The Top 10 Highest Paying Programming Languages of 2023 - Exponent (2024)

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Got a coding interview coming up? Check out our complete software engineer interview course to see video answers to the most common interview questions and practice mock interviews with peers.

Sneak Peek: The three most common software engineering interview questions are:
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Are you considering starting or expanding your software engineer or developer career?

Naturally, you'll need to learn one or several new programming languages.

Still, with hundreds of different programming languages out there, you may be wondering which you should choose to maximize your time!

Don't worry! Stack Overflow publishes an annual Developer Survey highlighting the top tech trends of the year.

Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2022

In May 2022 over 70,000 developers told us how they learn and level up, which tools they’re using, and what they want.

The Top 10 Highest Paying Programming Languages of 2023 - Exponent (1)Stack Overflow

The Top 10 Highest Paying Programming Languages of 2023 - Exponent (2)

One of its many exciting insights is the top salaries that several programming languages earn.

So, to help eliminate the guesswork, we'll dive deeply into the top 10 highest-paying programming languages today.

These are:

  1. Clojure - $106,644
  2. Erlang - $103,000
  3. F# - $95,526
  4. LISP - $95,000
  5. Ruby - $93,000
  6. Elixir - $92,959
  7. Scala - $92,780
  8. Perl - $90,073
  9. Go - $89,204
  10. Rust - $87,047

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These figures are the median salary of those who responded to the Stack Overflow Survey.

As a result, you may find open positions for these programming languages with higher or lower salaries than these stated figures.

The Top 10 Highest-Paying Programming Languages of 2023

Clojure - $106,644/yr

The Top 10 Highest Paying Programming Languages of 2023 - Exponent (3)

Of all the highest-paying programming languages on the list, the first is Clojure.

Clojure is a dynamic, general-purpose programming language that integrates scripting languages' approachability and interactive development with an efficient and robust infrastructure best for multithreaded programming.

Clojure is a dialect of another programming language on our list: Lisp. As such, it shares Lisp's code-as-data philosophy. This means that Clojure allows the computer to treat instructions in the language as data handled by a running program.

Clojure is primarily a functional programming language that includes many immutable, persistent data structures.

In practice, Clojure is often used to handle large amounts of data. Companies may use Clojure developers for data mining and AI.

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While the median salary for Clojure developers reported by Stack Overflow is $106,644, according to ZipRecruiter, some developers can command salaries as high as $150,000 - $200,000 yearly.

Erlang - $103,000/yr

The Top 10 Highest Paying Programming Languages of 2023 - Exponent (4)

Erlang is a general-purpose, functional programming language designed to develop scalable real-time systems that need to be highly available.

Traditionally, it's been used most in telecommunications but is also used for banking and e-commerce.

Many companies such as Cisco, Ericsson, Klarna, Goldman Sachs, T-Mobile, WhatsApp, and Amazon rely on Erlang for much of their technical architecture.

When people say "Erlang," they often use the term synonymously with Erlang/OTP or the Open Telecom Platform (OTP). In short, this is a collection of middleware, libraries, and tools written in Erlang.

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The median salary in 2022 for Erlang developers reported in the Developer Survey is $103,000. However, according to ZipRecruiter, some Erlang developers can command salaries as high as $130,000 - $180,000 a year.

F# - $95,526/yr

The Top 10 Highest Paying Programming Languages of 2023 - Exponent (5)

F# is a general-purpose, strongly typed, multi-paradigm programming language.

While it is considered a multi-paradigm language, functional programming is one of its central features. As a result, many developers consider it a functional-first programming language.

Even so, F# still supports other programming paradigms, such as imperative and object-oriented programming.

F# is routinely ranked among the top paying programming languages and has topped the Developer Survey for many years.

However, as we'll get to later in this article, it is not a commonly used programming language amongst developers.

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The median salary in 2022 for F# developers reported in the Developer Survey is $95,526. According to Payscale, the national average salary is similar at $94,000 per year.

LISP - $95,000/yr

The Top 10 Highest Paying Programming Languages of 2023 - Exponent (6)

Lisp (or LISP) is a family of programming languages with a long history. Initially developed in 1958 by John McCarthy, Lisp is the second-oldest high-level programming language that is still regularly used by professional developers and one of the oldest programming languages in general.

