Side-by-side distribution
Frontend Engineer
$166,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 31.5%
- Live roles
- 1,440
Software Engineer
$173,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 30.5%
- Live roles
- 35,762
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
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning (Audio)
Software Engineer, ML Networking
Lead Software Engineer
Senior Software Engineer
Staff Software Engineer, Node Infra
Staff Software Engineer, Kubernetes Platform
Staff Software Engineer, Code RL
Staff+ Software Engineer, Developer Productivity
Staff Software Engineer, Claude Code
Staff Software Engineer, Environments Infrastructure
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
CACI
|
$139,950 | 20 |
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$113,700 | 14 |
Air Apps
|
$60,559 | 11 |
Leidos
|
$151,475 | 10 |
|
Roblox
|
$268,610 | 8 |
Harvey
|
$241,700 | 8 |
Sift Stack, Inc.
|
$192,500 | 8 |
GDIT
|
$146,750 | 8 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Northrop Grumman
|
$136,000 | 341 |
Anduril Industries
|
$221,000 | 292 |
|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$126,800 | 185 |
|
Leidos
|
$122,275 | 162 |
OpenAI
|
$355,500 | 142 |
|
CACI
|
$139,950 | 142 |
SpaceX
|
$142,500 | 124 |
Blue Origin
|
$197,582 | 108 |
Frontend Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $205,000 | 78 |
| New York | $200,000 | 74 |
| Boston | $191,250 | 12 |
| Austin | $190,875 | 8 |
| Seattle | $185,000 | 17 |
| London | $171,448 | 6 |
| Chicago | $150,000 | 7 |
| Atlanta | $139,500 | 3 |
| Los Angeles | $134,531 | 8 |
| Denver | $127,250 | 5 |
Software Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney | $431,406 | 5 |
| San Francisco | $225,000 | 1,573 |
| New York | $212,225 | 1,430 |
| Seattle | $202,000 | 609 |
| Boston | $185,000 | 259 |
| Los Angeles | $183,075 | 228 |
| London | $181,500 | 135 |
| Austin | $171,700 | 207 |
| Atlanta | $162,000 | 167 |
| Chicago | $161,000 | 217 |
Frontend Engineer vs Software Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Frontend Engineer is $166,000 per year (typically $126,500–$205,000), versus $173,500 for Software Engineer ($135,000–$215,000). That puts Software Engineer about 5% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Frontend Engineer and Software 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.