What senior engineers earn at funded startups: SF vs NYC, mid-2026

Most salary content is survey data: self-reported, months old, and blended across company types. This is different. The numbers below come from the live roles.cc board, which lists engineering roles at venture-backed startups, pulled straight from each company's own job site and refreshed several times a day. When a company publishes a compensation range, we show it. On June 11, 2026, 364 live senior and staff roles in San Francisco, New York, and US-remote published a range. Here is what they say.

The numbers

We use the posted ceiling, the top of each published range, because it is the number companies negotiate beneath and candidates anchor against. Medians and quartiles, by city and level:

How to read these numbers

• These are posted ceilings, not offers. Most offers land inside the range, and where you land depends on the interview, the level call, and how the company banded the role.
• About 37% of live roles post compensation. Companies that publish ranges skew toward the ones competing hardest for senior people, so the true market median likely sits a little below these figures.
• Cash is only part of startup compensation. A seed-stage offer at $230K with meaningful equity can be worth more than $280K at a public company. We wrote about what to ask about equity at each stage.

Is San Francisco still ahead of New York?

Yes, and the gap widens with seniority. At senior, SF's median ceiling runs about $12K ahead of New York. At staff, the gap is $30K at the median and the top quartile separates further: $405K in SF against $350K in New York. The concentration of AI infrastructure money in the Bay Area is the visible driver; the highest bands on our board right now belong to SF model-infrastructure and developer-tools companies.

Does remote still pay less?

On posted ranges, US-remote runs roughly 10% below SF at senior and about 12% below at staff. Two things narrow that gap in practice: remote roles draw national applicant pools, so companies that post low fill slow, and several of the best-paying remote roles on our board are at SF-headquartered companies paying SF bands regardless of location. If you are choosing between markets, the live board shows what is open today.

What moves an individual offer

1. 01The level call. The senior-to-staff line is worth $60K to $75K at the median. If you have staff-scope evidence, make sure the process levels you for it.
2. 02Stage. Later-stage companies post higher cash and lower equity. Earlier ones invert that. Neither is better; they are different bets.
3. 03Scarcity of your stack. Infrastructure, ML systems, and security roles consistently band above product engineering on our board.
4. 04Timing. Companies hire fastest, and negotiate most generously, in the months right after a raise. That window is the whole premise of how we sort the board.

Using these numbers in a negotiation

1. 01Anchor to the ceiling, not the midpoint. The top of the band is what a strong candidate at the right level is worth. Walk in naming it, with the level evidence to back it.
2. 02Settle the level before the number. The senior-to-staff line is worth $60K to $75K at the median here. Most comp disagreements are level disagreements in disguise.
3. 03Ask for the band in writing. Companies posting under pay-transparency rules already have one. "What band did you slot this role into?" is a fair question, and the answer tells you how they see you.
4. 04Time it to the raise. Offers stretch furthest in the months right after a round, the window the board sorts for.

Base is not the offer

These are base-salary ceilings. The rest of the package, equity, sign-on, and any refresh, is where early-stage offers are actually won, and where the headline number misleads in both directions. A $230K base with a real grant at seed can outrun a $290K base at Series C, or be worth nothing in four years. The terms decide, which is why we wrote the eight questions to ask about equity before you sign.