer - AWS/Java/Linux/Ansible/Git/Python
Software Engineer 3 - Linux/Bash/Python/Apache Airflow/SQL/Jupyter Notebook/NumPy/JSON
Software Engineer 1 - Python/Kotlin/Java/Terraform/Elasticsearch/Opensearch/AWS
Senior DevOps Engineer - AWS/Java/Linux/Ansible/Git/Python
Software Engineer 2 (Hybrid) - AWS/Hadoop/Accumulo/Terraform/Python/Java
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 |
|---|---|---|
|
Captivation Software
|
$200,000 | 33 |
Northbeam
|
$185,000 | 12 |
Travelers
|
$144,750 | 9 |
|
Bank of America
|
$141,400 | 7 |
| PA PayPal | $199,600 | 5 |
Leidos
|
$151,475 | 5 |
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 4 |
OpenDataJobs
|
$123,750 | 4 |
COBOL vs Python: which pays more?
The median for COBOL is $130,000 per year (typically $119,022–$141,400), versus $162,000 for Python ($117,150–$200,000). That puts Python about 25% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so COBOL and Python 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.