Side-by-side distribution
Full-Stack
$160,950
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 26.7%
- Live roles
- 4,489
Principal Engineer
$168,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 47.5%
- Live roles
- 6,465
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Staff Full Stack Engineer ($500k - $1.5m salary)
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Fullstack Software Engineer, Agent Platform
Founding Engineer - Full Stack
Full Stack Engineer, Fleet Scheduling
Full-Stack Engineer, ChatGPT Education & Learning
Staff+ Fullstack Software Engineer, Safeguards Engineering
Staff+ Software Engineer, Enterprise (Full Stack)
Staff+ Software Engineer, Full-stack
Lead / Staff Full-Stack Software Engineer - Console Experience
Highest-paying jobs
Principal Software Engineer
Staff / Principal Data Engineer
Principal Research Engineer, Model Training & Post-Training
Principal Engineer, Agentic AI Systems
Distinguished Engineer - Servicing Tech
Principal Sales Systems Engineer
Principal Security Engineer, Infrastructure Security
Principal Software Engineer, Infrastructure Security
Principal Field Application Engineer
Senior Principal Software Engineer, Ads Quality
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$142,400 | 43 |
|
OpenAI
|
$355,500 | 25 |
CACI
|
$139,950 | 25 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$135,200 | 22 |
GDIT
|
$168,000 | 19 |
Affirm
|
$183,000 | 15 |
Leidos
|
$151,475 | 15 |
SpaceX
|
$142,500 | 15 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Northrop Grumman
|
$129,500 | 1,024 |
Elastic
|
$123,105 | 60 |
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
|
$260,500 | 49 |
Roblox
|
$320,145 | 47 |
| AL Astera Labs | $209,000 | 41 |
|
Leidos
|
$184,325 | 39 |
Blue Origin
|
$219,831 | 38 |
Draper
|
$170,000 | 37 |
Full-Stack salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $210,000 | 156 |
| Seattle | $197,582 | 39 |
| New York | $195,000 | 170 |
| Boston | $171,450 | 43 |
| Los Angeles | $165,250 | 30 |
| Austin | $160,000 | 27 |
| London | $156,168 | 14 |
| Chicago | $152,350 | 23 |
| Denver | $150,000 | 18 |
| Atlanta | $148,500 | 17 |
Principal Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $266,000 | 100 |
| Seattle | $244,000 | 97 |
| New York | $231,025 | 126 |
| Los Angeles | $230,750 | 50 |
| Atlanta | $228,000 | 23 |
| Boston | $222,000 | 75 |
| Denver | $203,549 | 44 |
| Chicago | $200,850 | 39 |
| Austin | $200,000 | 43 |
| Berlin | $159,275 | 3 |
Full-Stack vs Principal Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Full-Stack is $160,950 per year (typically $127,288–$200,000), versus $168,500 for Principal Engineer ($130,253–$216,066). That puts Principal Engineer about 5% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Full-Stack 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.