Tech

Here's where software engineers get paid the most now

Amazon.com Biosphere in Seattle.
David Ryder | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Seattle — home to Amazon and Microsoft — is closing in on San Francisco when it comes to salaries for software engineers, a new report from job marketplace Hired found.

The average software engineer salary offer in the Emerald City was $128,268 in the second quarter of this year, up 3 percent over the prior quarter. The Bay Area offered the most competitive salaries, averaging $135,853, a 1 percent dip from the prior quarter. But when adjusted for cost of living, Seattle engineers are likely better off, said Hired CEO Mehul Patel.

"There's a ton of really strong technical talent in Seattle, and we're thrilled to have an urban campus right in the heart of the city," an Amazon spokesperson said.

With more than 25,000 employees, Amazon is one of the biggest private employers in Seattle. Fifteen percent of them live in the same ZIP code as their office. In 2014, Amazon jobs and those tied to the company's presence contributed more than $400 million in tax revenue to Washington state. Amazon estimates that the total earnings of all those employees was $5 billion.

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Seattle's tech giants specialize in areas that require the most in-demand engineers — like data analytics and cloud computing — driving salaries higher. Microsoft has more than 44,000 employees in the Puget Sound region, the company says.

Apple is also planting its flag in Seattle in order to build its expertise in machine learning and artificial intelligence. Apple recently agreed to acquire Seattle-based start-up Turi, and the team will remain in the city once the deal is closed, sources close to the deal told CNBC.

The new data from Hired also showed that Austin, Texas, is cementing its position as a tech and start-up hub. The average salary for a software engineer was $115,053 in the second quarter of this year, up 4 percent over the prior quarter. Chicago was the only other city where the salaries for engineers increased as much.

Like Seattle, Austin has the advantage of offering a lower cost of living than many cities in California. That could soon change, with rising populations driving costs in both cities higher. Tech workers increasingly focus job searches on the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and Austin, Hired has found.

The most lucrative job in tech was product manager, with an average salary of $133,000, down 2 percent from the prior quarter. Interview requests with product managers increased 8 percent in the quarter, suggesting salaries may rise again.

Overall, the tech jobs market is healthy. Start-ups are hiring aggressively despite a tightening in funding. Seed-stage start-ups increased the number of interviews they solicited by 24 percent over the prior quarter and a staggering 65 percent over the second quarter of last year. Traditional tech companies increased interview requests 13 percent on a quarterly basis.

Globally, the U.S. has the best paid jobs for software engineers averaging $129,000 — salary offers were as much as 48 percent lower outside the U.S. — and were lead by the U.K. ($80,000), France ($62,000), and Canada ($67,000.)

The study did not factor in stock-based compensation, which often makes up a sizable portion of compensation packages for top engineers.

— With reporting from CNBC's Megan Hawkins.