Side-by-side distribution
Frontend Engineer
$181,642
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 34.3%
- Live roles
- 1,051
Principal Engineer
$223,250
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 46.2%
- Live roles
- 1,771
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Staff Frontend Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Principal Front End Developer
Senior Frontend Engineer
Senior Frontend Engineer
Staff Frontend Engineer ($300k - $500k salary)
Staff / Principal Frontend Software Engineer
Principal Software Engineer, Frontend - Design Systems
Web Developer
Senior Software Engineer, UI
Frontend Engineer, Financial Web Platform
Highest-paying jobs
Principal Software Engineer
Distinguished Engineer
Staff / Principal Data Engineer
Principal Engineer
Principal Engineer (Payments)
Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Ads Delivery
Principal Research Engineer, Model Training & Post-Training
Principal Engineer, Agentic AI Systems
Principal .NET Software Engineer - Cloud Payments Platform
Principal .NET Software Engineer- Cloud Payments Platform
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Mindrift
|
$124,800 | 12 |
Roblox
|
$269,270 | 11 |
Air Apps
|
$61,110 | 10 |
Verkada
|
$220,000 | 7 |
Anduril Industries
|
$193,000 | 6 |
PlayStation Global
|
$187,600 | 6 |
Harvey
|
$241,700 | 5 |
Sigma Computing
|
$230,000 | 4 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Roblox
|
$320,145 | 42 |
| AL Astera Labs | $207,500 | 21 |
Motional
|
$285,000 | 20 |
Elastic
|
$134,329 | 18 |
| SE Sezzle | $111,000 | 16 |
Zscaler
|
$219,375 | 15 |
Snowflake
|
$321,750 | 12 |
|
Anduril Industries
|
$256,000 | 12 |
Frontend Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $201,150 | 70 |
| San Francisco | $200,000 | 63 |
| Boston | $191,250 | 6 |
| Seattle | $184,250 | 14 |
| Los Angeles | $159,766 | 6 |
| Toronto | $134,418 | 15 |
| Singapore | $124,800 | 5 |
| Berlin | $101,594 | 4 |
| Dublin | $99,370 | 3 |
| London | $78,965 | 5 |
Principal Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $278,000 | 70 |
| New York | $260,000 | 60 |
| Boston | $250,000 | 45 |
| Seattle | $232,175 | 34 |
| Austin | $232,000 | 10 |
| Chicago | $228,075 | 16 |
| Los Angeles | $225,000 | 31 |
| Toronto | $205,850 | 18 |
| London | $199,724 | 16 |
| Denver | $190,000 | 17 |
Frontend Engineer vs Principal Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Frontend Engineer is $181,642 per year (typically $134,531–$220,000), versus $223,250 for Principal Engineer ($187,500–$275,639). That puts Principal Engineer about 23% 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.