Side-by-side distribution
Java
$133,632
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 16.2%
- Live roles
- 728
Rust
$180,960
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 38.4%
- Live roles
- 112
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Software Engineer, Java
Senior Software Engineer, Java
Senior Software Engineer, Treasury and Reference Data (Java/Ruby/Python)
Platform Engineer (Hybrid) - Python/Java/AWS/Linux
Senior DevOps Engineer - AWS/Java/Linux/Ansible/Git/Python
Senior DevOps Engineer (Hybrid) - AWS/Java/Linux/Ansible/Git/Python
Front-End Developer (Mid/Senior) - Java/Quarkus/HTML/CSS/JavaScript/Oracle/AWS
Software Engineer 3 - Linux/Java/Jax-RS/REST/JSON/XML/Maven/Eclipse/Gitlab
Software Engineer - Java/OOP/Linux/Git/Maven/REST
Front-End Developer (Mid/Senior) - Java/Quarkus/HTML/CSS/JavaScript/Oracle/AWS
Highest-paying jobs
Software Engineer - Platform Infrastructure (Rust, C++)
Staff Software Engineer, AI Code Review - Python, Go, Rust, C#
Senior Software Engineer, Protocol (Rust)
Senior Software Engineer, Rust
Principal Software Engineer / Rust Programmer - Platform (Remote US)
Founding Rust Engineer
Software Engineer 3 - Linux/Bash/Python/Rust/NoSQL/Docker/Kubernetes/Helm
New Grad Software Engineer (Backend Rust)
Senior Software Engineer (Backend Rust)
Software Engineer (Backend Rust)
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Captivation Software
|
$200,000 | 23 |
Elastic
|
$119,499 | 19 |
Referral Board
|
$119,439 | 11 |
SentinelOne
|
$165,000 | 4 |
|
CLEAR - Corporate
|
$245,000 | 3 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$138,100 | 3 |
| AD Adyen | $211,500 | 2 |
PitchBook Data
|
$202,500 | 2 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Anduril Industries
|
$193,000 | 5 |
|
N1
|
$190,000 | 3 |
Weekday AI
|
$187,200 | 3 |
Zscaler
|
$171,000 | 3 |
| LI Legion Intelligence | $225,000 | 2 |
Stoke Space
|
$173,644 | 2 |
| DE DEPT® | $168,480 | 2 |
Certik
|
$141,000 | 2 |
Rust salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $190,000 | 3 |
| San Francisco | $190,000 | 6 |
| Toronto | $144,279 | 3 |
Java vs Rust: which pays more?
The median for Java is $133,632 per year (typically $102,368–$200,000), versus $180,960 for Rust ($155,500–$201,250). That puts Rust about 35% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Java and Rust 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.