There are 5.19 million workers in the Computer and Mathematical Sciences group — just 3.4% of the American workforce. They earn a weighted mean of $116,806 and a weighted median of $108,524, more than double the national median of $49,500. Their collective payroll exceeds $607 billion a year — more than legal and architecture-engineering combined. Software developers alone number 1.65 million, making them one of the ten largest detailed occupations in the country. But the “tech premium” is not one story. It is a spectrum from help-desk specialists earning $60,340 to research scientists earning $140,910, with a vanishing occupation (computer programmers) on one end and America’s fastest-growing cybersecurity force on the other.
The BLS divides the Computer and Mathematical Sciences group into 21 detailed occupations, ranging from the largest — software developers at 1.65 million — to the smallest — mathematicians at 2,220. Together they earn more than any other major occupation group except management. But calling this “tech” obscures the enormous variation within the group. The median wage spans from $60,340 (computer user support specialists, essentially the help desk) to $140,910 (computer and information research scientists, the PhDs pushing the frontier). That's a $80,570 range within a single major group — wider than the gap between the overall national median and many high-paying occupations.
| Occupation | Workers | P10 | Median | P90 | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software Developers | 1,654,440 | $79,850 | $133,080 | $211,450 | 2.69x |
| Computer User Support | 697,210 | $38,780 | $60,340 | $98,010 | 1.22x |
| Computer Systems Analysts | 497,800 | $63,160 | $103,790 | $166,030 | 2.10x |
| Computer Occupations, Other | 439,380 | $52,650 | $108,970 | $176,800 | 2.20x |
| Network & Systems Admins | 318,570 | $60,320 | $96,800 | $150,320 | 1.96x |
| Data Scientists | 233,440 | $63,650 | $112,590 | $194,410 | 2.27x |
| Software QA Testers | 199,800 | $60,690 | $102,610 | $166,960 | 2.07x |
| Information Security Analysts | 179,430 | $69,660 | $124,910 | $186,420 | 2.52x |
| Computer Network Architects | 177,010 | $79,520 | $130,390 | $198,030 | 2.63x |
| Computer Network Support | 146,450 | $46,010 | $73,340 | $124,470 | 1.48x |
| Web & Digital Designers | 111,400 | $47,840 | $98,090 | $192,180 | 1.98x |
| Computer Programmers | 109,870 | $52,190 | $98,670 | $162,090 | 1.99x |
| Operations Research Analysts | 107,760 | $53,910 | $91,290 | $159,280 | 1.84x |
| Web Developers | 78,860 | $48,560 | $90,930 | $162,870 | 1.84x |
| Database Administrators | 73,180 | $56,820 | $104,620 | $160,890 | 2.11x |
| Database Architects | 64,770 | $81,630 | $135,980 | $209,990 | 2.75x |
| Computer & Info Research Scientists | 38,480 | $80,670 | $140,910 | $232,120 | 2.85x |
| Statisticians | 29,800 | $60,390 | $103,300 | $170,700 | 2.09x |
| Actuaries | 28,340 | $75,240 | $125,770 | $206,430 | 2.54x |
| Math Science, All Other | 4,660 | $40,330 | $71,490 | $154,140 | 1.44x |
| Mathematicians | 2,220 | $63,430 | $121,680 | $187,660 | 2.46x |
The “Premium” column shows each occupation's median as a multiple of the national median ($49,500). At the top, computer and information research scientists command 2.85x the national median — effectively earning in six months what the typical American worker earns in a year. Database architects (2.75x), software developers (2.69x), and network architects (2.63x) follow. At the bottom, computer user support specialists earn just 1.22x the national median — a modest $10,840 premium. The tech premium, in other words, is a ladder with broad rungs spaced far apart.
Notice the concentration of employment. Software developers alone account for 31.9% of the entire Computer & Math group — nearly one in three tech workers writes software. Add computer user support specialists (13.4%) and computer systems analysts (9.6%), and the three largest occupations account for more than half of the sector. The tech economy is not a diverse ecosystem of equally sized roles; it is dominated by a single enormous occupation (developers) surrounded by a constellation of smaller specialties. This concentration matters because when people talk about “tech salaries,” they're usually talking about developer salaries, which at $133,080 are substantially above the group's weighted median of $108,524.
At 1,654,440 workers, software developers are the eighth-largest detailed occupation in the entire American economy — larger than accountants (1.45M), larger than registered nurses' assistants (1.39M), larger than electricians (743K) and carpenters (698K) combined. This was not always the case. The current “Software Developers” code (15-1252) was created in the 2022 SOC revision, consolidating what had previously been split between software application developers and software systems developers. But even accounting for the reclassification, the trajectory is unmistakable: the combined category first appeared in the 2021 OEWS data with 1.36 million workers and has grown to 1.65 million by 2024 — an increase of 290,000 jobs in three years, or roughly 21%.
Their wages tell an equally compelling story. The median software developer earns $133,080 — well into six figures. The 10th percentile starts at $79,850, meaning even the lowest-paid developers earn 61% above the national median. The 90th percentile reaches $211,450, and the mean ($144,570) exceeds the median by 8.6% — a relatively modest skewness for such a high-paying field, as we explored in Episode 6.
