Front-end technologies are evolving faster than ever. Just think about it: on average, a front-end developer has to learn a new tech stack every two years. Despite the fact that JavaScript developers make up the largest tech community in the world, leading tech countries are still facing severe talent scarcity. Find out how many front-end developers there are in the world, how much front-end developers make in the most tech-savvy countries, and what affects their salaries.
To fill in the gap, tech businesses continue their surge to Ukraine which is expected to have about 200K software developers by 2020. As of 2019, Ukraine’s tech talent pool boasts about 185K IT professionals, which makes the country send the biggest outsourcing location in Eastern Europe.
- What is the Average Front-End Developer Salary in the World?
- The United States
- The United Kingdom
- The Netherlands
- Nordic Region: Denmark, Sweden, Finland
- DACH Region: Germany, Switzerland, Austria
- Average Front-End Developer Salary in Ukraine
- Frequently Used Front-End Job Titles
- How Many JavaScript Developers Are There in the World?
What is the Average Front-End Developer Salary in the World?
According to PayScale and Upwork, the average Front-End developer salary in the US is $105K per year. Senior Front-End developers have a salary of $145K(PayScale). A mid-career front-end developer makes around $100K a year. A junior front-end developer with 1–3 years of experience has a salary of $72K.
| Country/City | Average Junior Front-End Developer Salary | Average Middle Front-End Developer Salary | Average Senior Front-End Developer Salary |
| USA | $72K | $100K | $145K |
| San Francisco | $87K | $122K | $174K |
| New York | $68K | $93K | $149K |
| Los Angeles | $68K | $96K | $142K |
| San Jose | $75K | $98K | $133K |
| Chicago | $62K | $89K | $130K |
| Netherlands | $41K | $56K | $82K |
| UK | $32K | $50K | $69K |
| Switzerland | $37K | $90K | $141K |
| Germany | $43K | $55K | $70K |
| Austria | $33K | $48K | $64K |
| Denmark | $48K | $66K | $99K |
| Sweden | $31K | $45K | $63K |
| Finland | $32K | $41K | $60K |
How Much Does a Front-End Developer Make?
According to PayScale and Accelerance, the average front-end developer salaries range between $31K and above $100K depending on the level of expertise and the country.
Average Front-End Developer Salary in the World
Average Front-End Developer Salary in the United States
The average front-end developer salary in the US is $105K per year. Additionally, front-end engineers receive $2.5K worth of bonuses in cash. Other common benefits include stock options, free meals, gym memberships, etc.
Average Front-end Developer Salary in the United States
What Is the Average Front-End Developer Salary in the United States?
San Francisco is the leading tech center in the US. Front-end developer salary here begins from $87K a year for junior professionals. A senior-level specialist can expect to make $174K in San Francisco.
San Jose comes second with junior front-end developers earning $87K per year. $122K is offered for middle-level positions and $174K for senior positions.
Front-end developers in New York City and Los Angeles have similar salaries. According to PayScale, a junior engineer in NY earns approximately $68K a year—the same as in LA, while a senior specialist would get $142K in LA and $149K in NYC.
Front-end developers in Chicago with up to two years of experience in engineering get $62K a year. Middle-to-senior engineers in Chicago get from $89K up to $130K or more a year.
An average salary for a React.js developer in the US is $79K per year which makes it one of the most expensive front-end developers. The average salary for an Angular.js developer is about $75K followed by a JavaScript developer who earns $72K per year.
- JavaScript - $72,045
- CSS - $68,463
- HTML5 - $68,698
- React.js - $79,627
- Angular.js - $75,193
Average Front-End Developer Salary in the United States by Experience Level (source)
Offshore Developer Rates Guide
Get outsourcing rates in Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa as well as tips on how to choose the country for offshore development.
Average Front-End Developer Salary in the United Kingdom
The UK takes the leading position on the European tech arena housing over 3K startups, 30 accelerators, and 15 global businesses. With the general population of 66.4M citizens, the UK has more than 338K programmers.
London attracts the biggest number of front-end developers in Great Britain and the EU in general. Edinburgh, Oxford, and Cambridge are second best cities in terms of talent number in the UK.
Average Front-End Developer Salary in the United Kingdom
What is the Average Front-End Developer Salary in the United Kingdom?
In the UK, a junior front-end developer makes up to $32K a year, a middle front-end developer would get around $50K, and the average senior salary would reach $69K.
Average Front-End Developer Salary in the Netherlands
About 385 startups, two startup accelerators and offices of nine global tech leaders take Amsterdam to third place in TechBeacon’s rating of best cities for startups in the world. Eindhoven, Delft, and Rotterdam are less popular yet still crowded Dutch IT hubs.
