If you want to score top pay for your development skills, where should you work? You might think Silicon Valley is the best bet because a median technology salary in the area is $140,000. However, due to the high cost of living in the Bay Area, that $140,000 will only buy as much as $86,000 in other locations.
InfoWorld put together some salary lists based on data from Dice.com and the cost of living index. When you crunch the data, these are the cities where developer pay goes the furthest:
Software Developer Median Pay (adjusted for cost of living)
- Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue $80,800
- Raleigh-Cary $80,800
- Austin-Round Rock $80,500
- Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale $77,600
- Salt Lake City $77,000
Certified Software Architect Median Pay (adjusted for cost of living)
- Raleigh-Cary $134,000
- Austin-Round Rock $133,000
- Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown $130,000
- Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta $126,000
- Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale $126,000
