There are plenty of resources out there where you can find great information on salaries for software engineers. Glassdoor, Payscale, ZipRecruiter, and our local favorite - BuiltInColorado just to name a few. The issue we found is that much of the data differs by source and does not make connections to other important data points like cost of living and comparison to the national average... So, we did it for you! We hope you find these facts about software engineer salaries in Colorado as interesting as we do! And hopefully seeing all these facts from different sources in one place will help paint a clearer picture.
What is the reported national average base salary by the big resources; Glassdoor, BuiltInColorado, Payscale, and ZipRecruiter?
BuiltInColorado -- Sadly they only report on the Colorado average base salary for a software engineer... Which is $105,470 according to BuiltInCo when this article was written.
The true average once you combine all of these different sources is somewhere around:
$97,545
--For the rest of this article, we chose to use Glassdoor's salary numbers because other than BuiltInColorado they were the only source to site their sample size, which was ~191,000 salaries. The sample size for Denver, CO was around 2,500 whereas BuiltInColorado's is only 13 total data points for Denver.
How does Denver's average Software Engineer Base Salary of $90,451 Compare To Other Colorado Cities, the national average, and the cost of living versus national average?
Denver:
- $90,451
- 12% below the national average
- Cost of living -- 144 (100 is the national average for cost of living) BestPlaces.com
- *Housing cost was the biggest factor in the cost of living in Boulder with an average home price around $421K -- over 1.75X national average
Boulder:
- $98,027
- 5% below the national average
- Cost of living --189 (100 is the national average for cost of living) BestPlaces.com
- *Housing cost was the biggest factor in the cost of living in Boulder with an average home price around $725K -- over 3.5X national average
Colorado Springs
- $89,761
- 13% below the national average
- Cost of living -- 112 (100 is the national average for cost of living) BestPlaces.com
- *Housing cost was the biggest factor in the cost of living in Boulder with an average home price around $277K -- Roughly $57 more than the national average
Fort Collins
- $88,654
- 14% below the national average
- Cost of living -- 129.5 (100 is the national average for cost of living) BestPlaces.com
- *Housing cost was the biggest factor in the cost of living in Boulder with an average home price around $375K -- Roughly 1.75X of the national average
What is the average additional cash compensation on top of base salary by Colorado city?
Denver - $7,622
Boulder - $8,105
Colorado Springs - $7,682
Fort Collins - $7,609
Source -- Glassdoor
How Does Denver's Average Software Engineer Salary of ~$91K Compare To Other Major Tech Cities and their cost of living?
San Francisco
- Average base salary - $126,069
- Cost of living - 304/100
- Median home price of $1.398 Million -- 3.3X Denver
Los Angeles
- Average base salary - $100,614
- Cost of living - 195/100
- Median home price of $681K -- 1.6X Denver
Seattle
- Average base salary - $116,494
- Cost of living - 204/100
- Median home price of $737K -- 1.75X Denver
New York
- Average base salary - $107,197
- Cost of living - 209/100
- Median home price of $694K -- 1.65X Denver
Boston
- Average base salary - $98,968
- Cost of living - 182/100
- Median home price of $609K -- 1.45X Denver
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So as you can see, despite the first numbers being less than exciting, some of it comes down to the simple comparison of opportunity versus the cost of living. Boulder is definitely a Colorado outlier with its disproportionately high cost of living, hence "The Boulder Bubble." But at the end of the day, Boulder is pretty damn cool if you ask us.
Colorado is still one of the best options for lifestyle, opportunity, access to tech, great culture, and disproportionately low cost of housing. Not too long ago we put together a really cool post on all the epic Colorado features that have to be taken into account when you weigh the cost of living in Colorado.
Here at BWBacon Group, we know and live what you are experiencing as an employer or job seeker in Denver, Boulder, Dallas, San Francisco, New York City or any of the other cities we work in. We believe great recruiting starts and ends with understanding people.
If you have any questions about living, working or playing any of the areas we serve, please contact us. We are happy to help. Seize the day, every day, that’s what we say!
