Side-by-side distribution
C / C++
$193,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 29.4%
- Live roles
- 385
Java
$133,632
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 16.2%
- Live roles
- 728
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Systems Engineer (C/C++), Exchange Core
Software Engineer - Network (C++)
Software Engineer - Linux Kernel (C++, C)
Software Engineer - Training/Inference (C++)
Software Engineer - Kernels/CUDA (C++)
Software Engineer - Platform Infrastructure (Rust, C++)
Software Engineer - C++
Staff Software Engineer (C++) - Radar Sensors
Senior Software Engineer, C++ (Market Data)
Senior Software Engineer, C++ (Market Data)
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Software Engineer, Java
Senior Software Engineer, Java
Senior Software Engineer, Treasury and Reference Data (Java/Ruby/Python)
Software Engineer 2/3 - Java/AWS/Confluence/Jira/Gitlab/NiFi
Software Engineer 2 (Hybrid) - JavaScript/React/Angular/Java/Linux
Front-End Developer (Mid/Senior) - Java/Quarkus/HTML/CSS/JavaScript/Oracle/AWS
Front-End Developer (Mid/Senior) - Java/Quarkus/HTML/CSS/JavaScript/Oracle/AWS
Software Engineer 3 - Linux/Java/Jax-RS/REST/JSON/XML/Maven/Eclipse/Gitlab
Software Engineer - Java/OOP/Linux/Git/Maven/REST
Senior DevOps Engineer (Hybrid) - AWS/Java/Linux/Ansible/Git/Python
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$193,000 | 21 |
Esri
|
$134,264 | 10 |
Roblox
|
$268,610 | 6 |
|
xAI
|
$310,000 | 5 |
Stevens Capital Management LP
|
$225,000 | 5 |
Applied Intuition
|
$173,500 | 5 |
| FT Flow Traders | $233,750 | 4 |
Akuna Capital
|
$145,000 | 4 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Captivation Software
|
$200,000 | 23 |
Elastic
|
$119,499 | 19 |
Referral Board
|
$119,439 | 11 |
SentinelOne
|
$165,000 | 4 |
|
CLEAR - Corporate
|
$245,000 | 3 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$138,100 | 3 |
| AD Adyen | $211,500 | 2 |
PitchBook Data
|
$202,500 | 2 |
C / C++ vs Java: which pays more?
The median for C / C++ is $193,000 per year (typically $156,000–$221,000), versus $133,632 for Java ($102,368–$200,000). That puts C / C++ about 44% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so C / C++ and Java 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.