What Do Top Tech Companies Really Pay Engineers in 2020? A Detailed Salary Breakdown

Levels.fyi recently released its 2020 programmer salary report, presenting median total compensation (base salary, stock, bonus) for software engineers.

The data, while focused on engineers, reflects trends across technical roles and notes that figures represent top‑paying tech companies and locations, which may not represent the broader market.

Among entry‑level engineers, Lyft leads with a median of $230,000, followed by Roblox at $222,000, and Stripe and Airbnb tied at $213,000. The top four companies all exceed $200,000, while the next three range from $199,000 to $195,000.

For engineering roles overall, Airbnb tops the list with a median of $295,000, followed by Pinterest at $294,000 and Box at $290,000. ByteDance is the only Chinese company on the list, ranking seventh with $260,000.

Principal (senior) engineers earn the highest median salaries at Facebook ($895,000), Snap Inc. ($830,000), and Google ($758,000). These roles typically require over 15 years of experience and represent less than 3% of a company’s staff.

Geographically, the highest‑paying U.S. regions are San Francisco ($232,000), Seattle ($197,000), and New York ($182,000). Globally, Zurich, Switzerland leads with $211,000, followed by Tel Aviv ($159,000) and Vancouver ($133,000). Beijing ranks tenth worldwide with $100,000.

The report notes that despite a slowdown in March due to the pandemic, hiring has rebounded and compensation levels remain stable or increasing, with some companies moving to permanent remote work and relocating headquarters.

Levels.fyi predicts that 2020 will have lasting effects on compensation, though the exact impact remains uncertain.

Report link: https://www.levels.fyi/2020/?ref=home_page_banner