Java vs JavaScript

Put two roles head to head — any role, in any location or worldwide-remote.

Side A

Side B

JavaScript pays about 16% more at the median.

Side-by-side distribution

Java JavaScript
$127.7k
$147.8k
$54.2k box = 25th–75th · whiskers = 10th–90th $221.7k

Java

$127,674

median · per year, annualized USD

Median over time ▼ -30.3%
$183,201 $127,674
$103.1k 25th
$127.7k Median
$173.4k 75th
$80.8k
$200k
Box 25th–75th · whiskers 10th–90th Full range $5k – $416k · outliers off-axis
Disclosing
20.1%
Live roles
1,401
Browse roles Set alert

JavaScript JavaScript

$147,750

median · per year, annualized USD

Median over time ▼ -9.4%
$163,000 $147,750
$97k 25th
$147.8k Median
$200k 75th
$65.7k
$210.1k
Box 25th–75th · whiskers 10th–90th Full range $30.8k – $416k · outliers off-axis
Disclosing
22.6%
Live roles
239
Browse roles Set alert

Highest-paying jobs

G2i Inc.

Java of Senior Software Engineer, AI Training

G2i Inc. · Worldwide

$208,000 – $416,000
BW

Senior Java Data Platform Engineer - Clearance Required

BTI360 Website · Herndon, VA

$146,000 – $319,300 CLEAR - Corporate

Senior Software Engineer, Java

CLEAR - Corporate · New York, New York, United States

$225,000 – $300,000 CLEAR - Corporate

Senior Software Engineer, Java

CLEAR - Corporate · Austin, Texas, United States

$210,000 – $280,000 Leidos

ETL Java Developer (SME)

Leidos · Bethesda, MD

$154,050 – $278,475 Leidos

Java Developer (SME)

Leidos · Bethesda, MD

$154,050 – $278,475 Early Warning Services

Upcoming Opportunity – Principal Engineer – Java/AWS

Early Warning Services · San Francisco

$207,000 – $276,000
DR

Senior Software Engineer, Treasury and Reference Data (Java/Ruby/Python)

DRW · Chicago

$200,000 – $275,000 Early Warning Services

Distinguished Engineer - Java / AWS - Zelle

Early Warning Services · Scottsdale

$206,000 – $275,000 Captivation Software

Platform Engineer (Hybrid) - Python/Java/AWS/Linux

Captivation Software · Columbia, MD - Hybrid

$130,000 – $270,000

Highest-paying jobs

G2i Inc.

JavaScript of Senior Software Engineer, AI Training

G2i Inc. · Worldwide

$208,000 – $416,000 Captivation Software

Front-End Developer (Mid/Senior) - Java/Quarkus/HTML/CSS/JavaScript/Oracle/AWS

Captivation Software · Annapolis Junction, MD

$130,000 – $270,000 Captivation Software

Automated Test Engineer (Hybrid) - Cypress/JavaScript/Agile/Git/Jira/AWS/CI/CD

Captivation Software · Annapolis Junction, MD

$130,000 – $270,000 Captivation Software

Junior Systems Engineer (Hybrid) - Jira/Confluence/Agile/Java/JavaScript

Captivation Software · Annapolis Junction, MD

$130,000 – $270,000 Captivation Software

Software Engineer 1/2/3 (Hybrid) - JavaScript/React/Angular/Java/Linux

Captivation Software · Annapolis Junction, MD - Hybrid

$130,000 – $270,000 Captivation Software

Front-End Developer/508 Compliance Specialist (Hybrid) - JavaScript/MongoDB/HTML/Cypress/AWS

Captivation Software · Annapolis Junction, MD

$130,000 – $270,000 Captivation Software

Technical AI Requirements Systems Engineer (Mid/Senior) (Hybrid) - Java/JavaScript/AI/ML

Captivation Software · Annapolis Junction, MD

$130,000 – $270,000 Captivation Software

Software Engineer - Python/FASApi/JavaScript/JSON/CSS/MongoDB/Docker

Captivation Software · Annapolis Junction, MD

$130,000 – $270,000 Oscilar

Sr./Staff JavaScript Developer - Web SDK

Oscilar · Worldwide

$180,000 – $262,500 GDIT

Frontend Developer - TS/SCI with Polygraph

GDIT · USA VA Chantilly

$186,787 – $252,713

Top companies hiring

Company Median Roles
Elastic $104,155 30
Captivation Software $200,000 27
Leidos $151,475 12
Referral Board $117,865 11
Bank of America $141,400 10
GDIT $185,000 9
State Street $119,750 8
Accenture $101,920 7

Top companies hiring

Company Median Roles
Air Apps $58,701 11
Esri $112,580 9
Captivation Software $200,000 7
Virtu Financial $175,000 2
Oscilar $158,083 2
Accenture Federal Services $140,800 2
HelloFresh $96,943 2
D2B $24,363 2

Java salary by location

Location Median Roles
San Francisco $200,000 5
New York $162,250 26
Denver $151,450 4
Chicago $146,100 10
Atlanta $134,000 4
Boston $123,750 5
Toronto $81,797 17

JavaScript salary by location

Location Median Roles
San Francisco $186,500 4
New York $175,000 5
Denver $112,580 9
Toronto $97,594 5

Java vs JavaScript: which pays more?

The median for Java is $127,674 per year (typically $103,110–$173,425), versus $147,750 for JavaScript ($96,951–$200,000). That puts JavaScript about 16% ahead at the median.

Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Java and JavaScript 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.

See full salary data

Java salary JavaScript salary

More comparisons

Java vs Python Java vs TypeScript Java vs Kotlin Java vs Scala Java vs C / C++

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