Latin America Engineering Talent Report 2026
Pay by country, level and role, the real US cost comparison, time-zone overlap and every caveat, sourced figure by figure from public 2026 data.
By the Ryz Labs team · Updated October 2026
Short answer: In 2026, senior software engineers in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Brazil and Chile report median total pay of $44,593 to $63,324 a year, which is 18% to 25% of the $252,000 US senior median on the same measure (Levels.fyi). The median US software developer costs an employer about $198,511 a year once benefits are added (BLS). Every figure below is from a public source, with its measure and sample size.
This report compiles the public data on Latin American engineering pay we could verify on October 2, 2026. Where data is thin we say so; where it doesn't exist, we leave the question out rather than estimate.
Key findings
- Senior pay in Latin America is 18% to 25% of US senior pay. Median senior total compensation is $63,324 in Mexico (n=234), $62,400 in Argentina (n=74), $57,988 in Colombia (n=108), $46,848 in Brazil (n=1,312) and $44,593 in Chile (n=26), against $252,000 in the US (n=23,350). Source: Levels.fyi, self-reported total compensation, 2026.
- Mexico pays the most at every level in the data. Its medians lead the five countries at entry level ($31,930, n=47), senior level ($63,324) and across all levels ($47,361, n=543). Source: Levels.fyi, 2026.
- The median US software developer costs about $198,511 a year fully loaded. That is the BLS median base wage of $135,980 (OEWS, May 2025) divided by 0.685, the wage share of total compensation for private-industry professional workers (ECEC, June 2026). Benefits add $24.82 for every $54.06 of wages.
- Seniority moves pay more in Latin America than in the US. In Brazil, where both samples are large, the senior median ($46,848) is about four times the entry-level median ($11,862, n=92). In the US the ratio is under two ($252,000 vs $143,517). Source: Levels.fyi, 2026.
- Brazil has the deepest data; most role-level cells are thin. Brazil's 2,599 Levels.fyi software engineer submissions are more than Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Chile combined (1,038). Of 60 role-by-country cells in this report, 33 have fewer than 20 submissions and 2 have none.
- US demand for software developers keeps growing. BLS projects employment of software developers to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, adding 174,700 jobs, which it rates "much faster than average." Source: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.
- Only one of the eight countries covered here observes daylight saving time. Chile changes its clocks; Mexico (outside some US-border municipalities), Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica and Uruguay do not. Colombia and Peru (UTC−5) match US Eastern time from November to March and sit one hour behind it the rest of the year.
Compensation by country
Levels.fyi publishes self-reported total compensation (base plus bonus plus equity) for software engineers by country, converted to USD at the page's exchange rate. The table shows the spread across all levels.
| Country | n | 10th pct | 25th pct | Median | 75th pct | 90th pct |
|---|
| Mexico | 543 | $20,412 | $31,057 | $47,361 | $67,873 | $85,053 |
| Argentina | 173 | $14,587 | $23,589 | $39,180 | $55,200 | $76,932 |
| Chile | 62 | $17,179 | $28,642 | $36,624 | $51,711 | $67,948 |
| Brazil | 2,599 | $14,046 | $22,818 | $34,685 | $51,482 | $74,799 |
| Colombia | 260 | $14,995 | $23,678 | $33,729 | $52,800 | $67,635 |
| United States | 51,141 | $100,000 | $138,750 | $196,000 | $281,287 | $390,000 |
Source: Levels.fyi, software engineer, all levels, 2026. The 90th percentile in Mexico ($85,053) is still below the US 10th percentile ($100,000).
Compensation by level
Levels.fyi publishes entry-level and senior pages for these countries, but no mid-level page, so this report has no mid-level figure by country.
| Country | Entry-level median (n) | Entry 25th to 75th pct | Senior median (n) | Senior 25th to 75th pct |
|---|
| Mexico | $31,930 (47) | $21,040 to $41,038 | $63,324 (234) | $45,363 to $82,768 |
| Argentina | $12,112 (10*) | $12,000 to $15,456 | $62,400 (74) | $44,017 to $80,300 |
| Colombia | $9,129 (18*) | $6,562 to $19,878 | $57,988 (108) | $42,460 to $71,123 |
| Brazil | $11,862 (92) | $8,906 to $22,344 | $46,848 (1,312) | $34,628 to $68,875 |
| Chile | $13,921 (38) | $12,612 to $20,345 | $44,593 (26) | $36,987 to $64,860 |
| United States | $143,517 (7,508) | $100,000 to $188,000 | $252,000 (23,350) | $180,000 to $360,000 |
Source: Levels.fyi entry-level and senior software engineer pages by country, 2026. * Fewer than 20 submissions; treat as directional.