However, Lisp has grown and evolved over the years and spawned many dialects, such as Racket, Common Lisp, Scheme, and Clojure, which we discussed earlier.

Despite being the oldest programming language on our list, by a long shot, knowing LISP can still be highly lucrative for software engineers, especially those working with machine learning and artificial intelligence.

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The median salary in 2022 for Lisp developers reported in the Developer Survey is $95,000. However, according to ZipRecruiter, many Lisp developers make around $81,000 - $140,000 yearly.

Ruby - $93,000/yr

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Ruby is another popular high-level, dynamic programming language. Ruby was designed to support multiple programming paradigms and make developers more productive.

Software engineers will often use Ruby to build desktop applications, for web development, data processing services, automation tools, and much more.

Not only can Ruby developers command high salaries, but, because of the popularity of the programming language, many jobs are available.

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The median salary in 2022 for Ruby developers reported in the Developer Survey is $93,000. However, according to Indeed, the national average salary is around $122,000.

Elixir - $92,959/yr

The Top 10 Highest Paying Programming Languages of 2023 - Exponent (8)

Elixir is a functional, general-purpose programming language that runs on the BEAMvirtual machine, also used by Erlang. Truth be told, Elixir is built on top of Erlang and the two languages share many characteristics for developing software.

Despite its similarities to Erlang, it is a significantly more popular and beloved programming language. Nearly 75% of Stack Overflow Survey respondents said they loved the language and want to continue using it in the future, compared to Erlang's 54%.

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The median salary in 2022 for Elixir developers reported in the Developer Survey is $92,959. However, according to ZipRecruiter, some Elixir developers can command salaries as high as $116,000 - $154,000 a year.

Scala - $92,780/yr

The Top 10 Highest Paying Programming Languages of 2023 - Exponent (9)

Scala is a general-purpose language designed to support functional programming and a robust static type system.

The name Scala is short for "scalable language," suggesting that it was developed to grow and evolve as the scale of its users (and their needs) change over time.

Scala is a notable addition to our list because it was designed to be concise. In fact, many of Scala's features were aimed at addressing common complaints about the Java programming language.

Unlike Java, Scala has many features of functional programming languages (like Scheme, Standard ML, and Haskell), including currying, immutability, lazy evaluation, and pattern matching.

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The median salary in 2022 for Scala developers reported in the Developer Survey is $92,780. However, according to ZipRecruiter, some Scala developers can command salaries as high as $140,000 - $200,000 a year.

Perl - $90,073/yr

The Top 10 Highest Paying Programming Languages of 2023 - Exponent (10)

Perl is a highly powerful, feature-rich general purpose programming language with over 30 years of development. Initially developed by Larry Wall in 1987, Perl now runs on over 100 platforms - from portables to mainframes.

Technically, "Perl" is a family of similar programming languages. Perl 6 (also called "Raku") is the latest addition to the Perl family, released in 2019.

Nevertheless, don't be confused: Perl 6 (Raku)is a distinct programming language with its own development team.

Given how old Perl is, there is a lot of discussion surrounding whether or not it is a dead language and still worth learning. But, as the 2022 Developer Survey demonstrates, Perl developers still command some of the highest salaries.

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The median salary in 2022 for Perl programmers reported in the Developer Survey is $90,073. However, according to ZipRecruiter, some Perl developers earn as much as $117,000 - $174,000 per year.

Go - $89,204/yr

The Top 10 Highest Paying Programming Languages of 2023 - Exponent (11)

Go is an open-source programming language that was developed by Google in 2009. It is similar to the C programming language but includes many other features such as memory safety, garbage collection, and structural typing, among others.

The central idea behind Go was to create a language capable of building simple, reliable, but highly efficient software.

Of all the highest paying programming languages on our list, Go is the most popular, with 11.15% of developers saying they have used it extensively in 2022.

So, suppose you're looking to learn a new programming language with the highest number of open positions available. In that case, Go may be the way to go.

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The median salary in 2022 for Go developers reported in the Developer Survey is $89,204. However, according to ZipRecruiter, many Go developers earn salaries as high as $123,000 - $160,000 a year.