But the BLS data understates the true premium at the top. The OEWS measures straight-time gross pay from employer payroll records, which captures base salary plus some forms of incentive pay. It does not capture restricted stock units (RSUs), signing bonuses, or annual stock refreshers — the compensation mechanisms that account for 30–50% of total compensation at companies like Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft. A senior software engineer at Google with a $200,000 base salary might receive an additional $150,000–$300,000 in annual RSU vesting, bringing total compensation to $350,000–$500,000. The BLS captures the $200,000 base but not the stock. This means the P90 of $211,450 significantly underestimates the true 90th percentile of total developer compensation.
Where do these 1.65 million developers work? The BLS breaks out employment by industry. Computer Systems Design and Related Services employs 520,000 software developers — roughly a third of the total — at a median of $129,890. These are the consulting firms, IT services companies, and outsourcing operations. The Information sector (which includes Big Tech) employs 331,000 at a dramatically higher median of $161,640 — a $31,750 premium over the systems design firms, reflecting the revenue intensity and profit margins of companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Finance and Insurance employs 160,000 at $132,880. Manufacturing employs 141,000 at $134,910. Even wholesale trade employs 64,000 developers at $131,640. Software development has become a general-purpose occupation that every industry needs, like accounting or management — but one that pays 2.7 times the national median regardless of where it sits.
The tech workforce is not growing uniformly. Some occupations are surging while others are actively shrinking — and the divergence reveals which technical skills the market values most and which it is discarding.
Information Security Analysts are the fastest-growing tech occupation with comparable 2019 data: from 125,570 to 179,430, a gain of 42.9% in five years. This is the cybersecurity surge, driven by an escalating threat landscape that has turned every organization into a potential target. The median has tracked upward alongside employment, from $99,730 in 2019 to $124,910 in 2024 — a 25.2% increase. In most occupations, rapid employment growth depresses wages as supply catches demand. In cybersecurity, the opposite has occurred: demand has outrun supply so severely that wages keep rising even as the workforce expands by 43%. This is what a genuine shortage looks like in payroll data.
Other growth stories include actuaries (+27.3%), computer and information research scientists (+25.0%), and computer network architects (+16.1%). The common thread is specialization. Generalist tech roles are stagnating or declining; specialist roles are growing. The market is paying a premium not just for computing skills but for computing skills applied to specific, high-stakes domains: security, risk modeling, artificial intelligence research, and network infrastructure design.
On the shrinking side, the most dramatic decline belongs to computer programmers: from 199,540 in 2019 to 109,870 in 2024, a loss of 89,670 jobs — a 44.9% decline in five years. This is not a cyclical downturn or a pandemic artifact. It is the long decline of an occupation that has been systematically absorbed by its neighbors. In the early days of computing, “programmer” was a distinct role: someone who translated specifications into code. Today, software developers write their own code, QA analysts write test automation, data scientists write Python scripts, and business analysts write SQL queries. The standalone programmer — the person who only codes, to someone else's specification — has been dis-intermediated by the broadening of programming literacy across every adjacent occupation.
The chart above shows the progression: 199,540 programmers in 2019, then 178,140, 152,610, 132,740, 120,370, and finally 109,870 in 2024. That's a loss of roughly 18,000 jobs per year, every year, without interruption. The median wage has risen from $86,550 to $98,670 over the same period — a 14% increase — suggesting that the remaining programmers are increasingly senior and specialized. The occupation isn't dying because it pays poorly; it's dying because the work it describes is being done under different job titles.
Computer systems analysts (−15.5%), network and computer systems administrators (−10.1%), and computer network support specialists (−21.0%) are also declining. The systems analyst role is being replaced by more specialized titles (business analysts, data analysts, product managers). Sysadmins are being automated by cloud infrastructure and DevOps practices — when your servers run on AWS and your deployments are automated, you need fewer people to keep the lights on. Network support specialists face the same pressure: software-defined networking and cloud-managed access points reduce the need for hands-on network troubleshooters. The tech sector's own innovation engine is systematically eliminating the roles that built it.
The wage chart reveals a tech sector that is really three distinct tiers.
Tier 1: The Six-Figure Core ($100K–$141K median). Thirteen of 21 occupations have median wages above $90,000, and ten exceed $100,000. At the top sit research scientists ($140,910), database architects ($135,980), software developers ($133,080), and network architects ($130,390). These are the roles that define the popular image of “tech compensation” — deeply technical, hard to automate, and positioned at the core of every technology-driven organization. Combined, these top-tier occupations employ about 2.4 million workers and earn a combined payroll north of $300 billion.
Tier 2: The $90K–$100K Middle. Computer programmers ($98,670), web and digital designers ($98,090), network administrators ($96,800), web developers ($90,930), and operations research analysts ($91,290) occupy a middle band. These are occupations that require genuine technical skill but face either declining demand (programmers, sysadmins), strong competition from adjacent roles (web developers vs. full-stack developers), or a blend of technical and non-technical responsibilities that limits the pure coding premium. Earning $90K–$100K in America is solidly upper-middle-class, but within the tech sector, these roles sit below the prestige line.
