Depending on the company, web developers can be hired for frontend development, backend development, or both (called full-stack web development).
In this article we’ll dive deeper how you can go about earning a frontend developer salary.
First we’ll look at how in-demand this field of web development is, then we’ll break down what the average paycheck you can expect based on location, seniority, and company.
If you’d like to start frontend development to see if it’s for you, try our free 5-day frontend short course.
Use the menu to find the salary information you’re most interested in:
- What is a frontend developer?
- Are frontend developers in demand?
- How much can I earn as a frontend developer?
- What is the average frontend developer salary in the United States?
- How much do frontend developers earn around the world?
- Frontend developer salaries in the UK and Ireland
- Other European countries
- Frontend developer salaries in Australia
- Frontend developer salaries in New Zealand
- Frontend developer salaries in India
- Frontend developer salaries in Brazil
- Frontend developer salaries in Nigeria
- Frontend developer salaries in Canada
- Frontend developer salaries in South Africa
- Frontend developer salaries based on seniority level
- Frontend developer salaries by company
1. What is a frontend developer?
Web development can be broken down into two areas, frontend and backend. The frontend is everything you see on the screen, the routing between pages, etc. Everything the user interacts with on a website falls into the realm of the frontend.
Backend is the data layer of the application. This includes security and authentication, like logging in to a website. It’s also the interaction between the frontend and the database, where all the data for the website is stored.
If you’d like to read more about what makes these two different, check out our full guide to frontend vs backend development.
2. Are frontend developers in demand?
Maybe you’ve heard comments like these: Frontend development is dead. Everything is full-stack now.
If you’re considering a career in frontend development, your first burning question is probably: “Will I find a job in this field?”
So, is frontend development dead? Well, if the 10,000+ job openings listed on job site Indeed for “frontend developer” in the United States, or over 3,700 job openings in Germany have anything to say about it…the field is alive and thriving.
Why might people say this, then? Well, the field has evolved a lot over the years. The skills needed to compete as a frontend developer have changed. Thus, frontend developers who have not evolved with the changes might see less need for their skillset.
For example, familiarity with at least one framework like React, Vue, and Angular is almost a necessity. People don’t just want simple websites anymore. They want interactive applications.
This means websites with maps, with chatbots, user dashboards, and real-time updates.
On top of that, AI programming tools are set to make frontend developers even more powerful in what they can create, so make sure you have some in your toolkit.
Frontend developer roles these days involve tasks like:
- managing state
- fetching data from APIs and processing the data ready for display
- defining JavaScript architecture
- unit testing
- performance improvements
Employees who are familiar with these frameworks and skills are certainly in demand.
3. How much can I earn as a frontend developer?
The salary for a frontend developer greatly depends on location, company, and seniority of the developer.
First let’s dive into the average salary for frontend developers, then we’ll take a look at how seniority and company might affect your salary.
What is the average frontend developer salary in the United States?
According to data from job site Glassdoor, the average yearly salary for frontend developers in the US is $95,577.
Included is a yearly bonus of $6,844 per year.
This of course varies widely based on which state you’re working in (or are looking to work in!). Let’s take a look at what frontend developers typically earn in different locations (ordered from highest to lowest).
For this, we’ve taken all salary data from Indeed.com:
- San Francisco, CA: $120,874
- Boston, MA: $100,021
- New York, NY: $106,639
- Dallas, TX: $95,405
- Denver, CO: $93,919
- Los Angeles, CA: $102,284
- Atlanta, GA: $104,686
- Chicago, IL: $101,692
- Seattle, WA: $100,532
- Minneapolis, MN: $98,835
As you can see, frontend developers earn well across the US. If you’d like to get salary data for a different location, check Indeed’s salary portal.
4. How much do frontend developers earn around the world?
Let’s dive into average frontend developer salaries outside of the United States.
Average frontend developer salary in the UK & Ireland
The average salary for a frontend developer in the UK is £56,640 per year (Indeed). This is around £25,000 higher than the national average salary of £29,600 per year.
The average salary for a frontend developer in Ireland is €66,185 per year (Indeed). This is around €19,000 higher than the national average salary of €44,202.
Here’s what the average frontend developer salary looks like broken down by city (based on data from Indeed):
- London: £69,255
- Dublin: €69,599
- Cardiff: £46,539
- Belfast: £52,353
- Edinburgh: £47,421
Frontend developer salaries in other European countries
Here’s a look at the average frontend developer salary in different countries across Europe:
- Switzerland: 99,752 CHF (around €104,309). The national average salary in Switzerland is about 124,000 CHF.