For a region-wide view of the middle band, Get on Board's job-post data for the first half of 2026 shows back-end roles offering $1,475 a month at junior level, $2,061 semi-senior and $3,153 senior. These are average monthly salaries in USD after tax, so they read lower than the gross figures above and should not be compared with them directly.
Compensation by role
Levels.fyi also splits software engineering by specialization. Role-level samples in Latin America are small, so read this table for direction, not precision.
| Role | Mexico | Brazil | Argentina | Colombia | Chile | US |
|---|
| Backend engineer | $55,106 (117) | $34,145 (730) | $42,981 (53) | $36,000 (79) | $33,498 (36) | $195,000 (6,818) |
| Frontend engineer | $38,622 (24) | $31,959 (53) | $15,600 (14*) | $33,800 (10*) | $30,470 (9*) | $201,250 (242) |
| Full-stack engineer | $46,197 (143) | $33,540 (648) | $36,000 (40) | $32,305 (59) | $33,662 (26) | $173,500 (12,238) |
| Data engineer | $38,902 (20) | $33,396 (103) | $31,584 (19*) | $43,098 (17*) | $37,645 (20) | $157,300 (1,293) |
| Data scientist | $36,913 (19*) | $36,916 (145) | $24,397 (18*) | $45,079 (15*) | $34,557 (28) | $181,500 (3,694) |
| Machine learning engineer | $42,406 (11*) | $46,256 (33) | $84,000 (5*) | $44,698 (15*) | $37,800 (9*) | $282,950 (1,139) |
| DevOps engineer | $49,686 (11*) | $22,835 (40) | $30,731 (14*) | $38,278 (15*) | $34,321 (11*) | $150,000 (294) |
| Site reliability engineer | $45,802 (16*) | $41,092 (23) | $53,000 (9*) | no data | $44,221 (7*) | $203,200 (395) |
| QA engineer | $59,074 (15*) | $22,078 (53) | $18,000 (31) | $32,582 (13*) | $23,965 (6*) | $140,345 (998) |
| iOS engineer | $44,215 (11*) | $29,424 (21) | $45,500 (7*) | $60,116 (10*) | no data | $218,000 (75) |
| Android engineer | $42,076 (9*) | $28,627 (14*) | $37,920 (5*) | $42,510 (11*) | $30,000 (5*) | $208,000 (61) |
| Product manager | $88,899 (17*) | $56,580 (106) | $33,319 (33) | $31,134 (12*) | $43,123 (13*) | $230,000 (5,393) |
Source: Levels.fyi role pages by country, median annual total compensation in USD, self-reported, 2026 (n in brackets). * Fewer than 20 submissions.
Where samples are large enough to compare (n of 20 or more), Brazil's machine learning engineers ($46,256, n=33) report the highest median of any Brazilian engineering role in the table, and its QA engineers ($22,078, n=53) and DevOps engineers ($22,835, n=40) the lowest. In the US, machine learning engineers ($282,950) also top the engineering roles.
Local-currency surveys
Two national surveys report pay in local currency, which we leave unconverted.
- Argentina (Sysarmy / Openqube, 2026.01). Median gross monthly salary for all IT respondents: ARS 3,253,581, which the survey converts to $2,327.51 at the official rate, $2,323.99 at the "blue" rate and $2,292.00 at the MEP rate. Senior respondents paid in dollars report a median of ARS 5,300,000 a month, against ARS 3,671,506 for senior respondents paid in pesos.
- Brazil (Codigo Fonte TV, 2026). Median gross monthly pay for senior developers, in reais, by main language: Go R$15,585, Kotlin R$14,901, Python R$13,420, Java R$13,315, TypeScript R$13,000, JavaScript R$12,500. The survey does not publish sample sizes for these rows.
US vs Latin America: the cost comparison
On the same measure (Levels.fyi total compensation), Latin American senior medians are 18% to 25% of the US senior median. Employer cost is harder to compare, because official benefit data covers the US only.