Tier 3: The Support Floor ($60K–$73K). Computer user support specialists ($60,340) and computer network support specialists ($73,340) form the base of the tech pyramid. These are the help desk operators, desktop support technicians, and network troubleshooters who keep systems running for end users. Their wages, while above the national median, are dramatically below the rest of the tech sector. A help-desk specialist earns 55% less than a software developer and 57% less than a research scientist — despite all three being classified as “Computer and Mathematical Sciences” workers. The label “tech worker” encompasses both a $60,340 support role and a $140,910 research role; using the group average to describe either is misleading.
This internal stratification has intensified over time. In the 2019 data, computer user support specialists earned $52,270 and information security analysts earned $99,730 — a gap of $47,460. By 2024, the gap has widened to $64,570 ($60,340 vs. $124,910). Support wages grew 15.4%; cybersecurity wages grew 25.2%. The top of the tech sector is pulling away from the bottom at an accelerating rate, even as both tiers outpace the national median. This mirrors the pattern we saw across the entire economy in Episode 5, but within a single major group that is itself an elite slice of the workforce.
The popular image of a tech worker places them at a Silicon Valley campus, surrounded by bean bags and kombucha on tap. The BLS data paints a different picture. Only about 331,000 software developers work in the “Information” sector — the category that includes the Googles and Metas of the world. That's 20% of all software developers. The other 80% are spread across every corner of the economy.
Professional and technical services (consulting firms, IT outsourcing, staffing companies) employ 691,000 developers — more than twice the Information sector. Within that, computer systems design firms alone account for 520,000. These are the Accentures, Infosyses, and Deloittes of the world, plus tens of thousands of smaller shops that build and maintain software for clients. Their developers earn a median of $129,890 — about $31,750 less than their peers in the Information sector ($161,640). Same code, same frameworks, same Stack Overflow — but the Information sector's higher margins and revenue-per-employee translate into a meaningful wage premium.
Finance and insurance (160,000 developers at $132,880), manufacturing (141,000 at $134,910), and management of companies (100,000 at $133,650) each employ substantial developer workforces. Even wholesale trade (64,000 developers) and healthcare (embedded in the sector totals) have become significant tech employers. The lesson is that software development is no longer an industry — it is an infrastructure layer that runs beneath every industry. The “tech premium” is really a “digital capability premium” that every sector pays to keep its operations running.
The industry wage gap matters for career decisions. A developer at a big-tech firm in the Information sector earns a median of $161,640, plus stock compensation the BLS doesn't capture. A developer at a consulting firm earns $129,890 with typically no equity upside. That's a $31,750 gap before stock — and potentially a $100,000+ gap after stock. This single industry variable explains more wage variation among software developers than years of experience, programming language proficiency, or educational background. Where you code matters more than what you code.
At $607 billion in total annual payroll, the Computer and Mathematical Sciences group ranks fourth among major occupation groups — behind Management ($1.56 trillion), Healthcare Practitioners ($987 billion), and Business & Financial ($925 billion). But here's the twist: it achieves that $607 billion with only 5.19 million workers. Management generates $1.56 trillion but employs 10.97 million. Healthcare generates $987 billion but employs 9.25 million. On a per-worker basis, tech's $116,806 average is second only to management.
And the group is expanding. If current trends continue — and there is every reason to believe that AI, cybersecurity imperatives, and continued digital transformation will accelerate tech hiring — the Computer and Mathematical Sciences payroll will likely cross $700 billion within three years. Whether AI produces a contraction in traditional software roles (as some argue the programmer decline portends) or an expansion into new forms of human-AI collaboration remains the sector's defining question. But the BLS data through 2024 shows no sign of a tech employment collapse. Software developers added jobs in every year from 2021 to 2023, held essentially flat in 2024, and cybersecurity and data science continue to surge.
The tech premium is real, it is large, and it is not evenly distributed. A research scientist at the top of the group earns 2.85 times the national median; a support specialist at the bottom earns 1.22 times. The group's $108,524 weighted median masks a $80,570 range from top to bottom. But even at its floor, the tech sector pays above the national median. The help desk — the humblest job in technology — still outearn the typical American worker. That's the premium. And for the 1.65 million who write the software, the 179,000 who defend the networks, and the 233,000 who train the models, the premium is transformative.
The Computer and Mathematical Sciences group employs 5.19 million workers — 3.4% of the workforce — and generates $607 billion in annual payroll. The weighted median of $108,524 is 2.19 times the national median. Software developers alone number 1.65 million, earning $133,080 at the median, with a 90th percentile of $211,450 that doesn't even include stock compensation. Information security analysts are the fastest-growing tech occupation (+42.9% since 2019), while computer programmers are the fastest-shrinking (−44.9%).
The tech premium is not one number — it is a ladder from the $60,340 help desk to the $140,910 research lab, with an industry multiplier that can add $31,750 or more depending on whether you work in Big Tech or at a consulting firm. The popular narrative of a monolithic “tech sector” obscures a deeply stratified internal labor market where the specialists are pulling further ahead and the generalists face automation or absorption. The premium is real. But it belongs to specific roles, in specific industries, doing specific work.