Software Engineer Pay Heatmap Across the US

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

A new interactive pay map from Levels.fyi visualizes median total compensation for software engineers across U.S. regions, revealing striking gaps between hubs like the Bay Area and Seattle and lower-paying areas, as well as surprising outliers such as Missoula, Montana. Commenters question the map’s coarse geographic boundaries, sampling bias toward large tech companies, and the inclusion of illiquid startup equity, noting that these choices can inflate reported figures and underrepresent smaller employers. Many also call for cost‑of‑living and remote‑work context, arguing that location-based pay and equity-heavy compensation make it hard to compare what these salaries actually mean for engineers’ real purchasing power and quality of life.

Geographic coverage & terminology

  • Map omits Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and other US territories; several commenters object to calling it pay “across the US.”
  • Clarification of “contiguous” vs “continuous” US comes up.
  • Some wish it included other countries (Canada, UK, France, Germany).

Regional granularity & methodology

  • Many find the geographic buckets far too coarse: rural and urban areas are merged (e.g., Seattle with remote WA, “Greater Portland Area” reaching to southern Oregon, Ann Arbor lumped with Detroit and rural Michigan).
  • Explanation from Levels.fyi: regions are based on Nielsen DMAs; they acknowledge artifacts (e.g., Denver region bleeding into Nevada) and plan custom regions or MSAs/CSAs.
  • Users report mislabeling (e.g., Columbus showing as Indianapolis).

Compensation patterns & surprises

  • NYC median ($190k) is notably lower than Bay Area ($263k) and Seattle (~$240k); some attribute this to higher FAANG/FAAMNG concentration in the latter.
  • Unexpected high medians noted in places like Missoula, MT and Montgomery–Selma, AL; proposed explanations include defense jobs, energy sector, remote workers moving in, and “fashionable” smaller tech hubs.
  • Some find local callouts odd (e.g., Ann Arbor over Detroit, Traverse City paying more than Detroit).

Data quality, bias, and incentives

  • Strong sense of sampling bias: overrepresentation of large/high-paying tech firms and regions; underrepresentation elsewhere.
  • Selection bias: only people who know/care about compensation and the site self-report.
  • Several note that Levels.fyi sells salary negotiation services and thus may have incentives to show higher comps, though many still find it more accurate than Glassdoor.
  • Concerns that startup equity is valued as if fully liquid and may inflate TC numbers; others point out data can be stale and not reflect recent downward trends.

TC breakdown: base vs equity

  • Numbers represent total compensation, not base salary.
  • In top-paying regions, a larger share is equity; some question whether the equity value is current or historical.
  • Requests for filters to view base-only, stock-only, and to distinguish public RSUs from illiquid startup equity.

Cost of living & location-based pay

  • Several want an option to normalize by cost of living, arguing nominal TC alone is misleading.
  • Comparisons highlight how housing, healthcare, transportation, and taxes dominate expenses and vary far more than globally priced goods (electronics, oil-derived products, etc.).
  • Discussion of rural high earners (e.g., Pike County, PA) living very comfortably relative to big-city peers.
  • Debate over paying based on where employees live: some call it “dumb” or a “con,” others emphasize standard pricing dynamics and executives’ preference for physical clustering of talent.

Labor market & negotiation

  • Some commenters use the map as motivation to ask for raises, but others warn the post-2022 job market is saturated and $200k+ roles are much harder to land, especially outside top hubs.
  • Disagreement over “don’t accept less than $200k if senior”: in many regions that would place someone in the top decile and is seen as unrealistic.
  • Personal anecdotes contradict each other: some senior engineers land $200k+ quickly; others struggle for many months, reflecting domain, niche, networking, and luck.

Fairness and social context

  • Several express discomfort with how high SWE pay looks relative to “everyday Americans,” questioning fairness when most people lack similar opportunities.
  • Others reject guilt, arguing software is now a critical profession whose output scales massively, justifying higher pay.
  • Debate over inequality: some see 2–3x local median income as still extreme; others highlight active altruism and charity rather than reducing engineers’ pay.

Visualization & UX feedback

  • Multiple complaints about color choices: shades of green are hard to distinguish; “Not enough data” looks too similar to the lowest bracket and should be visually distinct or uncolored.
  • Pedantic but accepted correction: the map is a choropleth, not a “heatmap.”