What Do China’s Programmer Salaries Reveal About the 2020 Tech Job Market?

In October 2020, China recruited 362,409 programmers, with an average monthly salary of ¥14,459 and a median of ¥12,500; 95% earned between ¥5,250 and ¥35,000.

The overall wage level remained stable compared with the previous month, but the number of positions increased, indicating a sign of economic recovery.

Overall

Salaries are rising sharply.

Labor demand is also recovering.

City Breakdown

Major cities show significant variation in average, minimum, median, and maximum salaries, as well as recruitment numbers. The top five cities by average salary are:

Beijing – average ¥19,208, median ¥17,000, max ¥45,000, 28,911 hires (8.91%).

Shanghai – average ¥17,765, median ¥16,500, max ¥40,000, 58,319 hires (17.98%).

Shenzhen – average ¥17,042, median ¥15,000, max ¥37,500, 52,566 hires (16.20%).

Hangzhou – average ¥16,111, median ¥14,583, max ¥37,500, 18,854 hires (5.81%).

Guangzhou – average ¥14,095, median ¥12,500, max ¥30,000, 34,954 hires (10.77%).

Most programmers earn below ¥20,000; earning ¥20,000 places one among the elite.

Data Cleaning

To ensure accuracy, the data were carefully inspected. Anomalously high salary growth was found for Hefei, leading to the exclusion of a suspicious company. Additionally, resumes with salaries below ¥3,000—mostly for senior roles—were removed as likely erroneous.