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The average lead engineer salary in the United States is $84,927. Lead engineer salaries typically range between $60,000 and $120,000 yearly. The average hourly rate for lead engineers is $40.83 per hour.
Lead engineer salary is impacted by location, education, and experience. Lead engineers earn the highest average salary in Hawaii.
The highest-paying states for lead engineers are Hawaii, California, and Maryland. The lowest average lead engineer salary states are Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
Rank![]() ![]() | State![]() ![]() | Avg. Salary![]() ![]() | Hourly Rate![]() ![]() |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Hawaii | $120,725 | $58.04 |
2 | Utah | $89,046 | $42.81 |
3 | California | $102,811 | $49.43 |
4 | Alaska | $95,983 | $46.15 |
5 | District of Columbia | $103,040 | $49.54 |
6 | Maryland | $100,145 | $48.15 |
7 | New Hampshire | $86,487 | $41.58 |
8 | New Mexico | $88,195 | $42.40 |
9 | Massachusetts | $91,238 | $43.86 |
10 | Wyoming | $82,364 | $39.60 |
11 | West Virginia | $91,347 | $43.92 |
12 | Idaho | $84,879 | $40.81 |
13 | Washington | $88,233 | $42.42 |
14 | Virginia | $87,073 | $41.86 |
15 | Rhode Island | $82,117 | $39.48 |
16 | Texas | $84,096 | $40.43 |
17 | Colorado | $85,458 | $41.09 |
18 | Maine | $86,731 | $41.70 |
19 | Connecticut | $89,304 | $42.93 |
20 | Oregon | $86,236 | $41.46 |
21 | Tennessee | $80,809 | $38.85 |
22 | Alabama | $81,152 | $39.02 |
23 | Arizona | $81,469 | $39.17 |
24 | Michigan | $80,368 | $38.64 |
25 | North Dakota | $81,658 | $39.26 |
26 | Vermont | $81,431 | $39.15 |
27 | Louisiana | $83,997 | $40.38 |
28 | Georgia | $83,706 | $40.24 |
29 | Indiana | $81,214 | $39.05 |
30 | Nevada | $78,927 | $37.95 |
31 | Illinois | $81,669 | $39.26 |
32 | New York | $81,536 | $39.20 |
33 | Delaware | $80,202 | $38.56 |
34 | Iowa | $80,568 | $38.73 |
35 | Pennsylvania | $79,705 | $38.32 |
36 | Montana | $76,701 | $36.88 |
37 | Mississippi | $79,374 | $38.16 |
38 | New Jersey | $80,919 | $38.90 |
39 | North Carolina | $77,445 | $37.23 |
40 | Ohio | $76,894 | $36.97 |
41 | Missouri | $76,453 | $36.76 |
42 | Oklahoma | $76,300 | $36.68 |
43 | Kansas | $74,740 | $35.93 |
44 | South Dakota | $72,990 | $35.09 |
45 | Nebraska | $73,621 | $35.39 |
46 | Minnesota | $74,400 | $35.77 |
47 | South Carolina | $74,710 | $35.92 |
48 | Kentucky | $70,529 | $33.91 |
49 | Arkansas | $65,689 | $31.58 |
50 | Florida | $74,428 | $35.78 |
51 | Wisconsin | $71,310 | $34.28 |
The highest-paying cities for lead engineers are San Francisco, CA, Quincy, MA, and Bellevue, WA.
Rank![]() ![]() | City![]() ![]() | Avg. Salary![]() ![]() | Hourly Rate![]() ![]() |
---|---|---|---|
1 | San Francisco, CA | $110,162 | $52.96 |
2 | Quincy, MA | $91,308 | $43.90 |
3 | Bellevue, WA | $88,778 | $42.68 |
4 | Richmond, VA | $86,884 | $41.77 |
5 | Hillsboro, OR | $86,337 | $41.51 |
6 | Englewood, CO | $85,517 | $41.11 |
7 | Austin, TX | $84,769 | $40.75 |
8 | Atlanta, GA | $83,745 | $40.26 |
9 | Chicago, IL | $81,718 | $39.29 |
10 | New York, NY | $81,640 | $39.25 |
11 | Richmond, IN | $81,499 | $39.18 |
12 | Phoenix, AZ | $81,462 | $39.16 |
13 | Jersey City, NJ | $80,981 | $38.93 |
14 | Franklin, TN | $80,829 | $38.86 |
15 | Warren, MI | $80,525 | $38.71 |
16 | Wilmington, DE | $80,287 | $38.60 |
17 | Philadelphia, PA | $80,153 | $38.54 |
18 | Wilmington, NC | $77,556 | $37.29 |
19 | Columbus, OH | $76,893 | $36.97 |
20 | OFallon, MO | $76,604 | $36.83 |
Lead Engineers are the most in-demand in these five cities:
A lead engineer's salary ranges from $60,000 a year at the 10th percentile to $120,000 at the 90th percentile.
