Backend Engineer Salary in Seattle 2026: $168K–$274K (Amazon, Microsoft & Beyond)

Seattle is one of the best cities in the world for backend engineers in 2026. The combination of elite employers, Washington State's 0% income tax, and a cost of living 20–30% below San Francisco creates a take-home pay advantage that nominal salary comparisons routinely understate.

See live backend engineer salary data for Seattle →

This guide covers what backend engineers actually earn in Seattle — by level, employer, and tech stack — plus a direct comparison against San Francisco, New York, and remote work. For a broader multi-city view, see the Backend Engineer Salary Guide 2026.

---

Salary Table: Junior to Staff (2026)

Base salary only. Total comp includes RSUs, annual bonus, and signing bonuses — particularly meaningful at FAANG.

---

Top Seattle Employers for Backend Engineers

Amazon (Seattle HQ)

The dominant market anchor. Over 50,000 engineers on-site across AWS, Amazon.com, Alexa, Ring, and Kuiper. SDE II (L5) earns $168K–$185K base; SDE III (L6) earns $200K–$230K base. Amazon front-loads compensation with large Year-1 signing bonuses, but RSUs vest on a back-loaded 5/15/40/40 schedule — Year-2 is the notorious "cliff" before RSUs accelerate.

Microsoft (Redmond HQ, 12 miles east)

Microsoft employs tens of thousands of engineers on Azure, Windows, Teams, and Office. SWE III (L63) earns $195K–$235K base; SWE IV (L64-65, senior) earns $210K–$260K. RSUs vest quarterly — a significant quality-of-life advantage over Amazon's annual schedule — and base salaries trend slightly higher at comparable levels.

Google (Kirkland/Seattle)

Google's Seattle office focuses on Cloud, Search, and Maps infrastructure. L5 (senior SWE) earns $210K–$250K base with total comp of $300K–$400K. Google's annual refresher RSU grants and performance bonuses make total comp highly predictable and competitive.

Meta (Seattle office)

Meta's Seattle teams work on infrastructure, AI ranking systems, and developer tooling. E5 (senior) earns $200K–$240K base, $290K–$380K total comp. Meta equity has recovered strongly since 2023, making it one of the highest-paying options for engineers with distributed systems depth.

Expedia Group (Seattle HQ)

One of Seattle's most significant non-FAANG employers. Expedia's backend teams cover pricing, search, and payments infrastructure. Senior engineers earn $175K–$210K base — competitive, though below pure FAANG levels — with notably better work-life balance relative to Amazon.

Zillow (Seattle HQ)

Zillow's backend engineering team builds real estate data pipelines, ML-powered pricing models, and high-traffic property search. Senior engineers earn $165K–$200K base. Go and Python are primary backend languages; strong ML-adjacent backend roles are available for engineers interested in data-intensive systems.

Tableau / Salesforce (Seattle)

Tableau, acquired by Salesforce, maintains a strong Seattle engineering presence. Backend engineers on the data engine and visualization infrastructure earn $170K–$215K base. Salesforce parent company equity adds meaningful upside. Python and Java are the dominant stacks, with large-scale data processing expertise highly valued.

---

Tech Stack Premiums in Seattle

Not all backend engineers command the same salary. Stack expertise creates measurable variance:

Go commands the highest premium because AWS and Amazon's internal service mesh relies heavily on it. Rust is elevated by Microsoft's aggressive adoption across Azure and Windows core. Senior engineers combining Go or Rust with distributed systems design and Kubernetes experience routinely negotiate at the top of Seattle FAANG salary bands.

---

The WA 0% Income Tax Advantage

Washington State levies no state income tax — the single largest financial differentiator between Seattle and comparable tech markets:

Approximate after federal + state/city income tax only.

At the $213K median, a Seattle backend engineer takes home roughly $18,000 more per year than a San Francisco engineer on the same nominal salary — solely from the absent California state income tax. A remote engineer in Texas achieves similar tax efficiency, but remote roles typically pay 10–20% less base, narrowing or eliminating the take-home advantage.

---

Amazon vs Microsoft RSU Structure

This is one of the most practically important comparisons for Seattle engineers evaluating competing offers.

Amazon's RSU vesting is back-loaded: 5% in Year 1, 15% in Year 2, 40% in Year 3, 40% in Year 4. The gap is bridged by large upfront signing bonuses ($30K–$100K+ for senior roles), but Year 2 is the "dead zone" — signing bonus has ended, RSUs haven't accelerated. Engineers leaving in Year 2 consistently feel the compensation drop most acutely. New RSU grants are issued to retention-risk engineers but require re-evaluation. Microsoft's RSU vesting is quarterly over 4 years, with annual refresher grants that kick in after Year 1. This creates smooth, consistent equity cash flow. Microsoft also offers an Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) at a 10% discount — a reliable, low-risk return on participation.

For engineers who plan to stay 4+ years: Microsoft's vesting structure offers better compensation predictability. For engineers optimizing Year-1 total comp or who expect to switch roles at the 2–3 year mark: Amazon's signing bonuses can be superior, especially for senior and staff hires where signing packages reach $80K–$150K.

---

Seattle vs San Francisco, New York, and Remote

San Francisco nominally leads on base salary but California's 13.3% top rate erodes the advantage significantly for senior earners. New York pays well but adds both state and city income tax. Remote offers maximum geographic flexibility but typically 10–20% lower base at non-FAANG companies.

For the full NYC breakdown, see Backend Engineer Salary New York 2026. For remote-first compensation benchmarks, see Remote Tech Salaries 2026. For Seattle's full salary landscape across all engineering roles, see Tech Salaries in Seattle 2026.

---

Is Seattle Worth It?

For backend engineers, yes — almost certainly. The combination of the second-highest backend salaries in the US, zero state income tax, reasonable cost of living relative to San Francisco, and a mature ecosystem of anchor employers makes Seattle uniquely compelling.

The one real trade-off is weather: 150+ grey days per year is a genuine quality-of-life factor that varies entirely by personal tolerance. Everything else — compensation, career opportunity, and financial efficiency — points to Seattle as one of the top two markets in the world for the role.

Check your salary against a real Seattle job posting to see where you stand in the band — or browse backend engineer salaries across all cities to compare markets side by side.