US fully loaded cost, using the ECEC method
BLS's Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) release for June 2026 breaks down what employers pay per hour worked for private-industry management, professional and related workers:
| Component | Per hour | Share |
|---|
| Wages and salaries | $54.06 | 68.5% |
| Paid leave | $7.37 | |
| Insurance | $5.87 | |
| Legally required benefits | $5.07 | |
| Supplemental pay | $3.59 | |
| Retirement and savings | $2.92 | |
| Benefits, total | $24.82 | 31.5% |
| Total compensation | $78.88 | 100% |
Since wages are 68.5% of the total, dividing an annual wage by 0.685 estimates the fully loaded cost. Applied to BLS's May 2025 wage percentiles for software developers (SOC 15-1252):
| Percentile | Annual base wage | Fully loaded (÷ 0.685) | Per month, fully loaded |
|---|
| 10th | $82,460 | $120,380 | $10,032 |
| 25th | $105,210 | $153,591 | $12,799 |
| Median | $135,980 | $198,511 | $16,543 |
| 75th | $171,980 | $251,066 | $20,922 |
| 90th | $214,670 | $313,387 | $26,116 |
Worked example for the median: $135,980 ÷ 0.685 = $198,511 a year, or $16,543 a month. This counts compensation only. Recruiting, equipment, software, office space and management time come on top. In the New York metro area, the mean software developer wage is $165,870 (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
Why we don't load Latin American salaries the same way
The 0.685 ratio describes US employers. Employer charges, mandatory bonuses and benefits differ by country in Latin America, and our sources publish no equivalent official ratio, so we don't apply one.
Where Ryz pricing sits
Ryz typically charges $7,000 to $15,000 per engineer per month, mostly for mid-level to senior people. Mid-level engineers (comparable to Amazon L5, SDE II) typically cost $7,000 to $10,000 a month, and senior engineers (comparable to Amazon L6, Senior SDE) $10,000 to $15,000. Leads start at $15,000 a month, quoted per team. A senior Ryz engineer at $120,000 to $180,000 a year compares with $198,511 for the median US developer fully loaded, and that US median covers all levels. Model your own team in the talent cost savings calculator.
Time-zone overlap
Time zone decides whether code review happens the same day. The US changes its clocks twice a year and almost all of Latin America does not, so most gaps shift by one hour in March and November.
| Country (reference city) | UTC offset | Daylight saving time? | vs US Eastern, Nov to Mar | vs US Eastern, Mar to Nov | vs US Pacific, Nov to Mar | vs US Pacific, Mar to Nov |
|---|
| Mexico (Mexico City) | UTC−6 | No, abolished in 2022 for most of the country | 1 h behind | 2 h behind | 2 h ahead | 1 h ahead |
| Costa Rica (San José) | UTC−6 | No | 1 h behind | 2 h behind | 2 h ahead | 1 h ahead |
| Colombia (Bogotá) | UTC−5 | No | Same time | 1 h behind | 3 h ahead | 2 h ahead |
| Peru (Lima) | UTC−5 | No | Same time | 1 h behind | 3 h ahead | 2 h ahead |
| Chile (Santiago) | UTC−4; UTC−3 in summer | Yes, southern-hemisphere summer (roughly September to April) | 2 h ahead | Same time to 1 h ahead | 5 h ahead | 3 to 4 h ahead |
| Brazil (São Paulo) | UTC−3 | No, abolished in 2019 | 2 h ahead | 1 h ahead | 5 h ahead | 4 h ahead |
| Argentina (Buenos Aires) | UTC−3 | No | 2 h ahead | 1 h ahead | 5 h ahead | 4 h ahead |
| Uruguay (Montevideo) | UTC−3 | No | 2 h ahead | 1 h ahead | 5 h ahead | 4 h ahead |
US Eastern is UTC−5 in winter and UTC−4 from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November; US Pacific is UTC−8 and UTC−7. Notes on the edge cases:
- Mexico ended daylight saving time in 2022. Most of the country, including Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey, stays on UTC−6 all year. Some municipalities on the US border still change clocks with the US, and Quintana Roo (Cancún) stays on UTC−5.
- Chile is the exception in this list. Mainland Chile moves from UTC−4 to UTC−3 for its summer, so from April to September it shares US Eastern time exactly. From November to early March, when the US is on standard time and Chile on summer time, Chile is two hours ahead of New York.
- Brazil has several time zones; the table uses Brasília time, which covers São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
For a simple 9-to-5 day in both places, the arithmetic is 8 hours minus the gap. Colombia and Peru share all 8 hours with New York in winter and 7 in summer. The tightest case is the Southern Cone against the US West Coast in winter: a 5-hour gap leaves 3 shared hours, while Mexico City and San José keep at least 6 shared hours with Pacific time all year. Ryz engineers work on US business hours, including New York hours.
Sample sizes and data caveats
- Self-reported data skews to larger employers, so Levels.fyi medians likely sit above the full local market.
- Thin cells. Entry-level Argentina (n=10) and Colombia (n=18), senior Chile (n=26), and 33 of the 60 role-by-country cells have fewer than 20 submissions.
