Side-by-side distribution
Go (Golang)
$146,250
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 15.9%
- Live roles
- 296
Java
$132,625
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 14.9%
- Live roles
- 785
Highest-paying jobs
Polyglot Engineer (JS/Python/Go)
Polyglot Engineer (JS/Python/Go)
Software Engineer, Developer Experience (Go Lead)
Senior Principal Software Engineer (Go)
Senior Backend Engineer, Analytics Instrumentation (Golang)
Go to Market Engineer
Senior Software Engineer (GO)
Backend Software Engineer (C++, Go)
Staff Software Engineer - EDR Agent (Go)
Senior Staff Engineer - Golang
Highest-paying jobs
Lead Java Developer
Senior Backend Engineer (Java)
Senior Java Engineer
Senior Backend Engineer (Java)
Senior Software Engineer, Java
Senior Software Engineer, Java
Software Engineer 3- Python/Kotlin/Java/Terraform/ElasticSearch/OpenSearch/AWS
Software Engineer 2 - AWS/Hadoop/Accumulo/Terraform/Python/Java
Software Engineer 2 - Java/MapReduce/Cloud/GhostMachine/QTA
Software Engineer 1/2 - Java/MapReduce/GhostMachine/Spring/NiFi
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
talentpluto
|
$145,000 | 10 |
Bloomreach
|
$56,441 | 4 |
| RH RVO Health | $134,325 | 3 |
| YL YLD | $773,411 | 2 |
PrizePicks
|
$180,000 | 2 |
| AI Apollo.io | $155,000 | 2 |
Certik
|
$141,000 | 2 |
|
Notion
|
$325,500 | 1 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Captivation Software
|
$200,000 | 24 |
Elastic
|
$118,060 | 18 |
Referral Board
|
$118,411 | 10 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$138,100 | 4 |
|
Bloomreach
|
$56,441 | 4 |
|
Moniepoint
|
$520,000 | 3 |
SentinelOne
|
$180,550 | 3 |
| CA Capco | $95,057 | 3 |
Go (Golang) salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $170,000 | 4 |
| San Francisco | $153,000 | 5 |
| Denver | $134,325 | 4 |
Java salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $187,500 | 5 |
| Chicago | $175,000 | 6 |
| San Francisco | $122,500 | 3 |
| Toronto | $101,279 | 4 |
Go (Golang) vs Java: which pays more?
The median for Go (Golang) is $146,250 per year (typically $126,699–$186,450), versus $132,625 for Java ($98,913–$200,000). That puts Go (Golang) about 10% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Go (Golang) and Java 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.