Percentile![]() ![]() | Annual Salary![]() ![]() | Monthly Salary![]() ![]() | Hourly Rate![]() ![]() |
---|---|---|---|
90th Percentile | $120,000 | $10,000 | $58 |
75th Percentile | $101,000 | $8,417 | $49 |
Average | $84,927 | $7,077 | $41 |
25th Percentile | $70,000 | $5,833 | $34 |
10th Percentile | $60,000 | $5,000 | $29 |
The highest paying types of lead engineers are senior staff engineer, principal software engineer, and senior principal engineer.
Job Title![]() ![]() | Annual Salary![]() ![]() | Monthly Salary![]() ![]() | Hourly Rate![]() ![]() | Job Openings![]() ![]() |
---|---|---|---|---|
Engineer Lead Quality Assurance Lead | $110,007 | $9,167 | $52.89 | 278,178 |
Principal Software Engineer | $134,230 | $11,186 | $64.53 | 345,893 |
Software Engineer Lead | $125,565 | $10,464 | $60.37 | 342,462 |
Principal Engineer | $130,213 | $10,851 | $62.60 | 312,683 |
Staff Engineer | $107,530 | $8,961 | $51.70 | 277,011 |
Engineer | $92,076 | $7,673 | $44.27 | 618,207 |
How would you rate the starting salaries for Lead Engineers, as well as the prospects for salary advancement?
Michael Rudisill
Department Head and Professor of Engineering Technology, Northern Michigan University
Top companies hiring lead engineers now:
Lead engineer salaries at Meta and eBay are the highest-paying according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, the average lead engineer salary at companies like Google and Levi Strauss & Co. are highly competitive.
Rank![]() ![]() | Company![]() ![]() | Average Salary![]() ![]() | Hourly Rate![]() ![]() |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Meta | $184,681 | $88.79 |
2 | eBay | $171,347 | $82.38 |
3 | $169,696 | $81.58 | |
4 | Levi Strauss & Co. | $166,291 | $79.95 |
5 | Netflix | $165,704 | $79.67 |
6 | PayPal | $164,986 | $79.32 |
7 | Canva | $164,760 | $79.21 |
8 | Match Group | $164,255 | $78.97 |
9 | The Knot | $163,189 | $78.46 |
10 | Stitch Fix | $162,337 | $78.05 |
11 | Snowflake Computing | $157,384 | $75.67 |
12 | Microsoft | $157,357 | $75.65 |
13 | Apple | $156,165 | $75.08 |
14 | Move | $155,710 | $74.86 |
15 | Hotel Tonight, Inc. | $154,990 | $74.51 |
16 | $154,684 | $74.37 | |
17 | MongoDB | $153,256 | $73.68 |
18 | First Republic Bank | $152,007 | $73.08 |
19 | DocuSign | $151,052 | $72.62 |
20 | Palo Alto Networks | $150,819 | $72.51 |
The average lead engineer salary varies across industries:
Rank![]() ![]() | Industry![]() ![]() | Average Salary![]() ![]() | Hourly Rate![]() ![]() |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Automotive | $110,872 | $53.30 |
2 | Manufacturing | $106,022 | $50.97 |
3 | Technology | $101,911 | $49.00 |
4 | Finance | $73,716 | $35.44 |
The average lead engineer salary has risen by $10,296 over the last ten years. In 2014, the average lead engineer earned $74,631 annually, but today, they earn $84,927 a year. That works out to a 7% change in pay for lead engineers over the last decade.
Compare lead engineer salaries for cities or states with the national average over time.
Compare lead engineer salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.
Year![]() ![]() | Avg. Salary![]() ![]() | Hourly Rate![]() ![]() | % Change![]() ![]() |
---|---|---|---|
2025 | $84,900 | $40.83 | +1.9% |
2024 | $83,300 | $40.05 | +1.2% |
2023 | $82,300 | $39.57 | +1.7% |
2022 | $80,900 | $38.89 | +2.0% |
2021 | $79,300 | $38.13 | +0.7% |
Company![]() ![]() | Job![]() ![]() | Location![]() ![]() | Date Added![]() ![]() | Salary![]() ![]() |
---|---|---|---|---|
Prudential | Lead, Power Platform Engineer-Pgim Global Services | Newark, NJ | 12/18/2024 | $135,000 |
Leidos | Lead Substation Engineer | Walled Lake, MI | 12/17/2024 | $104,650 |
Airbyte | Chapter Lead, Frontend Engineering SAN Francisco | San Francisco, CA | 12/17/2024 | $208,000 |
Activision | Lead Analytics Engineer | Santa Monica, CA | 12/16/2024 | $121,500 |
at&T | Lead Full Stack Engineer | Bothell, WA | 12/16/2024 | $143,800 |
Capital One | Lead Full Stack Engineer (GO, React, AWS) | New York, NY | 12/16/2024 | $201,400 |
Capital One | Lead AI Engineer | Boston, MA | 12/16/2024 | $213,400 |
Cognizant Technology Solutions | Lead Java Engineer/Architect | New York, NY | 12/16/2024 | $102,600 |
L3Harris Technologies | Lead, Info SEC SYS Engineer Secret-Colorado | Colorado Springs, CO | 12/16/2024 | $106,500 |
City National Corporation | Lead Full Stack Engineer | Jersey City, NJ | 12/16/2024 | $111,408 |
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