You’re here because you want to know what the average web developer salary is, whether you are a job seeker or a hiring manager, and we have the answer.
Web developers belong to the fastest-growing tech occupation in terms of employment as employed practitioners in the field are expected to rise by 13% from 2020 to 2030. This is higher than the average for all job fields in the United States.
Now while that is great news for the occupation it may not necessarily mean that the average web developer salary is more than that of other tech fields. It simply implies that there’s a huge demand for practitioners with the skill.
So in this in-depth walkthrough, we will show you what the average web development salary is for major cities in the United States and other nations. The focus of our study includes the following locations: Europe, the United States, and Canada as well as salary per programming language.
The conclusions of the research stem from data obtained from leading job review platforms such as Talent.com, PayScale, and Glassdoor as well as worldwide and local job sites that list salary expectations.
We have also listed the average salary based on the job position. This is vital as when researching how much web developers make you’ll quickly discover that there is a world of difference between entry-level and senior-level salary expectations in all locations.
With that said, let’s see the web developer salary average.
Jump to:
Web Developer Average Salary
The average salaries listed in this guide differ based on the job review platform the data is obtained from and the position of the web developer. However, the average is usually the median of a range of numbers (the least and the highest). Now we’re aware of where the data is from and what it implies, let’s get into the web developer salaries for different nations.
Web Developer Average Salary in the United States
Web developer salary in the US is the crème de la crème of the occupation. The average web developer salary in the United States ranges between $60,000 and $90,000. The numbers are dependent on location (state), knowledge, and experience.
Let’s have a look at what Glassdoor, Talent.com, and PayScale individually have as the salary of web developers on average and by position.
| Talent.com | Glassdoor | Payscale | |
| Average Web Developer Salary | $89,985 | $70,863 | $60,262 |
| Junior Web Developer Salary | $66,448 | $45,000 | $41,000 |
| Middle Web Developer Salary | $89,985 | $90,508 | $60,262 |
| Senior Web Developer Salary | $126,750 | $110,438 | $89,000 |
Let’s have a look at the web developer salary in the US by location from 10 states from Talent.com:
As is very clear in the images above and below, web developer salaries in the US vary by location with certain places like New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, and California paying way much more than others such as South Carolina, Idaho, and Montana.
The difference is way too huge with some locations differing from others by up to $40,000. There are many reasons for this but a major one is that some of the leading states have a strong footing in the tech landscape of the United States. For example, Silicon Valley in California is known as the epicenter of the global IT industry. Also, in 2019, New York leveled up to become on-par with California as a notable tech hub and now is listed as a frontrunner in the tech scene. So you may want to consider moving to certain locations for that top dollar.
With regards to developer salary by knowledge, we will look at that in the section for web developer salary by language below.
That said, it is necessary to state that the numbers vary depending on the particular job portal used to gather data. For example, Talent.com reports the salary of a senior web developer is $126,750 while PayScale puts it at $89,000, which is quite the difference but irrespective of the discrepancy the average is clear – between $60,000 and $90,000. And the United States is the top tech hub on this list with the highest compensation for web developers.
Web Developer Salary in Europe
The developer scene in Europe is strong and vibrant with leading tech organizations and hubs surfacing. In light of this we’ve done extensive research to find the average web developer salary across the following countries; Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Sweden, Germany, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. The data is obtained from the following job review platforms Talent.com, Glassdoor, and PayScale. We also divided the data into front-end and back-end web developers.
Average Web Developer Salary for Front-end Web Developers in Europe
| Glassdoor | Talent.com | PayScale | |
| France | $48,059 | $45,777 | |
| Austria | $60,703 | $48,095 | $48,975 |
| Sweden | $54,212 | $47,283 | |
| Norway | $60,868 | $58,314 | |
| Denmark | $62,539 | $62,503 | |
| Belgium | $34,523 | $35,358 | |
| Ireland | $60,113 | $48,466 | |
| Germany | $61,574 | $70,995 | $60,000 |
| Finland | $46,051 | $59,667 | $51,834 |
| The Netherlands | $44,035 | $50,341 | |
| Luxembourg | $50,680 | $50,878 | $58,582 |
| Switzerland | $102,594 | $109,039 | $93,667 |
Average Web Developer Salary for Back-end Developers in Europe
| Glassdoor | Talent.com | PayScale | |
| France | $53,619 | $51,485 | |
| Austria | $69,508 | $50,043 | $43,504 |
| Sweden | $61,802 | $63,220 | |
| Norway | $84,921 | $61,207 | |
| Denmark | $87,168 | $71,082 | |
| Belgium | $31,752 | $49,566 | |
| Ireland | $79,247 | $80,048 | |
| Germany | $65,434 | $73,948 | $72,073 |
| Finland | $52,258 | $39,084 | |
| The Netherlands | $43,588 | $75,000 | |
| Luxembourg | $107,097 | $53,950 | |
| Switzerland | $109,033 | $148,255 |
As the tables above show Switzerland has the highest average pay for web developers in Europe, even rivaling the top paying locations in the United States. However, in the other nations on the continent, both front-end and back-end developers make considerably less than in the US. Countries like Belgium and the Netherlands have a web developer salary average of $31,752 and $43,588 respectively according to Glassdoor.
What is the Salary of a Web Developer in Canada?
With the nation experiencing an influx of immigrants and a rise in venture capitalist investors, Canada’s tech sector is a heavy-hitting force. And web development in particular is among the fastest-growing occupations in the country.
