The salary index
What funded startups pay software engineers.
Computed from the posted salary ranges on 902 live engineering roles at 211 venture-backed startups, read directly from each company’s own job site. Not a survey. Free to cite with attribution.
$228K
Median posted base, Senior, San Francisco
$275K
Median posted base, Staff, San Francisco
902
Live priced roles in the sample
211
Venture-backed companies
Posted base salary by level and market
Median, with the typical range (25th to 75th percentile) beneath it. Each role counts once, at the midpoint of its posted range.
| Level | San Francisco | New York | Remote (US) | All US markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | $217K$195K - $250K297 roles | $200K$175K - $225K92 roles | $193K$158K - $235K88 roles | $210K$180K - $248K512 roles |
| Senior | $228K$198K - $259K95 roles | $211K$203K - $250K56 roles | $215K$200K - $238K62 roles | $215K$198K - $245K229 roles |
| Staff | $275K$235K - $313K97 roles | $250K$230K - $275K34 roles | $273K$200K - $295K19 roles | $253K$230K - $310K161 roles |
Base salary only; startup offers add equity on top. Buckets with fewer than 12 roles are hidden rather than shown thin.
Run your own numbers
Read the posted-base estimate for your level and market, then model what an equity grant could be worth under your own assumptions.
What startups post for your level
Straight from the live index above, no survey answers involved.
$228K
typical range $198K to $259K · 95 priced roles
Median posted base for senior roles in San Francisco. Base only; equity comes on top.
What the equity could be worth
Gross value of a grant under your assumptions, after dilution.
| Exit | You own | Gross value | Per vest year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1x ($40M) | 0.16% | $64K | $16K |
| 3x ($120M) | 0.16% | $192K | $48K |
| 10x ($400M) | 0.16% | $640K | $160K |
Scenarios, not advice. Gross values before taxes and strike price; real outcomes depend on preferences and terms in the round documents.
By level and market
Each cut has its own page with the current figures, comparisons, and method.
Methodology
- Source. Live software engineering roles on the roles.cc board, which lists venture-backed US startups (pre-seed to Series C) with postings pulled from each company’s own job site.
- Figures. USD base salary ranges as posted. Postings quoting other currencies are excluded. Each role contributes one datapoint, the midpoint of its range, so wide ranges are not double-counted.
- Statistics. Median and the 25th to 75th percentile band, rounded to the nearest $1,000. Any level and market bucket with fewer than 12 roles is suppressed.
- Citation. Free to cite with attribution to roles.cc and a link to this page (CC BY 4.0). For questions about the data, hello@roles.cc.
Questions people ask
Where do these salary numbers come from?
From the live roles.cc board: software engineering roles at venture-backed startups, with the salary range each company posted on its own job site. No self-reported surveys, no stale scrapes. Each role contributes the midpoint of its posted USD base range.
Why do these differ from levels.fyi or salary surveys?
Most salary data is self-reported and skews toward big tech and toward people who choose to report. This index reads what funded startups are offering right now on open roles, so it reflects the current hiring market, not last year's offers.
Do the figures include equity or bonus?
No. These are posted base salary ranges only. Startup offers usually add meaningful equity on top, typically larger at earlier stages, which is why a startup base can trail big tech while the total package does not.
How often is the index updated?
The underlying board refreshes from company job sites daily and the index recomputes several times a day. Buckets with fewer than twelve roles are hidden rather than shown thin.
The data is a live board.
Every number above comes from roles you can open right now, sorted by how recently the company raised.