Across 93 live US postings for backend engineers with a listed USD salary, measured November 2026, the median offer is $180,000–$235,000 a year. This is the tracked catalog, not the whole labor market.
Measured November 2026 · n=93 US postings with salary
Backend engineer salary: $180,000–$235,000 a year, measured from live postings.
Every number below comes from 359 tracked live postings whose title matches "backend engineer". No surveys, no self-reports. Listed salaries only, in US dollars.
- The median backend engineer posting offers $180,000–$235,000 a year (n=93).
- 53.2% of the 359 live postings matching "backend engineer" are remote.
- Builds AI backend engineers list $165,000–$220,000, vs $180,000–$235,000 at Little AI.
Median salary by seniority (USD / year)
Seniority as tagged on the posting. Both salary bounds required.
| Segment | US postings with salary | Median min–max / year |
|---|---|---|
| Intern | 0 | not enough data |
| Junior | 0 | not enough data |
| Mid-level | 9 | $165,000–$210,000 |
| Senior | 58 | $180,000–$235,000 |
| Lead | 17 | $200,000–$267,700 |
Remote vs on-site (USD / year)
| Segment | US postings with salary | Median min–max / year |
|---|---|---|
| Remote | 70 | $176,000–$235,000 |
| On-site / hybrid | 23 | $180,000–$223,000 |
Companies hiring backend engineers
Method
US-dollar postings whose title contains "backend engineer", with both salary bounds listed. This page exists because 93 such postings clear the 50-posting floor Level requires before publishing a dedicated salary page. Below that, the median moves too much between ingestion cycles to be a citable number.
Sample: postings at tech companies tracked by Level. Not the whole labor market. Do not cite as a national average.
Refreshed automatically; this edition is measured November 2026. Small-n slices move a lot. Read the n column first.
Source: O*NET OnLine (U.S. Dept. of Labor): Software Developers (SOC 15-1252.00).
How many backend engineers jobs are remote?
53.2% of the 93 live postings are marked remote by the employer, measured November 2026.
Does the AI level of the job change the pay?
In this sample, 20 postings build AI and 260 involve little AI. See the level breakdown below for the median at each level. Measured November 2026.