Let’s see if the salary expectations match the demand. The data is gathered from job review platforms Glassdoor, Talent.com, and PayScale.
| Talent.com | Glassdoor | PayScale | |
| Average Web Developer Salary | $59,479 | $61,033 | $54,056 |
| Junior Web Developer Salary | $50,000 | $42,000 | $39,000 |
| Middle Web Developer Salary | $59,479 | $61,033 | $54,056 |
| Senior Web Developer Salary | $85,000 | $88,000 | $75,000 |
According to the data on Glassdoor, the average web developer salary is $61,000 but other aggregators list the same in smaller amounts of $54,000 to $59,000. The senior web developer salary in Canada ranges from $75,000 to $88,000. The web developer salary entry level in Canada gets up to $50, 000, starting at $39,000. Middle web developer salary ranges from $54000 to $61,000.
Within the country, the average salary for web developers is quite similar based on data from Talent.com. In Ontario, the annual wages average at $70,200, while Quebec has a median of $70,00. British Columbia’s average web developer salaries are $10,000 lower at $60,255.
Alberta data suggest annual earnings for web developers at $55,575. That said, Nova Scotia is one of the cities with a slightly lower average of $50,700.
Web Developer Salary by Language
Your tech stack plays a huge role in determining how much you can earn as a web developer. So you need to keep a lookout on the industry’s popular platforms such as HotFrameworks and PYPL.github to stay in the loop as to what are the hottest languages in the current state of the industry. These would usually be the languages with the highest demand and pay.
Let’s see a quick breakdown of the leading web development languages and how much they pay web developers on average starting from the highest to the least.
Average web developer salary by language gotten from PayScale data:
| Programming Language | Average Web Developer Salary |
| Scala | $118,000 |
| Go | $118,000 |
| Rust | $102,000 |
| Kotlin | $101,000 |
| Ruby | $101,000 |
| Perl | $97,000 |
| Java | $93,000 |
| Python | $92,000 |
| C | $92,000 |
| C++ | $90,000 |
| JavaScript | $85,000 |
| C# | $82,000 |
| SQL | $80,000 |
| PHP | $72,000 |
| HTML | $69,000 |
| CSS | $67,000 |
| Visual Basic | $59,913 |
Average Web Developer Salary for Freelancers
If the traditional office job isn’t your thing and you decide to opt for the freelance web development route, there are no prerequisites to begin. Most jobs will not require that you possess a particular amount of experience or a college degree before they offer you a contract. Only the skills you possess, your self-marketing abilities, and a foundational understanding of project management would be required for success.
The freelance route also presents an excellent way to transition into a salaried job if you find the right opportunity. A lot of employers will appreciate direct experience and expertise over a degree. So as a freelance web developer how much can you expect to make on average?
While it may be difficult to achieve a steady stream of income as a freelancer at the start, the moment you get established based on available data from Glassdoor you can expect to earn from $25,000 to $94,000 with an average freelance web developer salary of $49,000 annually.
That said, it is important to state that as appealing as freelancing is, it isn’t for everyone. The field demands multifaceted skill sets and insane commitment consistently.
Are Web Developers in High-Demand?
Web development as we’ve already seen at the start of this article is one of the fastest-growing and most popular industries in the United States and globally. This is a great time to be a web developer of any kind and at any level. Also, irrespective of the rise of this job field wages keep rising and there isn’t an oversaturation of the occupation currently.
The demand for web developers is rising as well. However, the downside to this is that the industry can be very competitive. So you have to know multiple languages and offer a broad variety of skills to get high-paying jobs. Staying abreast with hot languages and frameworks is vital in remaining relevant.
As we’ve already seen in the introduction, web developer jobs are predicted to rise by 13% by 2030. And though this may not seem as exciting a number, it is so when you know that the typical industry growth across all fields is 5%.
Becoming a programmer requires particular skill sets like being able to sit concentrated at a spot for hours on end, in-depth proficiency with computers, and a talent and hunger for learning unique and new languages that ease up creation processes. All of the above requires expertise and time to develop and this keeps web developers in high demand.
These days people spend a lot of time on the web and organizations are caught up in the trend. Every brand needs and requires a website and literally, everyone is trying their hand on some sort of online business. These individuals require developers to build functional platforms from the ground up.
Think of it: more than half of the world population uses the web and developers are required to create and customize blogs, online stores, SaaS products, games, journals, and informational websites that keep people up to date. So there is no shortage of jobs if you intend to build websites for money.
Conclusion
How much do web developers make? The answer is dependent on various factors like your location (which can be the country or city you reside in), your expertise (whether you are a junior mid-level or senior web developer), and your tech stack (the programming languages that you are proficient in). That said, based on the research and data provided it’s clear that the average web developer salary in the United States is the highest of every country listed. However, in Europe, Switzerland does offer high-paying jobs equivalent to those offered by the top cities in the United States – New York and California. But, in general, the average pay for web developers in Europe is lower than in the United States. Canada is similar in earnings to Europe for web developers with the average earning potential per year being $54,000 to $64,000. And if you don’t want to go the route you can expect an average salary of $49,000 annually.
The highest-paid language for developers is Scala at an average salary of $118,000 annually. The language with the least earning potential currently is CSS.
That said, if the average web developer salary is within your budget and you want to hire a remote web developer, DistantJob’s devs can be the solution. But if you’re searching for a remote web developer job, please check out IT remote job page.
