Across 65 live US postings for backend engineers with a listed USD salary, measured September 2026, the median offer is $170,350–$235,200 a year. This is the tracked catalog, not the whole labor market.
Measured September 2026 · n=65 US postings with salary
Backend engineer salary: $170,350–$235,200 a year, measured from live postings.
Every number below comes from 253 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 $170,350–$235,200 a year (n=65).
- 56.9% of the 253 live postings matching "backend engineer" are remote.
- Level 4 backend engineers (building AI systems) list $152,800–$235,200, vs $172,668–$237,500 at Level 1.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Junior | 0 | not enough data |
| Mid-level | 8 | $150,000–$220,000 |
| Senior | 39 | $168,000–$235,200 |
| Lead | 17 | $180,000–$260,000 |
Remote vs on-site (USD / year)
| Segment | US postings with salary | Median min–max / year |
|---|---|---|
| Remote | 51 | $168,000–$235,200 |
| On-site / hybrid | 14 | $180,000–$231,950 |
Companies hiring backend engineers
Method
US-dollar postings whose title contains "backend engineer", with both salary bounds listed. This page exists because 65 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 Not the whole labor market — do not cite as a national average.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 September 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?
56.9% of the 65 live postings are marked remote by the employer, measured September 2026.
Does the AI level of the job change the pay?
In this sample, 24 postings are Level 4 (building AI systems) and 181 are Level 1 (AI is not the work). See the AI level breakdown below for the median in each band. Measured September 2026.