SOC 15-1252, wage year 2025-26

Software Developers prevailing wage in California

Short answer

In California, the median prevailing wage for software developers across its 28 areas is $44.02 an hour at Level 1 ($91,562 a year) and $78.97 an hour at Level 4 ($164,268 a year). The Level 2 median of $55.70 is 23% above the national median across areas ($45.35). San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA is the highest-paying area at $90.26 at Level 2, and Redding, CA the lowest at $47.07.

Every California area for software developers

Area	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$71.81	$90.26	$108.72	$127.17
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$65.24	$77.71	$90.18	$102.65
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$47.11	$65.57	$84.03	$102.49
Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$51.26	$64.25	$77.24	$90.23
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$49.42	$62.59	$75.76	$88.93
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$49.15	$62.34	$75.54	$88.73
El Centro, CA	$48.41	$61.38	$74.35	$87.32
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$48.12	$59.90	$71.69	$83.47
Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$46.26	$58.51	$70.76	$83.01
Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$46.40	$58.47	$70.55	$82.62
Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$45.31	$57.96	$70.62	$83.27
Salinas, CA	$44.00	$55.84	$67.69	$79.53
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$43.92	$55.76	$67.59	$79.43
Yuba City, CA	$43.58	$55.75	$67.93	$80.10
San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$44.37	$55.66	$66.95	$78.24
Napa, CA	$44.04	$55.53	$67.03	$78.52
Vallejo, CA	$44.04	$55.01	$65.97	$76.94
Hanford-Corcoran, CA	$42.74	$54.52	$66.31	$78.09
Stockton-Lodi, CA	$43.48	$53.95	$64.41	$74.88
Merced, CA	$39.10	$52.06	$65.03	$77.99
Fresno, CA	$40.63	$51.04	$61.45	$71.86
North Valley-Northern Mountains Region of California nonmetropolitan area	$37.91	$50.81	$63.70	$76.60
Chico, CA	$39.20	$50.58	$61.95	$73.33
North Coast Region of California nonmetropolitan area	$36.26	$50.15	$64.04	$77.93
Visalia, CA	$38.54	$49.25	$59.97	$70.68
Modesto, CA	$39.40	$48.78	$58.17	$67.55
Eastern Sierra-Mother Lode Region of California nonmetropolitan area	$34.22	$47.11	$60.00	$72.89
Redding, CA	$36.67	$47.07	$57.48	$67.88

Hourly dollars. Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC), prevailing wage data, wage year 2025-26. An LCA is not an H-1B approval or a job opening.

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