Over the past few years, the job market has witnessed a significant surge in demand for IT specialists across various business niches, with companies from diverse industries, such as finance, healthcare, and e-commerce, actively seeking skilled professionals to fill key roles. This trend was driven by the rapid digital transformation of businesses, the need for innovative technologies, and the increasing reliance on data-driven decision-making. As a result, IT specialists, including software developers, data analysts, cybersecurity experts, and IT project managers, were in high demand, and their skills were highly valued.
However, the landscape has shifted dramatically with the layoffs that occurred in 2023 and 2024. The sudden and unexpected downsizing of the IT workforce across multiple industries has significantly changed the job market dynamics. Many companies, citing economic uncertainty, technological advancements, and shifting business priorities, have been forced to restructure their operations, substantially reducing demand for IT specialists. With the integration of artificial intelligence and the reductions after the pandemic-related hiring sprees, the demand for IT employees seems to be lower.
This has motivated the team at RationalFX to analyze the highest-paying IT jobs in the United States based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and determine which jobs offer a good salary. We also took into consideration the demand for these specific jobs by looking at the number of employed individuals as of May 2023 (the latest data published by the BLS).
Working as a Software Developer offers very high pay, and the job is in demand, given how many were employed as of May 2023. More than 1.65 million software developers worked in the U.S. at the time, earning an average of $66.40 per hour or an annual wage of $138,110. Based on the level of experience and skills, however, some engineers earn significantly more.
Beyond the base salary, they receive performance-based annual bonuses and other benefits that can sometimes bring their total compensation to a seven-figure amount. Meta, for instance, has different levels for engineers who can earn millions of dollars per year at the more advanced levels. In this levelling system, distinguished engineers (level E9) and engineering fellows (E10) are paid more than $2.5 million annually in salaries, stock options, and bonuses. Of course, only a handful of individuals advance to these levels, corresponding to their skills, qualifications and responsibilities. E9 engineers are fewer than 50 people, while the E10 level is even more exclusive since these are engineers with long experience in the company rather than hired externally. Similar structures exist in the rest of the major tech companies, including Google, Amazon, and Apple.
By far, the highest paying job with $157,160 in annual earnings is a computer and information research scientist, but only 35,210 were employed, which is lower compared to other jobs. This could be explained by the advanced education and computing experience required from new candidates. This is a position in which IT professionals with Ph.D.s in computer science or other related fields conduct research and improve and create new technology. Computer and information scientists are employed in California a lot more than in other states, with 7,560 positions and a median yearly salary of $187,420. As of May 2023, Washington State had 2,940 computer and information research scientist jobs, and their yearly salary was even higher, at $202,910.
Another possible career that might be worth pursuing is a computer user support specialist. Its salary is low compared to other jobs at only $63,640 per year (the lowest average salary in IT), but it only requires a high-school diploma. The required educational attainment for computer network support specialists is also a high-school diploma, but here, the salary is even more attractive, at $78,640. Interestingly, the average annual salary in the U.S. at the time was $65,470, so tech jobs as a whole remain quite attractive.
Still, more than 280,000 tech sector employees were laid off globally in 2024, with more than half of those layoffs announced by U.S.-based companies. According to our recent research, a total of 157,950 tech jobs were slashed by American companies last year. At the same time, many of those same companies hire thousands of people, giving IT and tech specialists new opportunities. Among the most recent layoff announcements, Meta has been said to cut more than 3,600 positions. The move will affect around 5% of the company’s workforce, but at the same time, CEO Mark Zuckerberg says they will be “bringing in new people”.
The map above shows that California and Washington are the states that had the highest-paid IT jobs in 2023. When we look at all information technology and mathematics-related jobs, the median annual wage in California was $142,270 as of May 2023. This is based on a mean hourly wage of $68.40 and includes more than 25 different occupations in the technology and math science fields. Nearly 760 thousand people were employed in those jobs, representing 14.6% of all tech and maths jobs in the U.S. California is home to thousands of technology companies, many of which are concentrated in and around the San Francisco Bay Area and the Santa Clara Valley, in particular, also known as Silicon Valley.
The state with the second-largest number of IT employees is Texas, where 490,410 people work in the field, or 9.46% of all IT jobs in the U.S. The state has a huge number of technology companies, most notably Dell and Oracle, which employ thousands of people in and outside Texas. The average IT salary here, however, is not that high; as of May 2023, it was $105,070, significantly lower than what IT specialists earned on average in California.
In terms of pay, Washington State ranks second with an average annual salary of $137,260 for tech jobs based on an hourly wage of $65.99. With the headquarters of tech giants such as Microsoft and Amazon in the state, the second position is hardly a surprise. In May 2023, there were 214,780 employees in IT and math science jobs across the state.
The states that offered the lowest median yearly salary for computer, tech and maths-related jobs in May 2023 were Mississippi with $76,010 per year, Kentucky with $84,970 and Arkansas with $84,820. Wyoming, on the other hand, was the state with the fewest tech and IT employees; only 3,570 people worked these jobs in the state.
Conclusion
According to the latest BLS data, there were 4,550,700 jobs in IT and more than 5 million jobs in both IT and mathematical science as of May 2023. Despite the mass layoffs in the tech sector in 2023 and 2024, many companies continue to hire aggressively in departments such as AI and security. It is estimated that a lot of IT jobs will still be required in the coming years, with companies and government agencies looking to hire artificial intelligence and machine learning engineers, data scientists, cyber security and of course, software developers and tech support employees.
Despite the mass layoffs in the tech sector last year, there is a huge demand for artificial intelligence specialists. A simple online search through several online job portals shows more than 53,000 AI jobs on Indeed, over 80,000 AI jobs on LinkedIn, and more than 43,000 AI-related positions on Glassdoor.
Technological advancements make the job environment in IT extremely dynamic and while this often means mass layoffs, it also suggests that companies are constantly hiring. This gives IT employees huge opportunities to better themselves and learn new skills. However, older systems are still used due to the costs of updating hardware and software, so those who know how to use them still have plenty of options.
Methodology
This report sources information from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which publishes detailed data about different occupations in IT and tech, including annual salary, hourly pay, required education and number of employed individuals. We looked at the latest BLS data, which is from May 2023. State figures also cover the same period.