Python is the most recommended first language in the United States and the most crowded entry point into US software work. That is the whole trouble with answering "what does a Python developer earn" with a single number: "Python developer" is not an occupation. The same two words on a job advert can mean a role the federal statistics track at a $92,650 median, one they track at $120,230, or one they track at $135,980. The language is identical. The pay is not.
This guide is about telling those apart before you apply, because it is the one decision that moves a Python salary further than any framework you could learn this year.
Python Developer Salary in the USA
There is no "Python developer" line in the federal wage data, because Python is a language and the Bureau of Labor Statistics measures occupations. Depending on what the job actually is, your role sits in one of these three, all figures as of May 2025:
- Web developers — $92,650 median. Lowest tenth under $48,100, highest tenth above $162,290. This is where Django, Flask and FastAPI work on websites and content-driven products lands.
- Data scientists — $120,230 median. Lowest tenth under $67,240, highest tenth above $199,130. Analysis, modelling, experimentation, and the pipelines feeding them.
- Software developers — $135,980 median. Backend engineering on products and platforms, where Python is one language among several in the system.
That is $43,330 of median between the bottom and the top of the same job title. No amount of additional Python moves you across that gap. Changing which of the three you work in does.
Where the usual salary ladder actually sits
- Entry level: $65,000 to $90,000 at product companies and in the major metros. Be realistic below that, though — a tenth of web developers earn under $48,100 and a tenth of data scientists under $67,240, so first Python offers in the fifties are ordinary rather than an insult, particularly outside the big cities.
- Two to five years: $95,000 to $130,000, which straddles the web developer and data scientist medians.
- Senior: $135,000 to $175,000. Note that $135,980 is the software developer median, so a "senior" offer at $135,000 is the middle of that occupation rather than the top of it.
- Machine learning and data engineering: often quoted as "$150,000 and up". Worth being precise: $150,000 is well above the data scientist median of $120,230 and short of the $199,130 that marks the top tenth. It is attainable in that specialism and in the best-paying sectors, but it is not the typical figure.
Sector moves the number about as much as seniority does. BLS puts the best-paying employers of data scientists at publishing, broadcasting and content providers ($142,240), computer systems design ($132,380), credit intermediation ($129,490) and management of companies ($128,050).
Which Occupation Is This Job In? How to Read the Advert
The title will not tell you. The body of the advert will. Read it for the nouns:
- Endpoints, templates, CMS, admin panels, Celery, forms, a front end team → web development. Benchmark against $92,650.
- Services, latency, queues, schema design, distributed systems, on-call → software engineering. Benchmark against $135,980.
- Experiments, features, model drift, A/B tests, notebooks in production, dbt, Airflow → data. Benchmark against $120,230, with a much higher ceiling at $199,130.
The same reading trick settles the sibling titles. Our full stack developer guide covers the version of this problem where one title spans two occupations $43,000 apart, and our software developer guide covers the higher band and the visa routes into it.
Junior and Entry-Level Python Developer Jobs
The market for juniors is real, and it is competitive precisely because Python is the language everyone is told to learn first. What actually gets people through:
- Python fundamentals you can be questioned on — data structures, mutability, comprehensions, exception handling, and why a mutable default argument is a bug
- One framework properly: Django for the batteries-included route, FastAPI for the modern API route
- SQL. This is the most common reason a promising junior fails a Python interview. Joins, grouping, indexes, and why a query is slow
- Git, and a habit of writing tests before anyone asks for them
- Two or three finished, deployed projects — not ten tutorials. A small tool that runs in production and handles its own errors is worth more than a large one that only ever ran on your laptop
Plenty of mid-size and large employers run structured associate or new-grad programmes, and BLS records employer education requirements in web development in particular ranging from a high school diploma upward. A portfolio genuinely substitutes for a degree more often here than in most fields, though data science roles ask for one more often than web or backend roles do.
If you are starting from outside the US
Freelance and contract work is the usual first step, and a legitimate one. Our guide to remote jobs with no experience covers building that first track record, and web developer jobs in USA sets out how freelance rates work against US tax and platform fees.
Remote Python Developer Jobs
Python work suits remote arrangements unusually well, because most of it is reviewable through a pull request and testable in CI. Backend web development, data engineering, automation and DevOps scripting are all commonly advertised as fully remote or remote-first, and machine learning teams are increasingly distributed too.
Two things worth settling before the offer stage:
- Overlap hours. "Remote" and "asynchronous" are not the same promise. Ask how many hours of overlap with the core team are actually expected.
- Whether pay is indexed to your location. Many US employers benchmark to the market you live in rather than to their own. If you are outside the US, be careful with the claim that remote US roles pay US rates — most do not, and the arrangement you are engaged under changes your protections considerably. Our full stack developer guide covers employer-of-record arrangements and the misclassification tests applied under your own country's labour law.
