Side-by-side distribution
Java
$133,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 15.9%
- Live roles
- 725
Scala
$150,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 36.8%
- Live roles
- 19
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Software Engineer, Java
Senior Software Engineer, Java
Senior Software Engineer, Treasury and Reference Data (Java/Ruby/Python)
Software Engineer 2/3 - Java/AWS/Confluence/Jira/Gitlab/NiFi
Software Engineer 2 (Hybrid) - JavaScript/React/Angular/Java/Linux
Front-End Developer (Mid/Senior) - Java/Quarkus/HTML/CSS/JavaScript/Oracle/AWS
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
Senior DevOps Engineer (Hybrid) - AWS/Java/Linux/Ansible/Git/Python
Highest-paying jobs
Sr. Software Engineer I, Evaluation Services (Scala)
Senior Scala Engineer (Hybrid)
Backend Engineer Scala - Assistant Vice President
Senior Scala/Python Engineer (Hybrid)
Scala Backend Software Engineer - Vice President
Senior Software Engineer (Platform/Scala)
Senior Software Engineer, Platform (Scala)
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 |
|---|---|---|
|
Rewards Network
|
$150,000 | 2 |
|
iCapital
|
$147,500 | 2 |
|
NinjaTrader
|
$150,000 | 1 |
|
Sprout General Referrals
|
$97,936 | 1 |
|
Sprout Social
|
$97,936 | 1 |
Scala salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago | $150,000 | 3 |
Java vs Scala: which pays more?
The median for Java is $133,000 per year (typically $100,937–$200,000), versus $150,000 for Scala ($121,371–$150,000). That puts Scala about 13% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Java and Scala 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.