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Performance engineer salary
Average performance engineer salary
$101,647
Understanding Performance Engineer Salaries
As of October 2025, the average salary for a Performance Engineer is $101,647 annually. Salaries vary by state, industry, and experience level. For example, states like California and New York typically offer higher salaries due to their demand for skilled engineers. In addition to location, the specific industry also plays a significant role in salary variation.
Salary by State
Performance Engineers can earn significantly more in certain states. For instance, California and New York are among the highest-paying states, often averaging over $120,000 per year. Other states with competitive salaries include Washington and Massachusetts. Additionally, performance engineers working in the technology and finance sectors often command higher pay than those in other industries.
Salary Trends and Opportunities
Monitoring salary trends is essential for job seekers and professionals looking to advance their careers. By understanding the factors influencing performance engineer salaries, such as geographic location and industry demand, individuals can make informed decisions about their career paths. This knowledge is invaluable for negotiating offers and exploring new opportunities.
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Where can a Performance Engineer earn more?
Performance engineer salary estimates from across the web
Average performance engineer salary by state
The highest-paying states for performance engineers are California, Washington, and Oregon. The lowest average performance engineer salary states are Iowa, Wisconsin, and Louisiana.
- State view
- County view
Highest paying states for performance engineers
| Rank | State | Avg. salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | $126,310 | $60.73 |
| 2 | Washington | $118,789 | $57.11 |
| 3 | Oregon | $106,799 | $51.35 |
| 4 | Utah | $100,349 | $48.24 |
| 5 | Delaware | $102,205 | $49.14 |
| 6 | Wyoming | $98,759 | $47.48 |
| 7 | Nevada | $104,917 | $50.44 |
| 8 | Idaho | $96,927 | $46.60 |
| 9 | Massachusetts | $96,548 | $46.42 |
| 10 | Alaska | $102,246 | $49.16 |
| 11 | North Dakota | $93,261 | $44.84 |
| 12 | Texas | $93,366 | $44.89 |
| 13 | New Hampshire | $94,017 | $45.20 |
| 14 | Vermont | $93,396 | $44.90 |
| 15 | Virginia | $93,826 | $45.11 |
| 16 | Maryland | $94,801 | $45.58 |
| 17 | District of Columbia | $95,079 | $45.71 |
| 18 | Montana | $94,982 | $45.66 |
| 19 | New Jersey | $97,527 | $46.89 |
| 20 | Arizona | $91,920 | $44.19 |
| 21 | Rhode Island | $90,389 | $43.46 |
| 22 | New York | $94,341 | $45.36 |
| 23 | Colorado | $91,813 | $44.14 |
| 24 | South Dakota | $91,086 | $43.79 |
| 25 | Pennsylvania | $91,036 | $43.77 |
| 26 | Hawaii | $94,117 | $45.25 |
| 27 | North Carolina | $89,368 | $42.97 |
| 28 | Ohio | $89,853 | $43.20 |
| 29 | Michigan | $88,326 | $42.46 |
| 30 | Mississippi | $90,272 | $43.40 |
| 31 | West Virginia | $87,971 | $42.29 |
| 32 | Kentucky | $88,487 | $42.54 |
| 33 | Illinois | $88,572 | $42.58 |
| 34 | Maine | $87,408 | $42.02 |
| 35 | South Carolina | $88,816 | $42.70 |
| 36 | Arkansas | $85,310 | $41.01 |
| 37 | Georgia | $85,857 | $41.28 |
| 38 | Florida | $87,501 | $42.07 |
| 39 | Minnesota | $86,114 | $41.40 |
| 40 | Connecticut | $87,506 | $42.07 |
| 41 | Kansas | $85,244 | $40.98 |
| 42 | Iowa | $82,782 | $39.80 |
| 43 | Indiana | $77,572 | $37.29 |
| 44 | Oklahoma | $84,653 | $40.70 |
| 45 | Missouri | $84,798 | $40.77 |
| 46 | Tennessee | $84,199 | $40.48 |
| 47 | Alabama | $78,997 | $37.98 |
| 48 | New Mexico | $83,586 | $40.19 |
| 49 | Wisconsin | $82,435 | $39.63 |
| 50 | Nebraska | $77,529 | $37.27 |
| 51 | Louisiana | $80,203 | $38.56 |
Highest paying cities for performance engineers
The highest-paying cities for performance engineers are San Francisco, CA, Seattle, WA, and Wilmington, DE.
| Rank | City | Avg. salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco, CA | $138,066 | $66.38 |
| 2 | Seattle, WA | $119,460 | $57.43 |
| 3 | Wilmington, DE | $102,290 | $49.18 |
| 4 | Jersey City, NJ | $97,677 | $46.96 |
| 5 | Boston, MA | $96,652 | $46.47 |
| 6 | Washington, DC | $95,144 | $45.74 |
| 7 | Bethesda, MD | $94,662 | $45.51 |
| 8 | New York, NY | $94,426 | $45.40 |
| 9 | Merrimack, NH | $94,201 | $45.29 |
| 10 | Reston, VA | $93,792 | $45.09 |
| 11 | Austin, TX | $93,706 | $45.05 |
| 12 | Phoenix, AZ | $92,105 | $44.28 |
| 13 | Boulder, CO | $91,856 | $44.16 |
| 14 | Raleigh, NC | $89,947 | $43.24 |
| 15 | Columbus, OH | $89,676 | $43.11 |
| 16 | Chicago, IL | $88,699 | $42.64 |
| 17 | Detroit, MI | $88,424 | $42.51 |
| 18 | Tampa, FL | $88,280 | $42.44 |
| 19 | Milford, CT | $87,566 | $42.10 |
| 20 | Minneapolis, MN | $86,207 | $41.45 |
Performance engineer salary details
A performance engineer's salary ranges from $76,000 a year at the 10th percentile to $134,000 at the 90th percentile.
