My analysis of 52k remote jobs: 16.9% of SWEs make $200k+

Among 1,689 software engineering positions analyzed, 286 offer $200k+ salaries—the highest percentage (16.9%) of any field. DevOps follows at 16.6%, while technical sales shows surprising strength at 14.5%. The median salary sweet spot across all 11,675 jobs clusters between $100k-$150k, representing 32.2% of positions.

How to read this chart: Each rectangle represents the number of job postings in a specific salary range for each category. Darker colors indicate more available positions. Categories are grouped by field, with technology roles at the top, followed by business, creative, and other sectors.

Data Analysis

From 33,933 remote jobs analyzed, only 34.6% disclose salaries—revealing software engineers lead at $200k+ among those transparent enough to share. Just 19.4% of companies reveal PTO policies (and 85.9% of those offer unlimited). The parental leave transparency crisis is worse: 96% hide their policies entirely.

By Niki | Updated just now

Jump to the Juicy Data

• ▸ How Much Do You Make? Can You Do Better Remote? 286 SWE jobs pay $200k+ while most hover at $100-150k
• ▸ 3,153 Companies Can't All Be Wrong: The unlimited PTO takeover that left 15,277 jobs in the dark
• ▸ 141 SWE Jobs vs Everyone Else: Where tech moms get 16+ weeks while 18,223 jobs say nothing

The PTO transparency crisis: Of 18,949 remote jobs analyzed, only 3,672 (19.4%) disclosed their time-off policies. Among those transparent enough to share, 85.9% offer unlimited PTO—a dramatic shift from traditional accrual systems. This means 15,277 jobs (80.6%) keep candidates guessing about work-life balance. The 14.1% with traditional policies split between 0-10 days, 15-20 days, and 20-25 days.

Note: "Unlimited" PTO policies vary significantly in practice. Some companies encourage regular time off, while others may have unwritten expectations that limit actual usage.

The parental leave blackout: A staggering 96% of remote jobs (18,223 of 18,949) hide their parental leave policies entirely. Only 726 positions (3.8%) disclosed any parental benefits—726 mentioning maternity and 419 paternity leave. Among the tiny fraction that shares, software engineering leads with 141 positions offering 16+ weeks maternity leave. The data exposes a double discrimination: near-total secrecy plus gender gaps where mothers get 12-20 weeks versus fathers' 4-8 weeks.

Methodology: Leave duration is shown in weeks of paid leave. Companies offering partial pay or graduated return-to-work programs are categorized by their full-pay equivalent duration.