Side-by-side distribution
C / C++
$184,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 28.4%
- Live roles
- 640
JavaScript
$147,750
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 22.6%
- Live roles
- 239
Highest-paying jobs
Software Engineer - Kernels/CUDA (C++)
Software Engineer - Platform Infrastructure (Rust, C++)
Software Engineer - Network (C++)
Software Engineer - Training/Inference (C++)
Software Engineer - Linux Kernel (C++, C)
Software Engineer - C++
Staff Software Engineer (C++) - Radar Sensors
Software Engineer, Specs C++, Level 5
Software Engineer, C++, Level 5
Senior AI Systems Engineer — C++ / Applied AI
Highest-paying jobs
JavaScript of Senior Software Engineer, AI Training
Front-End Developer (Mid/Senior) - Java/Quarkus/HTML/CSS/JavaScript/Oracle/AWS
Automated Test Engineer (Hybrid) - Cypress/JavaScript/Agile/Git/Jira/AWS/CI/CD
Junior Systems Engineer (Hybrid) - Jira/Confluence/Agile/Java/JavaScript
Software Engineer 1/2/3 (Hybrid) - JavaScript/React/Angular/Java/Linux
Front-End Developer/508 Compliance Specialist (Hybrid) - JavaScript/MongoDB/HTML/Cypress/AWS
Technical AI Requirements Systems Engineer (Mid/Senior) (Hybrid) - Java/JavaScript/AI/ML
Software Engineer - Python/FASApi/JavaScript/JSON/CSS/MongoDB/Docker
Sr./Staff JavaScript Developer - Web SDK
Frontend Developer - TS/SCI with Polygraph
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$201,250 | 24 |
KLA
|
$184,000 | 9 |
Applied Intuition
|
$160,000 | 7 |
Stellar Development Foundation
|
$230,000 | 6 |
Esri
|
$148,538 | 6 |
Northrop Grumman
|
$118,850 | 6 |
|
xAI
|
$310,000 | 5 |
Roblox
|
$269,270 | 5 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Air Apps
|
$58,701 | 11 |
|
Esri
|
$112,580 | 9 |
|
Captivation Software
|
$200,000 | 7 |
Virtu Financial
|
$175,000 | 2 |
|
Oscilar
|
$158,083 | 2 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$140,800 | 2 |
HelloFresh
|
$96,943 | 2 |
D2B
|
$24,363 | 2 |
C / C++ salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $270,200 | 8 |
| San Francisco | $230,000 | 8 |
| New York | $225,000 | 27 |
| Los Angeles | $210,000 | 5 |
| Chicago | $200,000 | 20 |
| Boston | $200,000 | 7 |
JavaScript salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $186,500 | 4 |
| New York | $175,000 | 5 |
| Denver | $112,580 | 9 |
| Toronto | $97,594 | 5 |
C / C++ vs JavaScript: which pays more?
The median for C / C++ is $184,500 per year (typically $145,000–$215,000), versus $147,750 for JavaScript ($96,951–$200,000). That puts C / C++ about 25% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so C / C++ 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.