Software and Technology Compensation Benchmarks

Software Developers (SOC 15-1252)

For Software and Technology businesses, the wage series behind the benchmark is Software Developers (SOC 15-1252). That is the occupation whose published rates price the professional work the company sells, so the methodology selects it over a general supervisory series when the owner is the one delivering that work.

Computer and Information Systems Managers (SOC 11-3021)

This series is on the page because one of the work patterns below routes to it. It is a different occupation, not a second reading of the same one.

How the work pattern changes the series

The same company can price from a different wage series depending on how the owner actually spends the working week. That divergence is one reason a single published figure cannot answer the question.

• Performs the work: the owner spends most of the working week doing the trade or service the company sells.
• Splits the work: the owner both does that work and runs the business.
• Directs the work: the owner runs the business while other people do the work the company sells.

The management series runs higher because directing a staffed operation is a different and typically larger job than performing the work alone.

Businesses in this group

Every profession in this group is priced from Software Developers (SOC 15-1252) when the owner does the work, and from Computer and Information Systems Managers (SOC 11-3021) when the owner directs it.

Start a report for one of these professions:

• TechnologyFor Technology businesses, the wage series behind the benchmark is Software Developers (SOC 15-1252). Ownership by itself does not select a different series: the published data for this occupation prices the operating work the company sells. A route moves off it when the owner directs the work rather than does it, which is why the routes on this page can differ.
• Software Development

Where these figures come from

The identifier beside each series is the exact OEWS series the cell was pulled from. These are national figures as published for May 2025. They are not adjusted for a local market and not aged forward to the current period.

Program documentation for these statistics: OEWS program page. Published tables for every occupation: OEWS data tables at BLS.

• BLS OEWS series OEUN000000000000015125213 carries the annual median for Software Developers (SOC 15-1252). Cells on this page are the May 2025 estimates, retrieved 2026-07-25.
• BLS OEWS series OEUN000000000000011302113 carries the annual median for Computer and Information Systems Managers (SOC 11-3021). Cells on this page are the May 2025 estimates, retrieved 2026-07-25.

Does this read wrong?

Practitioners know their own trade better than a statistical table does. If the way this page describes the work does not match how the work is really done, tell us and we will fix the page.

Email hello@wagedefend.com and name this page (software-and-technology).

Related benchmarks

Other published wage series in the same occupational family, or priced by the same rule.

• Cybersecurity: Information Security Analysts (SOC 15-1212)
• Data Analytics: Data Scientists (SOC 15-2051)
• IT Services: Computer User Support Specialists (SOC 15-1232)
• Financial Advisory Business Owners: Personal Financial Advisors (SOC 13-2052)

For what the authorities actually require, start with S corp reasonable compensation: the legal standard.