Tech Salaries in Austin 2026: What Engineers Earn in Texas's Hottest Tech Hub

Austin has been called the next Silicon Valley for so long that the label has become a cliché. But the numbers behind it are real: Tesla moved its headquarters there. Oracle relocated from Redwood City. Apple built a $1 billion campus. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta all have significant offices. Samsung has had a chip fabrication plant in the area for decades.

The result is a tech market that has genuinely matured past the "up and coming" phase into something substantial. Austin is no longer just attracting companies with tax incentives - it is producing its own startup ecosystem, retaining engineering talent that used to leave for California, and offering a financial equation that makes coastal engineers do a double-take.

The secret weapon: Texas has no state income tax. A software engineer earning $150K in Austin takes home roughly the same as someone earning $175K in San Francisco or $165K in New York after state and city taxes. When you add Austin's significantly lower housing costs, the math gets even more compelling.

This guide covers every major tech role we track in Austin, with real 2026 salary data.

Software Engineer - $76K-$199K

Software engineers in Austin earn solid salaries that look modest on paper but punch well above their weight after taxes. Salary range: $76K-$199K Median: ~$127K

The $76K floor reflects junior roles at local companies and agencies. The $199K ceiling comes from Big Tech satellite offices - Amazon, Google, Apple, and Microsoft all pay Austin engineers at or near their standard US bands, which means senior software engineers can earn $160K-$199K+ before equity.

Amazon is the largest single tech employer in Austin, with thousands of engineers across multiple offices. Apple's Austin campus handles significant engineering work. Dell Technologies (headquartered in Round Rock, essentially Austin) employs thousands of developers. The enterprise tech presence is deep.

The two-tier market is visible: Big Tech satellite offices paying $140K-$199K, and the local ecosystem (startups, agencies, mid-market companies) paying $76K-$130K. The gap is wider than in cities like Seattle or San Francisco where even smaller companies feel pressure to match Big Tech rates.

For context: software engineers in San Francisco earn $115K-$252K, and New York pays $100K-$250K+. Austin's median of $127K is lower, but after taxes and cost of living, an Austin engineer at $127K has comparable purchasing power to a San Francisco engineer at $165K.

Product Manager - $75K-$240K

Product managers in Austin have the widest salary range of any role in the city - and the highest ceiling. Salary range: $75K-$240K Median: ~$125K

The $240K ceiling is remarkable. It nearly matches San Francisco PM salaries, and when you factor in zero state income tax, a senior PM earning $200K+ in Austin has more take-home pay than a $240K PM in California. Companies paying at this level include Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft - all of which have Austin offices where PMs own real product areas, not just execute on directives from headquarters.

The $75K floor reflects PM roles at local startups and non-tech companies where "product manager" might mean something closer to project management. The stratification between Big Tech PMs and local-market PMs is the starkest in Austin of any role.

Technical PMs - those who can read code, understand system architecture, and make data-backed decisions - command significant premiums. Dell and Oracle, both with major Austin presence, hire technical PMs for enterprise products at competitive rates.

Frontend Engineer - $65K-$231K

Frontend engineers in Austin have the most surprising salary data of any role in the city. Salary range: $65K-$231K Median: ~$111K

That $231K ceiling is eye-catching. It approaches San Francisco's $240K ceiling and reflects what happens when Apple, Google, Amazon, and Meta compete for senior frontend talent in a market with fewer candidates than the Bay Area. These companies pay near-headquarters rates for experienced engineers, creating outlier compensation at the top.

The $65K floor represents the traditional Austin market - agencies, small startups, and non-tech companies. The gap between top and bottom is $166K, the widest spread of any Austin role, illustrating a two-tier market more clearly than any other position.

AWS, Spotify, and Dimensional Fund Advisors are among the employers hiring frontend engineers in Austin. The React/TypeScript/Next.js stack dominates, consistent with national trends. Accessibility expertise and performance optimization skills command premiums.

Backend Engineer - $115K-$153K

Backend engineers in Austin have the tightest salary range - which tells its own story. Salary range: $115K-$153K Median: ~$135K

The $38K spread between floor and ceiling is the narrowest of any Austin tech role. This suggests a more homogeneous market for backend engineers: the companies hiring them (Amazon, H-E-B, GEICO, Capital One, Oracle) have relatively similar compensation philosophies, and there is less of the Big Tech vs. local stratification seen in other roles.

