Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2018

15-1132 Software Developers, Applications

Develop, create, and modify general computer applications software or specialized utility programs. Analyze user needs and develop software solutions. Design software or customize software for client use with the aim of optimizing operational efficiency. May analyze and design databases within an application area, working individually or coordinating database development as part of a team. May supervise computer programmers.

National estimates for this occupation
Industry profile for this occupation
Geographic profile for this occupation

National estimates for this occupation: Top

Employment estimate and mean wage estimates for this occupation:

Employment (1)	Employment RSE (3)	Mean hourly wage	Mean annual wage (2)	Wage RSE (3)
903,160	1.6 %	$51.96	$108,080	0.9 %

Percentile wage estimates for this occupation:

Percentile	10%	25%	50% (Median)	75%	90%
Hourly Wage	$29.64	$38.14	$49.82	$62.72	$77.54
Annual Wage (2)	$61,660	$79,340	$103,620	$130,460	$161,290

Industry profile for this occupation: Top

Industries with the highest published employment and wages for this occupation are provided. For a list of all industries with employment in this occupation, see the Create Customized Tables function.

Industries with the highest levels of employment in this occupation:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Computer Systems Design and Related Services	320,220	15.29	$51.36	$106,830
Software Publishers	87,830	22.30	$56.38	$117,270
Management of Companies and Enterprises	47,140	1.99	$51.09	$106,260
Other Information Services	35,070	11.86	$58.31	$121,290
Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services	33,920	10.64	$53.41	$111,100

Industries with the highest concentration of employment in this occupation:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Software Publishers	87,830	22.30	$56.38	$117,270
Computer Systems Design and Related Services	320,220	15.29	$51.36	$106,830
Other Information Services	35,070	11.86	$58.31	$121,290
Computer and Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing	16,930	10.80	$62.72	$130,460
Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services	33,920	10.64	$53.41	$111,100

Top paying industries for this occupation:

Industry	Employment (1)	Percent of industry employment	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers	(8)	(8)	$130.36	$271,150
Computer and Peripheral Equipment Manufacturing	16,930	10.80	$62.72	$130,460
Cable and Other Subscription Programming	640	1.18	$60.34	$125,510
Securities, Commodity Contracts, and Other Financial Investments and Related Activities	14,980	1.61	$60.12	$125,050
Aerospace Product and Parts Manufacturing	10,200	2.10	$59.35	$123,450

Geographic profile for this occupation: Top

States and areas with the highest published employment, location quotients, and wages for this occupation are provided. For a list of all areas with employment in this occupation, see the Create Customized Tables function.

States with the highest employment level in this occupation:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
California	148,550	8.73	1.40	$61.51	$127,950
Texas	71,260	5.88	0.94	$52.29	$108,760
Washington	53,860	16.52	2.65	$63.36	$131,790
New York	52,640	5.61	0.90	$56.17	$116,830
New Jersey	46,930	11.59	1.86	$51.75	$107,640

States with the highest concentration of jobs and location quotients in this occupation:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Washington	53,860	16.52	2.65	$63.36	$131,790
Colorado	30,400	11.60	1.86	$51.31	$106,730
New Jersey	46,930	11.59	1.86	$51.75	$107,640
Delaware	4,790	10.69	1.71	$51.31	$106,730
New Hampshire	6,540	10.02	1.61	$53.24	$110,740

Top paying States for this occupation:

State	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
Washington	53,860	16.52	2.65	$63.36	$131,790
California	148,550	8.73	1.40	$61.51	$127,950
New York	52,640	5.61	0.90	$56.17	$116,830
Virginia	38,110	9.94	1.59	$54.66	$113,690
District of Columbia	2,520	3.54	0.57	$54.09	$112,510

Metropolitan areas with the highest employment level in this occupation:

Metropolitan area	Employment (1)	Employment per thousand jobs	Location quotient (9)	Hourly mean wage	Annual mean wage (2)
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA	78,380	8.25	1.32	$56.25	$117,010
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	50,940	25.67	4.11	$64.23	$133,590
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	50,440	45.07	7.22	$63.33	$131,720
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA	42,460	17.55	2.81	$69.25	$144,050
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	34,260	9.60	1.54	$53.37	$111,010
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	33,530	10.70	1.71	$56.47	$117,450
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	29,890	4.89	0.78	$55.24	$114,900
Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH	29,270	10.61	1.70	$53.00	$110,240
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	27,030	10.08	1.61	$51.18	$106,450
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI	26,860	5.79	0.93	$47.01	$97,780