Median salary
$186,116
per year · annualized USD
Typical range
$156.8k – $215.5k
25th–75th percentile
Disclosing pay
49.1%
1,416 of 2,881 roles
Live roles
2,881
open right now
Salary distribution
annualized USD · disclosed rolesHighest-paying live roles
Senior Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering - Okta for AI Agents
Principal Forward Deployed Engineer - Okta for AI Agents
Head of Corporate Engineering
Senior Staff Engineer, AMP
Staff Software Engineer, Hyperscale Build Infrastructure
Principal Engineer, AI Serving Framework Architect (Software)
Principal Engineer, RTL Power Macromodeling
Principal Engineer, CPU Architecture & Performance Research
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$193,000 | 564 |
Relativity Space
|
$156,750 | 160 |
|
Databricks
|
$222,325 | 85 |
Vast
|
$182,500 | 36 |
PsiQuantum
|
$155,500 | 35 |
Zscaler
|
$187,000 | 32 |
|
Samsung Semiconductor
|
$208,000 | 30 |
Illumio
|
$197,000 | 24 |
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How much do Software Engineer roles in California pay?
The median salary for Software Engineer roles in California is $186,116 per year. Most pay falls between $156,750 (25th percentile) and $215,500 (75th percentile), with the broader 10th–90th percentile band running from $134,000 to $234,750.
These figures are computed live from 2,881 active Software Engineer roles in California on JobsRadar, of which 1,416 (49.1%) publish a salary range. Pay is normalized to annualized USD so roles can be compared on equal terms; the highest-paying roles listed above show their original posted currency. Numbers refresh every few hours as new roles are posted and older ones close.
Employers currently hiring well-paid Software Engineer roles in California include Okta, Databricks, MongoDB and Everpure.
Salary transparency varies by employer and region, so the disclosing share above reflects only roles that publish pay — not every open position. Use it as a directional benchmark rather than an exact offer.