What a software developer costs in the US
The wage BLS measured across 1,687,890 jobs, what an employer pays on top of it, the pay in every state, and which of the job's core tasks already show up in AI use.
Medians for the whole US. Your own cost depends on where you hire, the benefits you offer and the hours worked.
- Median wage
- $135,980
- Hourly wage
- $65.38
- Loaded per hour
- $81.43
- Middle half earns
- $105,210 to $171,980
- Jobs in the US
- 1,687,890
Wage × 1.2455 for benefits and payroll taxes, from BLS.
A software developer in the US is paid a median $135,980 a year, $65.38 an hour, across 1,687,890 jobs. With benefits, a small employer pays about $169,360. Of its 10 core tasks, 8 showed up in Claude.ai conversations in May 2026, and in 3 of those Claude mostly did the task rather than assisting.
The work, task by task
The 10 core tasks O*NET lists for software developers, most important first, and how each showed up in Claude.ai conversations in May 2026. The bar splits those conversations between Claude doing the task and Claude helping a person do it.
- 01Analyze user needs and software requirements to determine feasibility of design within time and cost constraints.Claude.ai: 44% did the task, 56% helped · API: 95% did the task
- 02Develop or direct software system testing or validation procedures, programming, or documentation.API: 90% did the task, 10% helped
- 03Confer with systems analysts, engineers, programmers and others to design systems and to obtain information on project limitations and capabilities, performance requirements and interfaces.Claude.ai: 41% did the task, 59% helped · API: 59% did the task
- 04Modify existing software to correct errors, adapt it to new hardware, or upgrade interfaces and improve performance.Claude.ai: 69% did the task, 31% helped · API: 81% did the task
- 05Prepare reports or correspondence concerning project specifications, activities, or status.Claude.ai: 49% did the task, 51% helped · API: 88% did the task
- 06Analyze information to determine, recommend, and plan installation of a new system or modification of an existing system.Claude.ai: 50% did the task, 50% helped · API: 84% did the task
- 07Store, retrieve, and manipulate data for analysis of system capabilities and requirements.Claude.ai: 62% did the task, 38% helped · API: 97% did the task
- 08Design, develop and modify software systems, using scientific analysis and mathematical models to predict and measure outcomes and consequences of design.Claude.ai: 42% did the task, 58% helped · API: 92% did the task
- 09Determine system performance standards.
- 10Consult with customers or other departments on project status, proposals, or technical issues, such as software system design or maintenance.Claude.ai: 47% did the task, 53% helped · API: 85% did the task
8 of 10 tasks appear in the Claude.ai sample of the Anthropic Economic Index for May 2026, and 1 more only in its sample of API traffic, where businesses run Claude inside their own software. A task without a row had too few conversations for Anthropic to publish, which is not the same as none. Shares are of all sampled Claude.ai conversations, so small figures are normal: 0.35% of every conversation that month was about this occupation.
Pay by state
The median annual wage in each state and DC, and the same wage fully loaded. California pays the most, $174,410; Mississippi the least, $95,330. BLS publishes no figure where its sample is too small, which leaves 1 gap here.
| State | Median wage | Fully loaded | Middle half | Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $122,540 | $152,620 | $86,990 to $154,290 | 17,450 |
| Alaska | Not published | · | · | 530 |
| Arizona | $129,690 | $161,530 | $102,310 to $159,680 | 38,050 |
| Arkansas | $104,490 | $130,140 | $81,480 to $127,740 | 6,050 |
| California | $174,410 | $217,230 | $136,990 to $216,670 | 284,390 |
| Colorado | $138,390 | $172,360 | $122,470 to $173,000 | 43,320 |
| Connecticut | $134,120 | $167,050 | $105,750 to $166,440 | 13,660 |
| Delaware | $133,020 | $165,680 | $113,600 to $164,640 | 3,380 |
| District of Columbia | $136,880 | $170,480 | $117,120 to $169,580 | 6,120 |
| Florida | $130,980 | $163,140 | $101,970 to $164,800 | 87,890 |
| Georgia | $131,010 | $163,170 | $103,410 to $162,240 | 49,700 |
| Hawaii | $124,040 | $154,490 | $82,830 to $170,970 | 1,600 |