Python, Data Science and AI: Where the Growth Actually Is
This is the part worth planning around. BLS projects data scientist employment to grow 35 per cent between 2025 and 2035, against 10 per cent for software developers, quality assurance analysts and testers over the same decade. Both are faster than the average across all occupations, but one is more than three times the other.
That is not an argument for everyone to pivot into data science. It is an argument that if you are choosing what to learn alongside Python, the data and machine learning direction is where the demand curve is steepest — and it is the direction in which Python is the default language rather than one option among several. In web development Python competes with JavaScript, PHP, Go and Ruby. In data and machine learning it barely competes at all.
For the front end half of the picture, our front end developer guide covers accessibility law and Core Web Vitals, and React developer jobs in USA covers the library that dominates that side. For the enterprise backend comparison, Java developer jobs in USA covers the contract and consulting market that Python barely has.
How to Apply
Openings are posted daily across the major boards. Set alerts for "Python developer", "Django developer", "backend engineer Python" and "data engineer" separately — they surface genuinely different sets of postings, and the last two are where the higher bands sit.
Before you send the application
- Name the libraries that match the track: Django, Flask, FastAPI for web; pandas, Airflow, dbt for data; PyTorch, scikit-learn for machine learning. Listing all of them signals none of them.
- Link a GitHub with readable code and a real README. Recruiters open the top repository and close it again within a minute.
- For remote roles, state your time zone and your overlap hours in the first two lines.
- Practise SQL as seriously as you practise Python. It is where these interviews are lost.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do Python developers make in the USA?
It depends which occupation the role sits in. As of May 2025 the BLS medians are $92,650 for web developers, $120,230 for data scientists and $135,980 for software developers. All three advertise as "Python developer", and $43,330 of median separates the bottom from the top.
Is Python a good language for getting a US job?
Yes, with one caveat: it is also the most commonly recommended first language, so the entry level is crowded. The premium sits in the domain attached to the Python rather than in the Python itself.
What is the entry-level salary for a Python developer?
$65,000 to $90,000 is typical at product companies and in the major metros. Below that is not unusual: a tenth of web developers earn under $48,100 and a tenth of data scientists under $67,240.
Do AI and machine learning Python roles really pay $150,000 or more?
Some do, but it is not the typical figure. The data scientist median is $120,230 and the top tenth begins above $199,130, so $150,000 sits well above the middle of that occupation rather than at its normal level.
Django, Flask or FastAPI — which should I learn?
Django for the most US web postings and the fullest toolkit out of the box; FastAPI if you are aiming at API and services work, which is where the higher band tends to be. Depth in one interviews far better than familiarity with all three.
Are there remote entry-level Python jobs?
Yes, though fewer than at mid level, because juniors are harder to support remotely. Look specifically at remote-first companies, and at contract work as a way to build a first verifiable track record.
Can I get a Python job without a computer science degree?
Frequently, yes. BLS records employer education requirements in web development ranging from a high school diploma upward, and two or three deployed projects with tests carry real weight. Data science roles ask for a degree more often than web or backend roles do.
Which pays more, Python or Java?
Neither, as such — both sit in the same software developer occupation at a $135,980 median. What differs is the shape of the market: Java has a large enterprise contract and consulting sector, and Python has the data and machine learning demand, projected to grow 35 per cent to 2035.
People Also Search For
Junior Python developer jobs USA
Real demand, heavy competition. SQL and two deployed projects separate candidates more than framework lists do.
Remote Python jobs entry level
Fewer than at mid level. Remote-first employers and contract work are the realistic openings.
Python developer salary USA
Between $92,650 and $135,980 at the median depending on the occupation behind the title, not on the language.
Django developer jobs
The largest single slice of Python web postings in the US, and the most conventional route in.
Python data engineer jobs
Pipelines, scheduling and warehousing. Pays above general web work and sits close to the data science band.
Python machine learning jobs USA
The steepest demand curve in this market: data scientist employment is projected to grow 35 per cent from 2025 to 2035.
FastAPI jobs USA
Growing quickly in services and API work, which tends to sit in the higher software developer band.
Python developer visa sponsorship
The same route as any software role — the H-1B lottery, or a cap-exempt employer. Covered in the software developer guide.
More Job Guides
Comparing the engineering routes? These cover them:
- Software Developer Jobs in USA — the $135,980 band, the H-1B lottery and the cap-exempt employers that avoid it.
- Java Developer Jobs in USA — the enterprise side, and the contract and C2C market Python does not really have.
- React Developer Jobs in USA — the front end library most often paired with a Python backend.
- Web Developer Jobs in USA — the $92,650 occupation in full, including how freelance rates work against US tax.
- Full Stack Developer Jobs in USA — the same "which band am I in" problem, and working for a US company from abroad.
- Cybersecurity Analyst Jobs in USA — where Python moves a Tier 1 analyst into detection engineering.
- Data Scientist Jobs in USA — where the same language is used for modelling, and how the two roles differ.
This article is for general informational purposes and is not legal, tax or careers advice. Wage data and employment projections change — confirm the current position with the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the employer's own advertisement before applying or relying on any of it.