Rust - $87,047/yr

The Top 10 Highest Paying Programming Languages of 2023 - Exponent (12)

Like Go, Rust is a newer programming language developed at Mozilla between 2006 and 2009. It is a general-purpose multi-paradigm language designed for highly efficient memory and high performance.

Since its development, Rust has been used (and continues to be used) by major tech companies such as Google, Meta, Amazon, Dropbox, and others.

It is also one of the most popular programming languages on our list, with 9.32% of the Stack Overflow Survey respondents reported having used it extensively in 2022.

Interestingly enough, of all the highest paying programming languages covered, Rust was the "most beloved." Over 86% of respondents said they love the language and want to continue using it in the future.

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The median salary in 2022 for Rust developers reported in the Developer Survey is $87,047. However, according to ZipRecruiter, Rust developers make up to $130,000 - $195,000 per year.

Which Programming Languages Should You Learn?

The Top 10 Highest Paying Programming Languages of 2023 - Exponent (13)

As you can see, there are dozens of programming languages to choose from that could potentially help you land a lucrative software engineering or development position.

Even so, this doesn't necessarily mean the highest-paying programming languages, such as Clojure or Erlang, are necessarily right for you.

As you've probably already noticed, many of the most popular programming languages, such as C++, Java, and Python, did not make the top 10 in the Developer Survey.

This doesn't necessarily mean you can't find open positions offering comparably high salaries for these general purpose programming languages.

Many of the programming languages we listed above can be relatively niche compared to more popular languages. As such, you may, for example, have fewer potential job listings to choose from for Erlang compared to C++.

Fortunately, the 2022 Developer Survey also listed the most widely used programming languages.

The top 10 of which are:

  1. Javascript - 67.9%*
  2. HTML/CSS - 54.93%
  3. SQL - 52.64%
  4. Python - 43.51%
  5. TypeScript - 40.08%
  6. Java - 33.4%
  7. C# - 29.72%
  8. Bash/Shell - 29.47%
  9. PHP - 21.42%
  10. C++ - 20.17%

*Number shown is the percentage of respondents who responded to the following question: "Which programming, scripting, and markup languages have you done extensive development work in over the past year?"

The percentage of respondents who reported that they used Clojure, Erlang, and F# (the top 3 highest paying programming languages on our list), in contrast, was:

  • Clojure - 1.66%
  • Erlang - 0.98%
  • F# - 1.08%

So what does this mean?

Before jumping into a software engineering career, you'll need to decide what kind of developer you want to be.

Would you prefer a more niche and specialized (and likely highly paid) skillset, such as learning Clojure or Erlang, or learn more traditional and generalist languages such as Java or Python?

It would certainly be easier to find open Python developer positions compared to something like F#. Yet, the 2022 Developer Survey found that the median salary of Python developers was $71,105/year compared to F #'s $95,526/year.

At the end of the day, you'll have to decide for yourself whether you prefer more job opportunities for potentially lower pay or niche but highly lucrative positions.

Nevertheless, it's generally recommended that software developers learn at least three programming languages, if not more.

So perhaps you can have your cake and eat it too by learning both niche and popular languages to give yourself the best job opportunities possible.

How to Ace the Software Engineering Interview

The Top 10 Highest Paying Programming Languages of 2023 - Exponent (14)

Once you've learned these or other in-demand programming languages, you'll still need to ace the software engineering interview before you can start your dream job in tech.

Software Engineering interviews tend to be tough, especially at Big Tech companies like Apple or Google.

They almost always involve several rounds of meetings, challenging coding questions, and behavioral questions.

But, (besides becoming the best possible developer you can be) there are several things you can do beforehand to give you the best chances of impressing every hiring manager that comes your way:

Use the Whiteboard

In many software engineer interviews, you'll notice that you will have an opportunity to use the whiteboard. Sometimes, a hiring manager may explicitly ask you to use it to outline a technical answer or solution.

Nevertheless, many candidates make the mistake of underestimating the importance of this simple tool.

Ultimately, there is virtually nothing else that has the potential to illustrate and outline your thought process and problem-solving abilities than a whiteboard and marker.

To learn more about how to use the whiteboard in SWE interviews effectively, be sure to check out our video below:

Make a Software Engineering Cheat Sheet

There's no way around it: software engineering is hard.