What is the Average Front-End Developer Salary in the Netherlands?
According to PayScale, the average salary for a front-end developer in Amsterdam is $67K per year. A junior front-end developer can earn up to $34K, a middle front-end developer’s salary gets up to around $67K, and a senior makes $79K annually.
- JavaScript - $47K
- CSS - $44K
- HTML5 - $45K
- React.js - $48K
- Angular.js - $54K
Average Salary for Front-End Developer in the Netherlands by Experience Level (source)
Nordic Region
Average Front-End Developer Salary in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland
Average Front-End Developer Salary in Denmark
Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, has one of the highest salaries for junior front-end developers in Europe. Denmark is the most digitized country with 94% of citizens working online. Copenhagen houses 95K developers and has won the status of the most comfortable city for tech talent.
What is the Average Front-End Developer Salary in Denmark?
The average front-end developer salary in Denmark is $86K, according to PayScale. On average, in Copenhagen a junior front-end developer earns $48K a year, a middle specialist gets $66K, and a senior front-end engineer salary reaches $99K.
Pay by Experience Level for Front-End Developer in Denmark (source)
Average Front-End Developer Salary in Sweden
Second only to San Jose, Stockholm has the largest number of unicorn startups per capita in the world. The general population of Sweden reaches 10M citizens, with 175K developers among them.
The capital has 352 startups and six global tech corporations and houses a powerful startup accelerator Sparx.
What is the Average Front-End Developer Salary in Sweden?
SalaryExpert states that the average salary for a junior front-end developer in Sweden can get $31K a year. According to PayScale, the average salary for middle software developer with 4–9 years of experience is $45K, and a senior front-end developer makes about $63K.
Average Front-End Developer Salary in Finland
Finland is the second most digitized country in the EU. The lively tech landscape of Helsinki is composed of 274 startups and four accelerators. Finland’s rather small population of 5.5M citizens includes 83K developers.
What is the Average Front-End Developer Salary in Finland?
The average JavaScript engineers salary in Finland is around $42K annually, according to PayScale. A junior front-end developer salary in Finland is $32K. A middle front-end specialist with 4–9 years of experience makes about $41K a year. Salary of a senior front-end developer in Finland can reach above $60K.
DACH Region
Average Front-end Developer Salaries in DACH Region
Average Front-End Developer Salary in Germany
Berlin alone houses 1.5K startups, says Germany Startup Monitor. Intense competition on the local market makes it harder for small businesses to hire high-quality talent for a reasonable cost.
Germany has by far the biggest software developer pool in Europe of about 837K software engineers. Munich, Berlin, Darmstadt, Hamburg, and Stuttgart are the main digital hubs.
What is the Average Salary of a Front-End Developer in Germany?
According to PayScale, the average salary for a junior front-end developer is approximately $43K in Berlin. On average, a middle front-end developer earns about $55K. Meanwhile, a senior front-end developer makes around $70K a year, according to Accelerance.
Average Salary for a Front-End Developer in Switzerland
With a humble population of 8.5M, the country boasts 144K developers, making Switzerland the land of startups. About 836 new startups were registered in 2019, and the number is gradually increasing.
Switzerland compares with San Jose, US in terms of front-end salary level. The main difference between the two is the income tax. In Switzerland, withholding tax deducts 35% of income while in the US, an employee has to pay social security and medicare taxes, federal income tax, and state income tax.
What is the Average Salary of a Front-End Developer in Switzerland?
The average salary for junior front-end developers in Switzerland is $37K a year. A middle front-end developer’s annual salary is about $90K. A senior front-end developer earns about $141K a year.
Average Front-End Developer Salary in Austria
Austria is a developing IT country with a general population of 8.8M citizens, 92K of whom are software developers. As a result of the rapid growth of the tech startup arena during 2018 and 2019, Austria now has more than 300 tech startups.
What is the Average Salary of a Front-End Developer in Austria?
The average salary for a junior front-end developer in Austria is about $33K a year. A middle front-end engineer earns $48K. An average salary of a senior front-end engineer in Austria reaches about $64K.
Average Salary for Front-End Developer in Ukraine
Experience, exclusive knowledge, robust skill set, and market rates are the factors that shape the salary of front-end developers in Ukraine. We took the latest data from the biggest online community of Ukrainian developers dou.ua and would like to emphasize that the salaries vary from company to company and from developer to developer should always be clarified with sales representatives.