| Idaho | $131,590 | $163,900 | $93,740 to $160,570 | 5,750 |
| Illinois | $132,110 | $164,540 | $101,540 to $166,420 | 56,310 |
| Indiana | $105,920 | $131,920 | $83,650 to $135,630 | 14,130 |
| Iowa | $114,890 | $143,100 | $95,600 to $137,090 | 9,040 |
| Kansas | $113,420 | $141,260 | $86,460 to $136,510 | 13,580 |
| Kentucky | $109,010 | $135,770 | $91,960 to $136,090 | 7,660 |
| Louisiana | $102,800 | $128,040 | $82,930 to $122,740 | 4,080 |
| Maine | $123,120 | $153,350 | $99,200 to $163,150 | 2,790 |
| Maryland | $138,680 | $172,730 | $109,120 to $178,000 | 31,350 |
| Massachusetts | $165,210 | $205,770 | $131,370 to $190,280 | 48,190 |
| Michigan | $125,570 | $156,400 | $97,300 to $140,100 | 43,460 |
| Minnesota | $130,050 | $161,980 | $101,670 to $156,750 | 35,890 |
| Mississippi | $95,330 | $118,730 | $70,030 to $127,570 | 1,880 |
| Missouri | $126,120 | $157,080 | $97,540 to $155,010 | 20,020 |
| Montana | $121,990 | $151,940 | $94,800 to $169,180 | 2,160 |
| Nebraska | $110,900 | $138,130 | $91,000 to $135,600 | 7,260 |
| Nevada | $128,810 | $160,430 | $100,680 to $167,820 | 4,520 |
| New Hampshire | $139,720 | $174,020 | $107,240 to $167,880 | 10,840 |
| New Jersey | $135,940 | $169,310 | $107,020 to $170,130 | 51,570 |
| New Mexico | $124,520 | $155,090 | $95,690 to $158,390 | 3,960 |
| New York | $166,180 | $206,980 | $127,160 to $205,540 | 113,510 |
| North Carolina | $134,710 | $167,780 | $104,530 to $164,750 | 58,470 |
| North Dakota | $105,600 | $131,520 | $78,870 to $126,510 | 1,450 |
| Ohio | $114,090 | $142,100 | $96,200 to $135,490 | 44,790 |
| Oklahoma | $118,100 | $147,090 | $94,360 to $138,940 | 6,880 |
| Oregon | $142,720 | $177,760 | $111,750 to $170,600 | 21,830 |
| Pennsylvania | $126,550 | $157,620 | $98,590 to $158,390 | 55,920 |
| Rhode Island | $130,590 | $162,650 | $101,640 to $154,040 | 5,070 |
| South Carolina | $129,450 | $161,230 | $95,750 to $167,750 | 13,230 |
| South Dakota | $96,310 | $119,950 | $79,810 to $121,190 | 2,380 |
| Tennessee | $122,430 | $152,490 | $90,750 to $138,890 | 19,030 |
| Texas | $132,150 | $164,590 | $103,350 to $162,530 | 163,880 |
| Utah | $128,810 | $160,430 | $100,530 to $160,570 | 31,940 |
| Vermont | $125,280 | $156,040 | $102,820 to $166,610 | 1,740 |
| Virginia | $136,460 | $169,960 | $106,600 to $171,090 | 88,280 |
| Washington | $166,540 | $207,430 | $132,290 to $211,860 | 107,030 |
| West Virginia | $121,000 | $150,710 | $82,700 to $142,610 | 2,650 |
| Wisconsin | $122,660 | $152,770 | $97,740 to $138,590 | 21,730 |
| Wyoming | $115,170 | $143,440 | $100,560 to $153,090 | 1,510 |
The same benefits ratio applies in every state, because BLS does not publish benefit costs by business size for each state. The middle half is the 25th to 75th percentile wage.
Where the numbers come from
Every figure is copied from a public file. The only arithmetic is the loaded cost: the wage times 1.2455.
- Wages
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, occupation 15-1252 (Software Developers). Annual figures are the hourly wage times 2,080 hours, as BLS computes them, so they already include pay for paid leave.
- Fully loaded
- BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (2026 Q2), private businesses with 1 to 49 workers: $37.64 an hour in total compensation over $27.88 in wages plus $2.34 in paid leave gives 1.2455. Paid leave sits in the denominator because the annual wage already pays it.
- Tasks
- O*NET 31.0 core tasks for 15-1252.00, the ten most important by their importance rating. A few occupations list fewer core tasks.
- AI use
- Anthropic Economic Index, release of June 2026, conversations from May 2026. "Did the task" is Anthropic's automation share, where the user directs Claude to do the work; "helped" is augmentation, where the user works with Claude to learn, check or iterate.
- Not measured
- What a particular business pays, and whether an AI system can do a task well. The AI figures count conversations about a task, not jobs replaced.
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. AI use data from the Anthropic Economic Index by Anthropic, under CC BY. Wage and benefit data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What would an AI system cost for this work?
Put $169,360 beside the running cost of a system doing the tasks above, with the build counted in year one.
BLS wages May 2025 · O*NET 31.0 · Anthropic Economic Index