The $115K floor is significantly higher than the software engineer floor ($76K), which makes sense - backend engineering roles typically require more experience and specialized knowledge (distributed systems, database optimization, API design at scale).

H-E-B deserves special mention. The Texas grocery chain has built one of the most interesting tech operations in the state, with a large engineering team working on logistics, supply chain optimization, and e-commerce infrastructure. Their engineering salaries are competitive with national tech companies, and the work is genuinely interesting.

Capital One's Austin office focuses on financial services backend systems. Oracle's cloud infrastructure division maintains a presence. Amazon's Austin offices handle significant AWS and retail backend engineering.

Full Stack Developer - $85K-$195K

Full stack developers in Austin fill the generalist niche that Austin's growing startup scene demands. Salary range: $85K-$195K Median: ~$129K

The startup ecosystem in Austin relies heavily on full stack developers. When your team is 5-15 engineers and you need people who can ship features end to end - database to deployment - full stack developers are the backbone. The React + Node.js + PostgreSQL stack is most common, with Next.js increasingly becoming the default framework.

The $195K ceiling reflects senior full stack engineers at larger companies. GEICO, Apple, and Fidelity TalentSource are among the employers hiring at this level. The $85K floor represents early-career full stack developers at smaller startups.

The median of $129K positions full stack developers between backend engineers ($135K median) and frontend engineers ($111K median), which aligns with the generalist nature of the role - you earn more than a specialist on the lower end but less than a specialist on the higher end.

The Texas Tax Advantage

The single biggest factor in Austin's appeal is what does not appear on any salary comparison chart: zero state income tax.

Here is what this means in practice:

Approximate after federal + state/city income taxes. Does not include property taxes, sales tax, or other deductions.

At $200K, an Austin engineer keeps roughly $23K more per year than a San Francisco engineer and $26K more than a New York engineer - purely from tax differences. Over a 10-year career, that is $230K-$260K in additional retained income.

Add housing: a two-bedroom apartment in East Austin or the Domain runs $1,600-$2,200/month. The same in San Francisco costs $3,500-$4,500. In Manhattan, $3,800-$5,500. The annual housing savings of $15K-$30K compound the tax advantage.

The Trade-Offs

Austin is not perfect, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest:

Fewer employer options in niche fields. AI research, quantitative finance, and specialized domains have thinner markets in Austin than in SF, NYC, or Seattle. If you are an ML researcher wanting to work at a frontier lab, Austin is not yet the place. Lower salary ceilings. For most roles, Austin's ceiling is 15-30% below San Francisco or New York. If maximizing nominal total compensation is your priority, the coastal cities still win on gross numbers - even if Austin wins on take-home. Heat. June through September, Austin averages 95-100°F. This is not a minor lifestyle consideration. The outdoor culture that makes Austin appealing exists primarily from October through May. Traffic. Austin's infrastructure has not kept pace with its population growth. Commute times have increased significantly. This matters more if you are in-office versus remote. Fewer walkable neighborhoods. Unlike NYC or parts of SF, Austin is largely car-dependent. If you value walking to restaurants, grocery stores, and entertainment, your neighborhood options are limited.

The Bottom Line

Austin's value proposition is straightforward: earn 70-85% of coastal city salaries while keeping more of it. Zero state income tax, lower housing costs, and a genuine tech ecosystem combine to offer purchasing power that competes with - and sometimes exceeds - cities paying higher nominal salaries.

The city works best for engineers who prioritize financial efficiency over raw compensation numbers. A $150K salary in Austin provides a lifestyle that requires $190K-$200K in San Francisco or New York. For senior engineers at Big Tech satellite offices earning $180K-$240K, the math is even more favorable.

For early-career engineers, Austin offers a growing job market with lower barriers to entry than coastal cities. For experienced engineers, it offers Big Tech compensation with middle-America costs. For everyone, it offers barbecue. Which, depending on your priorities, might be the deciding factor.

Quick reference - all 5 roles:

Software Engineer - $76K-$199K

Product Manager - $75K-$240K

Frontend Engineer - $65K-$231K

Backend Engineer - $115K-$153K

Full Stack Developer - $85K-$195K

Evaluating an Austin tech offer? Try our free AI resume analysis - paste the job posting and see how your experience matches, with salary benchmarks for the Austin market.

Compare Austin against other top tech markets: San Francisco (highest raw salaries), Seattle (no state tax either), New York (finance crossover), Toronto (Canada's tech hub), London (UK market), and remote roles for the full picture.