The entire software development process is incredibly complex. Engineers must consider and understand countless factors to produce a successful software product.

As such, being evaluated on their knowledge of software engineering concepts during an interview can feel very intimidating for many candidates, no matter where they are in their careers.

Because of this, one of the most impactful things you can do to prepare for an upcoming software engineering interview is to make a cheat sheet.

List all the most essential SWE principles you will likely experience in an interview.

If you're unsure where to start, be sure to check out the software engineer interview cheat sheet we put together below:

Software Engineer Interview Cheat Sheet: Tips, Tricks and AdviceEven if you have years of software engineering experience under your belt, the technical interview can be daunting! Luckily, we’ve put together a coding interview cheat sheet of all the major principles you can expect to see in your technical interviews.ExponentAnthony Pellegrino

Complete Some Mock Interviews

You know what they say: practice makes perfect.

Completing several mock interviews before your upcoming interviews can be one of the most influential and consequential interview prep tools at your disposal.

After all, tech interviews can be nerve-wracking. Even if you have the skills and experience for a particular job but can't perform well in interviews, you'll lose out on possible job offers.

How to Get the Most Out of Mock InterviewsInterested in using mock interviews to help you practice for the real thing? We don’t blame you. Here’s how you can make the most out of them.ExponentAnthony Pellegrino

But mock interviews can help build your confidence, make you comfortable with the tech interview format, and help you put your best foot forward during the real thing.

If you're interested, be sure to check out Exponent's peer-to-peer mock interview tool to get started.

Take the Exponent Software Engineering Interview Course

After coaching hundreds of clients, we've developed a comprehensive software engineering interview course to help you review the most critical data structures, algorithms, and system design principles with detailed questions and mock interviews.

The Top 10 Highest Paying Programming Languages of 2023 - Exponent (19)

Complete Software Engineering Interview Prep Course

Our software engineering interview course helps you review the most important data structures, algorithms, and system design principles, with detailed questions and mock interviews.

Start Learning

After taking this interview prep course, you'll have all the tools you'll need to master the most common software engineering interview questions, including system design, data structures, algorithms, and behavioral questions.

You'll also get a detailed review of the most critical SWE concepts, proven interview frameworks for challenging technical rounds and practice answering real-world questions.

More Resources

Here at Exponent, we have numerous different interview prep resources you can use to ace your software engineer interview:

💬 practice with sample Software Engineer interview questions

📖 Read through our Software Engineering interview guides

👯‍♂️ Rehearse your behavioral and interpersonal skills with our interview practice tool.

👨‍🎓 Take our complete Software Engineering interview course.

Other articles you may like:

The Single Coding Mistake Slowing You Down in Interviews? Syntax.Syntax errors in your interviews are slowing you down. Learn how to practice them beforehand to save you precious time and land the job.ExponentExponent Team
Junior Software Developer Interview TipsAs a junior developer, there are things you can do to stand out in an interview to make up for your lack of experience. Show hunger for the role and a willingness to learn as you go.ExponentExponent Team
How to Find a Great Software Engineer RecruiterLooking to find the right software engineering recruiter for your next role? Learn what it takes to find someone who can place you in the job you’re best suited for.ExponentAnthony Pellegrino
The Top 10 Highest Paying Programming Languages of 2023 - Exponent (2024)

FAQs

The Top 10 Highest Paying Programming Languages of 2023 - Exponent? ›

In general, developers are high-paying jobs. The average salary for a software developer in the US is $112,000, according to Glassdoor [1]. However, C++ developers are considered specialized, so their salary may be a bit higher than Java developers.

What programming language pays the most in 2023? ›

Top 10 highest paid programming languages in 2023
  1. 1 - Solidity. In the top one spot, as the highest-paid language in 2023 with an average salary of $188K, we find Solidity!
  2. 2 - Rust. Rust is the top two highest paid languge with an average salary of ~$156k! ...
  3. 3 - ABAP. ...
  4. 4 - C/C++ ...
  5. 5 - Scala. ...
  6. 6 - Ruby. ...
  7. 7 - Go. ...
  8. 8 - Swift. ...

