2025 Highlights
The Year in Data
How the year shaped up in an uncertain market.
+3.49%
Median TC Growth
Year-over-year increase for U.S. submissions across all SWE levels
$1.5M+
Largest Negotiation Win
$1.5M increase in total compensation over 4 years. $375k increase in annual compensation
AI/ML
Is Now Core Engineering
From niche specialty to one of the largest and highest-paid SWE tracks in 2025
RTO
Highest-growth Work Arrangement
Office-based roles increased significantly (+12% in our data) year over year
Your worth shouldn't be a guessing game.
In 2017, we set out to address a simple but persistent problem: compensation information was opaque and difficult to compare.
Today, millions of professionals rely on shared salary data on our site to better understand pay across roles, companies, and levels. While our scale has changed, our focus on reducing information asymmetry hasn’t.
This report reflects what our data shows for 2025 and is made possible by individuals who chose to share their compensation, improving the depth and reliability of the dataset. If you’ve benefited from greater transparency, consider contributing to it.
We hope this report helps you make more informed decisions and level up your career.
–– Levels.fyi Team
+$100k
Meta E5 · Senior Engineer
Career Growth
650+ coached negotiations
Market Analysis
U.S. Compensation Trends
How compensation has evolved across job families in 2025.
+2.67% U.S. SWE Pay YoY
+15.38% Pay for Research RolesHighest
-2.7% Pay for Networking SWEsDecline
+7.52% Staff Level SWEs
| Level | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry Level Engineer | $152K | $155K | +1.64% |
| Software Engineerlevels.fyi/2025 | $222K | $226K | +1.8% |
| Senior Engineer | $300K | $312K | +4.2% |
| Staff Engineerlevels.fyi/2025 | $425K | $457K | +7.52% |
| Principal Engineer | $590K | $551K | -6.58% |
Product Manager +4.55%
Data Scientist +2.92% levels.fyi/2025
Software Engineering Manager +9.64%
Hardware Engineer +15% levels.fyi/2025
Product Designer +1.84%
Mechanical Engineer +1.69% levels.fyi/2025
Management Consultant +1.31%
H1 (Jan–Jun) $190K levels.fyi/2025
H2 (Jul–Dec) +2.36% $195K
Year-end market activity and elevated hiring drove H2 growth
Higher Data Volume Job Titles
Top Pay by Level
Explore the highest paying companies by levelAbout Our Leveling Standard The Levels.fyi leveling standard is a hierarchy we've abstracted from company-specific names to make compensation aggregation easier. Levels are based on scope of impact, years of experience, and responsibility.
Lower Data Volume Job Titles
Compensation Breakdown by Role
These job titles have smaller sample sizes, so we're providing high-level compensation trends rather than detailed breakdowns. The data shown reflects US submissions only.
Geographic Analysis
Top Paying Locations for SWEs
Comprehensive software engineering compensation insights by region
Negotiation Insights
Success Stories from 2025
This year we helped over 650 professionals negotiate better offers and increase their compensation
$1.5M+
Highest Increase
$1.5M increase in total compensation over 4 years for a FAANG Distinguished Engineer.
0
Total Negotiations
Successful negotiations completed in 2025.
~$40M
Total Negotiated Increases
Total gains across all negotiations.
9.5/10
Average Rating
From 145 reviews. Thank you!
Most Popular Company
VP
Highest Level
We even help VPs in FAANG!
Average TC Increases by Level
Median compensation boost achieved through negotiation coaching
"I was fortunate to have Randy to help me in the offer negotiation process. I did not have competing offers so was unsure about how to negotiate. Randy laid out a clear plan for me and gave me extreme clear instructions. It worked like a charm. I highly recommend Randy to anyone looking for help in negotiating offers!" +$95,000.
Senior Software Engineer · Meta
1-on-1 Expert Coaching
Custom Strategy
Real-time Analysis
FAANG+ Experience
Engineering Manager+$202,000
SDE II+$68,000
Senior Software Engineer+$18,250
Sr. Manager+$109,000
Software Engineer+$100,000
Staff Data Scientist+$11,000
Software Engineer+$90,000
Senior Software Engineer+$57,000
Principal+$52,000
Software Engineer+$62,000
Data Engineer+$78,000
Software Engineer+$25,700
Forward Deployed Engineer+$40,000
Sr. Product Manager+$39,000
Software Engineer+$150,000
Engineering Manager+$202,000
SDE II+$68,000
Senior Software Engineer+$18,250
Sr. Manager+$109,000
Software Engineer+$100,000
Staff Data Scientist+$11,000
Software Engineer+$90,000
Senior Software Engineer+$57,000
Principal+$52,000
Software Engineer+$62,000
Data Engineer+$78,000
Software Engineer+$25,700
Forward Deployed Engineer+$40,000
Sr. Product Manager+$39,000
Software Engineer+$150,000
Engineering Manager+$202,000
SDE II+$68,000
Senior Software Engineer+$18,250
Sr. Manager+$109,000
Software Engineer+$100,000
Staff Data Scientist+$11,000
Software Engineer+$90,000
Senior Software Engineer+$57,000
Principal+$52,000
Software Engineer+$62,000
Data Engineer+$78,000
Software Engineer+$25,700
Forward Deployed Engineer+$40,000
Sr. Product Manager+$39,000
Software Engineer+$150,000
Staff Software Engineer+$200,000
Software Engineer+$20,000
Principal Software Engineer+$128,000
Senior Software Engineer+$15,600
Staff Software Engineer+$45,000
Staff Android Engineer+$70,000
IC2+$71,000
Sr. Director of PM+$60,000
Senior Software Engineer+$80,000
Senior Engineer+$25,000
Senior Data Scientist+$40,000
Staff Solutions Architect+$57,000
Software Engineer+$29,900
Senior Software Engineer+$22,000
Program Manager+$50,000
Staff Software Engineer+$200,000
Software Engineer+$20,000
Principal Software Engineer+$128,000
Senior Software Engineer+$15,600
Staff Software Engineer+$45,000
Staff Android Engineer+$70,000
IC2+$71,000
Sr. Director of PM+$60,000
Senior Software Engineer+$80,000
Senior Engineer+$25,000
Senior Data Scientist+$40,000
Staff Solutions Architect+$57,000
Software Engineer+$29,900
Senior Software Engineer+$22,000
Program Manager+$50,000
Staff Software Engineer+$200,000
Software Engineer+$20,000
Principal Software Engineer+$128,000
Senior Software Engineer+$15,600
Staff Software Engineer+$45,000
Staff Android Engineer+$70,000
IC2+$71,000
Sr. Director of PM+$60,000
Senior Software Engineer+$80,000
Senior Engineer+$25,000
Senior Data Scientist+$40,000
Staff Solutions Architect+$57,000
Software Engineer+$29,900
Senior Software Engineer+$22,000
Program Manager+$50,000
Thank you to our incredible coaches for making this possible. Our coaches are all current or former recruiters with experience at companies like FAANG+. It's incredibly gratifying to see the life-altering outcomes this service has had.
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