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The latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) wage benchmark used for 2026 is May 2025 data, published in 2026. It identifies eight clearly supported, high-paying technology occupations—not a defensible top-ten ranking of every tech job. The list below compares those occupations by median annual wage, with role definitions and education requirements kept distinct. A median is a midpoint across workers, not an entry-level offer or a promise of what any individual will earn.
How to read the 2026 salary comparison
The figures below are May 2025 U.S. BLS median annual wages. The median is the wage at which half of workers in an occupation earned more and half earned less. It is not a starting salary, a salary range, or total compensation. Actual pay can vary with location, industry, experience, and seniority.
BLS classifies workers into defined occupations, not every employer-specific title. For example, AI engineer, machine-learning engineer, and cloud architect are not separate occupations in the BLS technology categories cited here. The table therefore ranks only the eight distinct occupation medians established by the available BLS figures; it does not invent two more jobs to fill a top ten.
Eight high-paying technology occupations with BLS wage data
| Rank by median | Occupation and May 2025 median | Typical education or experience | What the work involves | Employment outlook |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Computer and information systems managers — $175,140 | Typically a bachelor’s degree and related work experience. | Plan and coordinate an organization’s computer-related activities and systems. | Not stated in the cited material. |
| 2 | Computer hardware engineers — $161,740 | Not stated in the cited material. | Design and develop computer hardware; the BLS identifies this as a related high-paying computer occupation. | Not stated in the cited material. |
| 3 | Computer and information research scientists — $140,300 | Typically at least a master’s degree. | Conduct research and develop solutions to computing problems. | Employment is projected to grow 22% from 2025 to 2035. |
| 4 | Database architects — $139,500 | Not stated in the cited material. | Design and build databases to store and secure data. | Not stated in the cited material. |
| 5 | Software developers — $135,980 | Many profiles list a bachelor’s degree. | Design and develop applications or the underlying systems that run devices and networks. | The combined software developer, QA analyst, and tester group is projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035. |
| 6 | Computer network architects — $134,050 | Not stated in the cited material. | Design and build data communication networks. | Not stated in the cited material. |
| 7 | Information security analysts — $129,180 | Not stated in the cited material. | Protect organizations’ computer networks and systems. | Employment is projected to grow 21% from 2025 to 2035. |
| 8 | Data scientists — $120,230 | Not stated in the cited material. | Analyze data to produce insights that help organizations make decisions. | Not stated in the cited material. |
These figures and occupation descriptions are from the BLS May 2025 wage data and occupational profiles: Computer and Information Technology Occupations, Computer and Information Research Scientists, Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers, and the relevant profiles for computer and information systems managers, information security analysts, database administrators and architects, and computer network architects. The BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics provides the national wage tables.
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Why the figures do not make a complete top ten
The BLS categories and the salary titles used by employers do not map one-to-one. Database architects, for example, have a separately reported median of $139,500, while the broader combined database administrators and architects occupation has a median of $126,760. Likewise, software developers have a $135,980 median, while the broader developer, QA analyst, and tester group has a $134,040 median; QA analysts and testers alone have a $104,300 median. Those are different occupational measures, not extra jobs to add indiscriminately to one ranked list.
The available BLS figures establish eight distinct occupation medians for this comparison. Adding two titles without comparable classification and wage data would create false precision, so no ninth or tenth rank is assigned.
How other 2026 salary figures compare
Private salary guides and graduate salary projections answer different questions from BLS occupation-wide medians. They can help with a specific hiring conversation, but should not be inserted into the same ranking as if all figures measured the same population or compensation type.
| Source and measure | Example figures | What the figures represent |
|---|---|---|
| Robert Half 2026 Salary Guide | AI/ML engineer: $134,000 low / $170,750 mid / $193,250 high; data engineer: $127,000 / $156,250 / $180,750; data scientist: $121,750 / $153,750 / $182,500; DevOps engineer: $118,000 / $145,750 / $173,750; cybersecurity engineer: $118,500 / $144,000 / $190,750; software engineer: $109,250 / $142,000 / $175,500. | National salary-guide ranges for selected in-demand roles, rather than BLS occupational medians. See Robert Half’s 2026 technology salary guide context. |
| NACE Winter 2026 Salary Survey | $82,194 average projected salary for broad computer occupations among the Class of 2026, up 9.1% from the Class of 2025 projection. | A new-graduate salary projection, not an experienced-worker median. See the NACE salary survey. |
What these jobs mean for a career decision
Compare entry routes, not just pay
High wages do not imply one standard path into technology. Research scientist roles typically require graduate education, while many developer profiles list a bachelor’s degree. Systems-management roles typically require a bachelor’s degree plus related work experience, so the manager median should not be read as a likely first job salary.
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Check the occupation behind the job title
Before comparing an offer or setting a salary target, identify the closest occupation definition and whether the number is a median, a salary-guide range, or a starting-salary projection. A company’s “AI engineer” title, for instance, may cover duties that do not match a single BLS occupation, so one-to-one comparisons can be misleading.
Factor in demand alongside wages
The cited BLS profiles project 22% employment growth for computer and information research scientists and 21% for information security analysts from 2025 to 2035. The combined software developer, QA analyst, and tester group is projected to grow 10% over that period. These are projections for defined occupational groups, not guarantees about an individual job search or a particular employer.
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