Which programming language gives the highest salary? ›

Highest Paying Programming Languages in 2024
Sr No.LanguageSalary
1JavaScript₹6.1 Lakhs
2Python₹5.6 Lakhs
3Java₹5.8 Lakhs
5Kotlin₹4.6 Lakhs
4 more rows
Mar 6, 2024

Which programming language pays the most in 2024? ›

Highest Paying Programming Languages in 2024
  • Solidity. Solidity has emerged as a unique and indispensable programming language, especially with the proliferation of smart contracts within the blockchain ecosystem. ...
  • Erlang. ...
  • Clojure. ...
  • Scala. ...
  • Go. ...
  • C# ...
  • Ruby. ...
  • Java.
Apr 29, 2024

Does Java or C++ pay more? ›

In general, developers are high-paying jobs. The average salary for a software developer in the US is $112,000, according to Glassdoor [1]. However, C++ developers are considered specialized, so their salary may be a bit higher than Java developers.

Which pays more, Java or Python? ›

With the growing demand in industries like machine learning, data science, and cyber security, Python developers earn slightly higher than Java developers. This also depends on the geographical location, skills, experience, and organization.

Which coding language is booming? ›

Python, PHP, Go, and Ruby help databases communicate with applications at the back-end of a program. Web application development. C#, JavaScript, Java, Go, and Ruby are among the best programming languages for building web apps.

Which language is best for earning money? ›

Chinese Language Salary in India – The Chinese (Mandarin) is the highest paid foreign language in India. Chinese speakers usually receive as much as Rs Million-plus annually. Chinese language jobs salary in India is Rs11,89,234 per year on average in December.

Which coding language is most in demand? ›

Technology. The global Tech Skills & Trends Report 2022 suggests that Java, JavaScript, and SQL developers are the most sought-after in the tech industry. In fact, Java, HTML, and CSS are the most in-demand front-end programming languages.

Which language should I learn for high salary? ›

With many similarities to C, C++ and Java, C# is an easy language to learn. It's a high-level programming language that's easy for developers to read. C# is object-oriented (OOP), so it's useful for the creation of cloud-based applications, websites, software and games.

Which coding language is the most profitable? ›

What is the highest paying coding language? The highest paying coding language is Zig, with an average salary of $103,611 USD. This data is from the latest Stack Overflow Survey (2023).

Which programming language will be in demand in 2025? ›

HTML and CSS will be more relevant than ever in 2025 as the demand for accessible, responsive, and visually appealing web content continues to rise, solidifying their importance in the top 10 programming languages of the future.

Which programming language has the most jobs? ›

Python emerges as #1 in job postings, closely followed by Java (#2) and JavaScript (#3). Python and JavaScript programmers also earn high salaries, ranking #3 and #4 in compensation. C# is the highest-paid programming language but has less demand than Python, JavaScript, and Java.

Who earns more, C++ or Python? ›

Salaries: C++

A C++ developer has an average salary of ₹7,68,406 per annum in India as compared to the average salary of a Python developer, which is ₹3,88,544 per annum.

Which programming language is highly paid in the USA? ›

Modern C++ includes object-oriented, generic, and functional programming features. It also provides capabilities for efficient memory manipulation at a low level. It is one of the highest-paying programming languages in USA and also one of the most user-friendly languages for developing games.

Which coding language is best for jobs? ›

Best Programming Languages to Learn For Your Career Goals
  • Front-end web development: JavaScript, TypeScript.
  • Back-end web development: JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Go, Elixir, C#
  • Mobile development: Swift, Java, C#
  • Game development: C#
  • Desktop applications: Java, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript.
Oct 24, 2023

Is coding still worth learning in 2023? ›

Absolutely, learning coding, especially starting with a versatile language like Python, remains highly valuable in 2023 and beyond. Here are several reasons why: 1. **Versatility of Python:** Python is known for its readability and simplicity, making it an excellent language for beginners.

Which programming language has high demand in future? ›

Technology

The global Tech Skills & Trends Report 2022 suggests that Java, JavaScript, and SQL developers are the most sought-after in the tech industry. In fact, Java, HTML, and CSS are the most in-demand front-end programming languages.

Which programming language should I learn in 2024? ›

Some popular object-oriented programming languages are Java, Python, C++, and Ruby. All these languages are top programming languages, but they share the principle of being object-oriented.

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