Side-by-side distribution
Principal Engineer
$223,544
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 45.9%
- Live roles
- 1,775
Web3
$212,500
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 6.5%
- Live roles
- 62
Highest-paying jobs
Principal Software Engineer
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Principal Research Engineer, Model Training & Post-Training
Principal Engineer, Agentic AI Systems
Principal .NET Software Engineer - Cloud Payments Platform
Principal .NET Software Engineer- Cloud Payments Platform
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Roblox
|
$320,145 | 42 |
| AL Astera Labs | $207,500 | 21 |
Motional
|
$285,000 | 20 |
Elastic
|
$134,329 | 18 |
| SE Sezzle | $111,000 | 16 |
Anduril Industries
|
$256,000 | 13 |
Zscaler
|
$207,188 | 13 |
Snowflake
|
$321,750 | 12 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Robinhood
|
$201,752 | 2 |
DriveWealth
|
$295,000 | 1 |
Mesh
|
$175,000 | 1 |
Principal Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $282,500 | 70 |
| New York | $259,000 | 55 |
| Boston | $250,000 | 45 |
| Austin | $232,000 | 10 |
| Seattle | $231,500 | 33 |
| Chicago | $228,075 | 16 |
| Los Angeles | $225,000 | 31 |
| Toronto | $210,000 | 17 |
| London | $199,724 | 16 |
| Denver | $190,000 | 17 |
Principal Engineer vs Web3: which pays more?
The median for Principal Engineer is $223,544 per year (typically $187,500–$276,000), versus $212,500 for Web3 ($169,626–$261,250). 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 Principal Engineer and Web3 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.