Side-by-side distribution
Frontend Engineer
$182,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 34%
- Live roles
- 966
Principal Engineer
$215,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 44.1%
- Live roles
- 1,819
Highest-paying jobs
Site Reliability Engineer - Frontend
Staff Frontend Engineer ($400k - $500k salary)
Staff / Principal Frontend Software Engineer
Principal Software Engineer, Frontend - Design Systems
Software Engineer, Frontend
Senior Software Engineer, UI
Frontend AI Principal Engineer - Cortex Code
Staff Software Engineer, Frontend
Frontend Engineer
Principal Frontend Software Engineer, Connections
Highest-paying jobs
Principal Engineer - Supply Chain Planning
Principal Software Engineer
Principal Sales Systems Engineer
Staff / Principal Data Engineer
Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Ads Delivery
Principal Research Engineer, Model Training & Post-Training
Principal Engineer, Agentic AI Systems
Principal Security Engineer, Infrastructure Security
Principal Software Engineer, Infrastructure Security
Staff / Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Serving - USA
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Air Apps
|
$60,559 | 11 |
|
Roblox
|
$268,610 | 8 |
Harvey
|
$241,700 | 8 |
Sift Stack, Inc.
|
$192,500 | 8 |
Verkada
|
$225,000 | 6 |
|
Snowflake
|
$243,750 | 5 |
Reddit
|
$228,950 | 5 |
Sigma Computing
|
$230,000 | 4 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Elastic
|
$128,337 | 45 |
|
Roblox
|
$320,145 | 38 |
| AL Astera Labs | $210,750 | 36 |
Referral Board
|
$129,783 | 20 |
| CI Clarity Innovations | $215,000 | 16 |
Zscaler
|
$213,563 | 14 |
Anduril Industries
|
$256,000 | 13 |
Rocket Lab Corporation
|
$281,000 | 12 |
Frontend Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Austin | $208,000 | 3 |
| San Francisco | $205,250 | 72 |
| New York | $201,150 | 64 |
| Boston | $200,000 | 9 |
| Seattle | $189,000 | 10 |
| London | $171,448 | 6 |
| Chicago | $165,000 | 3 |
| Toronto | $153,750 | 13 |
| Los Angeles | $134,531 | 6 |
| Berlin | $102,373 | 4 |
Principal Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $276,000 | 74 |
| New York | $263,250 | 50 |
| Austin | $245,250 | 12 |
| Boston | $237,500 | 43 |
| Seattle | $231,500 | 35 |
| Chicago | $230,000 | 7 |
| Los Angeles | $225,000 | 28 |
| Atlanta | $219,375 | 9 |
| Denver | $212,500 | 22 |
| London | $180,807 | 10 |
Frontend Engineer vs Principal Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Frontend Engineer is $182,500 per year (typically $139,525–$220,005), versus $215,000 for Principal Engineer ($180,625–$275,000). That puts Principal Engineer about 18% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Frontend Engineer and Principal Engineer 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.