The most popular tech hubs for outsourcing in Ukraine are Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Lviv, and Odesa, which all have numerous educational institutions for technical specialists. In fact, about 35K entry-level engineers graduate from Ukrainian higher education institutions per year.
What is the Average Salary of a Front-End Developer in Ukraine?
According to PayScale, the average salary for a junior front-end developer in Ukraine is up to 18K a year. A middle front-end engineer makes 35K, and a senior front-end tech specialist makes above 54K a year.
What’s the Most Popular Front-End Technology in the World?
The most popular front-end technology according to Stack Overflow is JavaScript- almost 70% of front-end developers chose it as primary technology and React.js as the most frequently used front-end framework.
| Front-End Technologies | Front-End Frameworks |
| JavaScript 69.7% HTML/CSS 63.1% SQL 56.5% Python 39.4% Java 39.2% | React.js 74.5% Vue.js 73.6% Angular/Angular.js 57.6% |
JavaScript works on an event-based principle which means that the front-end part of a website reacts to clicks (events) on the interface and collects data about the visitor’s behavior.
Later on, the website's owner can use the information to improve interaction between the client and the brand. What's more, JavaScript is compatible with all types of platforms—mobile and desktop alike.
What Does a Front-End Developer Do?
Front-end developers take design layouts and bring them to life by converting them into HTML, CSS and JavaScript code. After that, a meticulously designed page becomes a fully responsive website with clickable buttons and smooth animation effects.
Depending on the seniority level and additional expertise, a front-end developer can:
Transform a website design concept into a JavaScript, CSS and HTML code
Create highly interactive interfaces with smooth user experience in mind
Implement search engine optimization best practices
Make sure a website is bug-free and easy to use
Technical Skills a Front-End Developer Must Possess
Working with an interface isn’t the only thing a front-end developer does. A front-end developer is expected to have a good working knowledge of Search Engine Optimization, Quality Assurance, and DevOps.
A junior front-end developer has to know HTML/CSS, be generally aware of JavaScript principles, and have experience in using basic frameworks—Angular, React.js or Vue.js.
A middle front-end developer is expected to know how to set up a new project from scratch. Profound knowledge of DOM API, algorithms and semantics are the baseline skills required from a middle front-end engineer.
Senior front-end developers are usually hired to create project architecture from square one. That’s why a senior engineer has to know the best programming practices, use programming patterns and have a working knowledge of setting up Webpack.
| Junior Front-End Developer | Middle Front-End Developer | Senior Front-End Developer |
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How to Find Your Front-End Developer: Frequently Used Front-End Job Titles
The job of a front-end developer is so multifaceted that we should dig a bit deeper to find out what specialist you need to work on your project. That’s why we’ve made a table with the most common front-end developer job titles and borrowed the of their functions from Frontend Masters.
Front-End Engineer
Specialist has a computer science degree and applied knowledge of building applications
CSS/HTML Developer
Expertise is limited to CSS and HTML, excluding application knowledge and JavaScript
Front-End Developer
Specialist with average knowledge of JavaScript, HTML, CSS and DOM
Frequently Used Front-End Job Titles
| Title | Skills Required |
| Front-End Web Designer | Knowledge extends on CSS/HTML and visual and interactional design |
| Mobile/Tablet Front-End Developer | Experience in building front-ends for mobile and tablet interfaces |
| Front-End Accessibility Expert | Working knowledge of crafting interfaces that adhere to accessibility standards |
| Front-End Testing/QA | Rich experience in conducting unit, functional, A/B, and user testing |
| Front-End SEO Expert | Can create interfaces well-optimized for search engines |
| Web/Front-End User Interface Engineer | Working knowledge of interaction design principles and front-end development skills |
How Many JavaScript Developers Are There in the World?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of JavaScript developers will grow by 27% between 2014 and 2024.
Number of JavaScript Developers in 2019 (source)
Citing the latest research by SlashData State of Developer Nation, “JavaScript is and remains the queen of programming languages with a community of over 11M active developers. On the second tier we have Java (6.9M) and Python (6.8M).”
Worldwide Front-End Developer Payment Trends: What Factors Matter?
Experience
Increased demand for senior engineers and devaluation of seniority levels. In the 2000s, to apply for a senior developer position, a candidate had to have over 10 years of experience. In 2019, the bar lowered to 5 years.
Knowledge
The ever-evolving front-end tech stack and the lack of tech educational institutions. The tech stack of front-end development changes every two years, and universities are struggling to catch up.
Talent pool size
America and Western European countries generate 90% of talent demand but suffer from a severe talent shortage, while Eastern European and Asian countries are the main centers for talent generation.
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