What is a good salary in tech?

Question

Zippia Team · Accepted Answer

A good salary in tech is $146,000 a year or higher. The salary for tech employees varies massively based on location, with tech employees in Silicon Valley and the Bay Area in California earning $142,000 a year on average.

Meanwhile, tech employees in the Big Apple in New York City only earn $129,000 a year, despite being a massive sector for business.

To find the best possible salaries for tech, you should be looking for work in cities with large technical booms or places looking to develop their own versions of Silicon Valley.

Austin, Texas, is a great example of this, as the average salary of a tech employee in Austin is only $118,000 a year but is steadily growing year over year. While the highest salaries for tech employees may be found in California, the living expenses greatly curtail any actual gains.

When the cost of living is taken into account, the adjusted salary of a tech employee in Austin, Texas, ends up being closer to $202,000, as Texas does not have an income tax.

If you are looking for the highest possible salary, metropolitan areas in California and Seattle boast the highest overall figures, but if you want to maximize your gains over time, being one of the early tech employees in a growing tech sector like Austin can net you large amounts of earnings.