Managing Your Money

Here’s how much a software engineer makes in Boston

Inside one software engineer’s salary, biggest expense, and latest splurge in Boston.

Annika Sunkara/Boston.com

What is it like to live and/or work in one of the country’s most expensive cities? We asked, and you answered.

Greater Boston’s economy is powered by workers from across industries, pay ranges, and job types: from baristas to software engineers, teachers to chief executives, and everyone in between.

We’re sharing mini profiles of Greater Boston’s workforce, exploring not just how much they make but how they make it work. Interested in sharing your salary? Share with us in the form below.

Below, see how much this software engineer makes in Boston.

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Responses have been lightly edited for grammar and clarity.


Job: Software engineer in a public tech company

Income: $320,000 this year

Lives in: Boston

Works in: Boston

Name: Max V.

Age: 29

Do you work remote, hybrid, or in-person? 

Fully remote; my employer is based in Mountain View, [California] but most of my colleagues I interact with are in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

What drew you to this career/field? 

I have been fascinated with technology since I was around seven years old or so. I was curious how the Internet worked and eventually how IT systems at my high school were run, and then went to study engineering in college. Computer science became very popular during the pandemic due to the promise of high new grad salaries and many job openings, but I graduated in 2018 and was more driven by the fact that I simply liked to solve hard engineering problems.

What’s your biggest monthly expense? 

Easily rent – I have my own apartment in the South End that costs around $3,700 per month.

Is your salary enough for you to live on? 

Undoubtedly, it’s more than enough. I would say that there isn’t really a tradeoff I make for it to be possible to live in Boston. Given the nature of my work I could definitely choose to live somewhere cheaper, but I value the connections I’ve built here. 

What was your last splurge?  

I would say it was a roundtrip ticket to Europe in business class at around $4,500 back in September. 


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Annie Jonas is a Community writer at Boston.com. She was previously a local editor at Patch and a freelancer at the Financial Times.

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