Front-End vs. Back-End Developer Salary Comparison

YouTeam
3 min readSep 10, 2021

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Software engineers get different salaries depending on the technology they are specialized in. There are many factors like the skills and experience that influence the rate of a developer. Today, we’d like to compare the salaries of front-end and back-end developers and explain why they differ and how.

How The Roles Of Front-End And Back-End Developers Differ

As front-end development involves the user interface of software, web and mobile apps, the developers are responsible for designing the visuals, layouts, and interactions.

If you have a project in mind like a game, app, or software, a front-end developer helps visualize the idea with a UX/UI and web designer. They create the final image of your product which users will see.

Back-end developers work behind the scenes, at the server-side of apps and software. They help link whatever happens on the client-side with the databases by exchanging information effectively. The main job of back-end developers is to write code and work with APIs, server logic, integration, and other processes to make your product work.

How The Salaries Of Front-End And Back-End Developers Differ

Glassdoor estimates that a front-end developer gets $71,385 annually in the US. But according to Payscale, the figure is $73,004 per year. Front-end developers get approximately $2,500 per year as a bonus apart from the salary.

Salaries may also differ according to the experience of the front-end developer. For example, an entry-level programmer who has relevant experience of only less than a year earns on average $60,853 annually, a middle developer with experience anywhere between one and four years can earn $72,475 a year, a senior web developer with experience of 5 to 9 years gets $84,211 annually and a front-end developer with an experience of more than ten years gets $88,513 per year.

Below are the average salaries of developers across the different locations in the US.

  • New York: $114,200
  • Los Angeles: $110,515
  • San Francisco: $155,761
  • Denver: $107,284
  • Chicago: $110,923
  • Atlanta: $109,691
  • Salt Lake City: $110,833
  • Austin: $108,569

The average salaries of front-end developers from outsourcing locations are lower. In Ukraine, front-end developers earn $32,500 on average, $15,096 in Colombia, $8,084 in India, and $23,244 in China.

According to Indeed.com, the average salary of a back-end developer is $120,999 per year. They also get $4,000 per year as a bonus. Like front-end developers, back-end developers also have varying salaries depending on their experience. A back-end developer earns $61,042 per year if he has experience of less than a year. With the experience of 1–4 years, a middle developer can earn $74,180 annually. A senior back-end developer with a higher experience of 5 to 9 years can get $90,824 per year.

The average salaries of back-end developers in different locations are:

  • New York: $142,465
  • Las Vegas: $102,853
  • Colorado: $132,886
  • Seattle: $134,435
  • Washington: $126,846
  • Mountain View, California: $139,550
  • Chicago: $119,618
  • San Francisco: $165,982
  • Boston: $141,413
  • Dallas: $106,199

The average salaries of back-end developers from outsourcing locations like Ukraine, Colombia, India, and China are $33,600, $17,940, $9,442, and $36,708, respectively.

Learn more about the difference between front-end and back-end developers and the tips on hiring needed engineers at https://youteam.io/blog/front-end-vs-back-end-developer-salary-comparison/

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Written by YouTeam

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