About this data
How IncomeAudited benchmarks are calculated.
Data source
All benchmark data is derived from the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025, the largest annual survey of software developers in the world. The 2025 edition received 49,191 responses from developers across 177 countries.
What we measure
The survey captures annual compensation reported by employed and self-employed developers. We process responses from developers who disclosed their compensation, identified their primary tech stack, and reported their years of professional experience. After filtering for data quality, our dataset includes 21,180 clean records across 146 countries.
Hourly rate conversion
Annual compensation is converted to an hourly freelance equivalent using 1,200 billable hours per year. This figure accounts for non-billable time including business development, administration, holidays, and downtime - and is a widely accepted benchmark for freelance rate calculation. The resulting hourly rates are most applicable to developers billing international clients in USD.
Percentile rankings
Benchmarks are presented as P25 (entry rate), P50 (market median), P75 (strong performer), and P90 (top of market). These represent the 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles of hourly rates within each category, experience level, and country combination.
Currency conversion
Respondents reported compensation in their local currency. We apply approximate USD conversion rates to normalise all figures. Rates are approximate and reflect exchange rates at the time of processing. All benchmark figures on IncomeAudited are displayed in USD.
Country fallback
Some country and category combinations have fewer than 5 respondents and are excluded to protect statistical reliability. When your specific country has insufficient data for your profile, we display United States benchmarks as a reference point and indicate this clearly in the results.
Limitations
The Stack Overflow survey skews toward developers who are active on Stack Overflow, which may over-represent certain regions and experience levels. Respondents who chose not to disclose compensation are excluded, which may introduce a bias toward higher earners. These benchmarks are a guide, not a guarantee. Always validate rates against your specific market and client context.
Attribution
Data is used under the Open Database License (ODbL). Stack Overflow is the original source of this data. IncomeAudited is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Stack Overflow.