- Germany: €55.472. The national average salary in Germany is €49.200.
- Austria: €37.575. The national average salary in Austria is around €45.500.
- France: €47,603. The national average salary in France is €39.300.
- Spain: €36,733. The national average salary in Spain is around €24.100.
- Italy: €30,759. The national average salary in Italy is around €28.500.
Average frontend developer salary in Australia
The average salary for a frontend developer in Australia is $115,390 AUS per year (Indeed). That’s over $55,000 AUS higher than the national average salary which stands at around $67,860 AUS per year.
Now let’s take a look at how much frontend developers typically earn in different Australian cities:
- Canberra, ACT: $232,671
- Brisbane, QLD: $117,040
- Perth, WA: $108,200
- Sydney, NSW: $133,220
- Melbourne, VIC: $122,876
Average frontend developer salary in New Zealand
The average salary for a frontend developer in New Zealand is $120,797 NZD per year (Indeed). This is almost double the national average salary of $61,828 NZD per year.
Now let’s explore the frontend developer salary for different cities in New Zealand, based on data from Indeed, Glassdoor, and Talent.com:
- Wellington: $95,309
- Auckland: $95,309
- Hamilton: $95,309
- Christchurch: $58,000
Average frontend developer salary in India
In India, the average frontend developer salary is ₹470,000 per year (around $5,884 US). This is higher than the national average salary of ₹3,87,500 per year (around US$5,000).
Here’s how the frontend developer salary varies across different Indian cities:
- Bengaluru: ₹600,000 (around $7,500)
- Mumbai: ₹532,548 (around $6,700)
- Hyderabad: ₹512,507 (around $6,400)
- Jaipur: ₹474,437 (around $6,000)
- Delhi: ₹537,917 (around $6,700)
Average frontend developer salary in Brazil
In Brazil, frontend developers earn an average salary of 81,500 BRL per year (around $28,300). This is significantly higher than the national average salary of 103,000 BRL.
Average frontend developer salary in Nigeria
According to salaryexplorer.com, the average salary for a frontend developer in Nigeria is 3,200,000 NGN per year (around US$7,700).
This is considerably higher than the national average salary of 339,000 NGN per year (around US$816).
Average frontend developer salary in Canada
The average frontend developer salary in Canada is $84,715 CAN per year. This is a good $20,000 more than the national average salary of $60,355 CAN.
How do frontend developers fare in different Canadian cities? Let’s take a peek:
- Vancouver, BC: $92,227
- Toronto, ON: $89,719
- Calgary, AB: $88,797
- Montréal, QC: $83,935
- Québec, QC: $66,913
Average frontend developer salary in South Africa
Based on data from Indeed, the average salary for a frontend developer in South Africa is ZAR 534 285 per year (around US$30,200). The national average salary stands at ZAR 374,000, putting frontend developers in the above-average category.
5. Frontend developer salaries based on seniority level
As you move from junior to senior in the field of frontend development, your salary will of course shift with you.
But how much? Using the United States as an example, let’s take a look at how frontend developer salaries vary based on seniority (all data from Glassdoor).
- Junior frontend developer salary: $86,928
- Mid-level frontend developer salary: $93,700
- Senior frontend developer salary: $160,378
- Principal frontend developer salary: $195,004
If you’re curious what the difference between these levels is, try searching these job titles and browsing some job descriptions.
In particular, take a look at the responsibilities and skills required to see what it takes to move up in rank.
6. Frontend developer salaries by company
While averages and seniority are helpful benchmarks to get an idea of what a frontend developer earns, the specific company makes a big difference too.
Big companies, especially MAANG (Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, Netflix, and Google) are known to pay well above average.
Here are five examples of average frontend developer salaries in Big Tech companies:
8. Final thoughts
Hopefully now you have a general idea of what a frontend developer earns. As you can see, location, seniority and company make a big difference.
In general, frontend developers earn significantly higher than average across the board.
If you’d like to get started in frontend development, that’s a lot easier than you might think.
Taking a short course is one of the easiest ways into coding, and using languages such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript can quickly show you how to build, format, and style websites from scratch.
After that, CareerFoundry offers a fully mentored Intro to Frontend Developer course where you’ll dive deeper into frontend coding, designing, developing and deploying your first full website in less than a month.
If you’d like to read a bit more about the world of web development, check out these articles: