Tightness
harder (descriptive)
Tight ahead · tight now
μFORE Market Intelligence
Plan with the market in view.
Your plan sets the demand. Market Intelligence shows the market: wages, hiring trends and supply by occupation and US metro, from official public statistics.
~400 metros800+ occupations10-year wage forecasts
μFORE · Market Intel · Overview · NationalMedian annual wage · all occupations
- ≤ $45,175
- $45,175–$47,268
- $47,268–$48,599
- $48,599–$49,991 · typical
- $49,991–$51,466
- $51,466–$56,437
- > $56,437
Highest
- 1San Jose–Sunnyvale–Santa Clara, CA$86,688
- 2San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont, CA$76,591
- 3Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue, WA$74,889
- 4Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC$73,290
- 5Boulder, CO$71,764
Lowest
- 393Guayama, PR$26,053
- 392Mayagüez, PR$26,063
- 391Arecibo, PR$26,940
- 390Aguadilla, PR$27,311
- 389Ponce, PR$27,785
Role × Metro
Pick a role and a metro. See the market.
See what a role is going for in a metro, how hiring is trending, and whether supply keeps up.
75k+ job titles · 5+ years of hiring history
μFORE · Market Intel · Role × MetroSoftware Developers (15-1252) · Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos, TX
Median wage
$138,515
Vs national $140,436
75th percentile
$174,259
Base pay
Hiring trend
−1.3%
Year on year hires, 2025 vs 2024
Supply
at risk
461 net new supply vs 2,200 openings a year
Wage distribution · annual base pay
- P10
- $99,259
- P25
- $107,408
- Median
- $138,515
- Mean
- $148,336
- P75
- $174,259
- P90
- $216,767
National median $140,436
Why "harder"? 3 of 3 descriptive signals
- Unemployment tightness
- +1.5 z
- Hiring vs. its usual level
- +0.6 z
- Local wage growth
- +0.1 z
Wage outlook
Where pay is heading, ten years out.
Survey wages brought to today, then forecast ten years out, with a range that widens with time.
μFORE · Market Intel · Role × MetroSoftware Developers (15-1252) · Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos, TX
Median annual base pay
| Year | Median | Range |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 · Survey | $103,410 | |
| 2022 · Survey | $109,650 | |
| 2023 · Survey | $131,320 | |
| 2024 · Survey | $133,070 | |
| 2025 · Survey | $134,120 | |
| 2026 · Forecast | $138,702 | $136,421–$140,982 |
| 2027 · Forecast | $143,361 | $138,685–$148,114 |
| 2028 · Forecast | $147,852 | $140,672–$155,272 |
| 2029 · Forecast | $152,327 | $142,539–$162,612 |
| 2030 · Forecast | $156,864 | $144,360–$170,219 |
| 2031 · Forecast | $161,501 | $144,796–$179,782 |
| 2032 · Forecast | $166,260 | $144,758–$190,443 |
| 2033 · Forecast | $171,153 | $144,255–$202,342 |
| 2034 · Forecast | $176,187 | $143,291–$215,632 |
| 2035 · Forecast | $181,367 | $141,877–$230,487 |
| Today · 2026 Q2 | $138,515 |
- 1
Sourced
Sourced occupational wage statistics: what the role paid, by percentile, in a given metro.
- 2
Normalized
Normalized to the present through established wage-cost indexes.
- 3
Forecast
Long-term forecasts anchored to published economic outlooks, and tested against past years for accuracy.
- 4
Range
A forecast range, calibrated to account for uncertainty.
Supply and openings
Who’s coming in, and how many jobs need filling.
μFORE models long-term supply and job openings for each role and metro.
Three-stage supply and openings model · 10-year horizon
μFORE · Market Intel · Role × MetroSoftware Developers (15-1252) · Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos, TX
New supply a year461New graduates minus retirements
Openings a year2,200Projected openings in the metro
at riskOpenings outnumber new supply about 5 to 1
- 1
Inflow
New talent entering the role, modeled from graduates for degree roles and from the local workforce for the rest.
- 2
Outflow
Retirements, projected from the age profile of each role’s workforce.
- 3
Openings
Regional employment projections, downscaled to each metro and adjusted for local growth.
Compare Metros
One role across multiple metros.
Choose a few metros and rank them by pay, tightness and supply. Or see the role across the whole country.
μFORE · Market Intel · Compare MetrosSoftware Developers (15-1252) · 5 metros · ranked by median wage
Least tight market
Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue, WA
The only one of the 5 rated easier
Highest pay
San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont, CA
$226,868 at the 75th percentile
Smallest supply gap
Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos, TX
Still 1,739 a year short
| # | Metro | Tightness | Median wage | Pay range (P10–P90 ($88,735–$282,358)) | 75th pct. | Supply | Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont, CA | harder | $192,756 | $226,868 | at risk | 5,011 | |
| 2 | Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue, WA | easier | $172,761 | $218,802 | insufficient data | n/a | |
| 3 | New York–Newark–Jersey City, NY-NJ | harder | $172,296 | $212,719 | at risk | 6,927 | |
| 4 | Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos, TX | harder | $138,515 | $174,259 | at risk | 2,200 | |
| 5 | Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, TX | harder | $137,657 | $169,477 | at risk | 4,586 |
Assessing pay
Check the market before you set pay bands and plan costs.
Read key market figures, like median and 75th-percentile base pay, to help you set assumptions for a role or a compensation plan.
μFORE · Market Intel · Role × Metro1 · Read
Software Developers (15-1252) — Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos, TX
Median wage$138,515vs national $140,436
75th percentile$174,259Base pay
μFORE · Compensation · Standard · Segment override2 · Type
Department: EngineeringLevel: IC 4-6Region: North America
- Base salary
- $174,259
- Merit increase
- 3.0% inherits default
- Bonus target
- 10.0% inherits default