What is a performance engineer's salary?
| Percentile | Annual salary | Monthly salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90th Percentile | $134,000 | $11,167 | $64 |
| 75th Percentile | $117,000 | $9,750 | $56 |
| Average | $101,647 | $8,471 | $49 |
| 25th Percentile | $87,000 | $7,250 | $42 |
| 10th Percentile | $76,000 | $6,333 | $37 |
Highest paying performance engineer jobs
The highest paying types of performance engineers are senior quality assurance engineer, software engineer, and software quality engineer.
| Job title | Annual salary | Monthly salary | Hourly rate | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quality Analyst | $71,957 | $5,996 | $34.59 | 110,980 |
| Tester | $65,202 | $5,433 | $31.35 | 52,595 |
| Quality Assurance | $51,313 | $4,276 | $24.67 | 69,366 |
| Quality Assurance Analyst | $73,532 | $6,128 | $35.35 | 108,078 |
| Quality Assurance Lead | $94,758 | $7,897 | $45.56 | 82,242 |
| Quality Assurance Coordinator | $57,130 | $4,761 | $27.47 | 79,427 |
Top companies hiring performance engineers now:
Which companies pay performance engineers the most?
Performance engineer salaries at Meta and ByteDance are the highest-paying according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, the average performance engineer salary at companies like Dotdash and Levi Strauss & Co. are highly competitive.
| Rank | Company | Average salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meta | $163,567 | $78.64 |
| 2 | ByteDance | $160,337 | $77.09 |
| 3 | Dotdash | $153,507 | $73.80 |
| 4 | Levi Strauss & Co. | $148,609 | $71.45 |
| 5 | Apple | $147,259 | $70.80 |
| 6 | eBay | $147,229 | $70.78 |
| 7 | PayPal | $147,030 | $70.69 |
| 8 | $146,049 | $70.22 | |
| 9 | Sony Interactive Entertainment America | $141,217 | $67.89 |
| 10 | ICE Mortgage Technology | $140,541 | $67.57 |
| 11 | Safeway | $137,146 | $65.94 |
| 12 | Box | $136,287 | $65.52 |
| 13 | CyberCoders | $136,286 | $65.52 |
| 14 | First Republic Bank | $135,948 | $65.36 |
| 15 | Microsoft | $134,781 | $64.80 |
| 16 | Veeva Systems | $132,081 | $63.50 |
| 17 | Nutanix | $131,542 | $63.24 |
| 18 | Cloudera | $130,922 | $62.94 |
| 19 | NVIDIA | $130,891 | $62.93 |
| 20 | Walmart | $129,643 | $62.33 |
Wage gap by gender, race and education
Performance Engineer salary by industry
The average performance engineer salary varies across industries:
- The average performance engineer salary in the start-up industry is $148,266, the highest of any industry.
- The average performance engineer salary in the finance industry is $107,137.
- Performance engineers in the automotive industry earn an average salary of $89,812, the lowest of any industry.
Highest paying industries for performance engineers
| Rank | Industry | Average salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Start-up | $148,266 | $71.28 |
| 2 | Technology | $107,137 | $51.51 |
| 3 | Finance | $107,116 | $51.50 |
| 4 | Professional | $92,797 | $44.61 |
| 5 | Manufacturing | $90,567 | $43.54 |
| 6 | Automotive | $89,812 | $43.18 |
High paying performance engineer jobs
Performance engineer salary trends
The average performance engineer salary has risen by $16,639 over the last ten years. In 2014, the average performance engineer earned $85,008 annually, but today, they earn $101,647 a year. That works out to a 10% change in pay for performance engineers over the last decade.
Compare performance engineer salaries for cities or states with the national average over time.
Average performance engineer salary over time
Compare performance engineer salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.
Performance engineer salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $102,000 | $48.87 | +3.3% |
| 2024 | $98,300 | $47.26 | +2.3% |
| 2023 | $96,100 | $46.19 | +1.9% |
| 2022 | $94,200 | $45.29 | +2.3% |
| 2021 | $92,100 | $44.26 | +1.5% |
Recently added performance engineer salaries
| Company | Job | Location | Date added | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Digital Ocean Inc. | Engineer I, Performance | San Francisco, CA | 06/29/2025 | $77,880 |
| Digital Ocean Inc. | Engineer I, Performance | Austin, TX | 06/29/2025 | $70,880 |
| Digital Ocean Inc. | Engineer I, Performance | Denver, CO | 06/29/2025 | $70,880 |
| Digital Ocean Inc. | Engineer I, Performance | Boston, MA | 06/29/2025 | $70,880 |
| Digital Ocean Inc. | Engineer I, Performance | Seattle, WA | 06/29/2025 | $70,880 |
| Pierce Manufacturing | Performance Engineer-Mid Level | Hudson, MI | 06/28/2025 | $78,400 |
| Kerry | Asset Performance Engineer | Byesville, OH | 06/26/2025 | $75,602 |
| Kerry Ingredients and Flavours | Asset Performance Engineer | Byesville, OH | 06/26/2025 | $64,479 |
| Apple Inc. | OS Performance Engineer | San Diego, CA | 06/25/2025 | $135,400 |
| Ulta Beauty, Inc. | Lead Performance Engineer | Bolingbrook, IL | 06/25/2025 | $102,900 |
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