- Different measures. BLS reports base wages from an employer survey; Levels.fyi reports self-reported total compensation; Get on Board reports after-tax monthly pay; Sysarmy and Codigo Fonte report gross monthly pay in local currency. We never subtract one from another.
- Currency. Levels.fyi converts at the exchange rate on the day the page loads; Sysarmy publishes three Argentine conversions.
- Vendor data. Howdy and Revelo publish salary ranges for engineers in remote roles with US companies, which pay above the local market, without sample sizes. We use them only where labeled.
- Coverage gaps. Stack Overflow's 2025 survey publishes no salary figures for Latin American countries. We found no reliable country-level pay data for Peru, Uruguay or Costa Rica beyond vendor reports, and no public data on time-to-hire or open roles by specialization, so this report does not rank roles by how hard they are to hire.
Methodology
All figures come from the public URLs under Sources, fetched on October 2, 2026, each recorded with its measure, year and sample size where published. Rules we followed:
- We report medians and percentiles as published, rounded to the dollar. We do not average across sources or countries.
- Derived numbers are limited to simple arithmetic shown on the page: the fully loaded estimate (annual wage ÷ 0.685, from BLS ECEC), monthly equivalents (÷ 12), ratios between medians on the same measure, and time-zone gaps from published UTC offsets.
- Cells with fewer than 20 submissions are flagged. Cells with no submissions are shown as "no data", not filled in.
- Sources that failed to load or had no usable numbers (including Glassdoor) were excluded, not estimated.
- Ryz prices are Ryz's published typical ranges, not market data.
How Ryz vets engineers
Pay data tells you what the market costs, not who is good. Ryz is trusted by Fortune 500 engineering teams, and only the top 1% of the tens of thousands of engineers we have interviewed make it.
- Recruiters source. Our recruiters find candidates and review each one before and after the technical steps.
- ARC ranks the pipeline. ARC, our in-house recruiting system, ranks the candidate pipeline for our recruiters.
- NTRVSTA runs structured interviews. Candidates go through structured NTRVSTA AI interviews, so each one is assessed in a consistent format.
- Humans decide. AI scores are advisory. Recruiters build the shortlist, and you interview the people on it before anyone starts.
- Governed data. We follow GDPR and CCPA/CPRA, and ARC is governed under the EU AI Act's high-risk requirements.
See our vetting process.
Work with Ryz
Ryz engineers work on your team, reporting to your leads, on US business hours with same-day code review. Add senior engineers through staff augmentation, or bring in AI pod teams that build AI systems in your cloud and repos and ship them to production. See what our teams have shipped in our case studies. Before you start, you get a scoped plan, a price and the names of the people who would do the work. Talk to us to scope your team.
Related
FAQ
How much do software engineers earn in Latin America in 2026?
Across all levels, Levels.fyi's 2026 medians are $47,361 in Mexico, $39,180 in Argentina, $36,624 in Chile, $34,685 in Brazil and $33,729 in Colombia, in self-reported total compensation. Senior medians run from $44,593 (Chile) to $63,324 (Mexico).
How much cheaper is a Latin American engineer than a US engineer?
On the same measure, Latin American senior medians are 18% to 25% of the US senior median. Pay is not the full cost of hiring, so compare the total cost of the team you need.
Which Latin American countries share US Eastern time?
Colombia and Peru (UTC−5) match US Eastern from November to March and are one hour behind the rest of the year. Chile matches US Eastern from April to September. Mexico City is one to two hours behind; Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay are one to two hours ahead.
Can I use this data in my own work?
Yes. Please cite the original source for each figure, as listed below, and link to this report as the compilation. Figures were checked on October 2, 2026.
Sources
- Levels.fyi, software engineer pay by country, all levels (2026): Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, United States. Self-reported annual total compensation, USD.
- Levels.fyi, entry-level software engineer pay (2026): Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, United States.
- Levels.fyi, senior software engineer pay (2026): Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, United States.
- Levels.fyi, pay by specialization (2026), Mexico pages; other countries change the location in the URL: backend, frontend, full stack, data engineer, data scientist, machine learning engineer, DevOps, site reliability, QA, iOS, Android, product manager.
- Levels.fyi, Amazon software engineer pay by level (checked October 2, 2026): L5 (SDE II), L6 (Senior SDE).
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS May 2025, Software Developers (15-1252): annual base wage percentiles and New York metro mean.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026 (table 4): cost per hour worked by component.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Software Developers: 2025 to 2035 employment projections.
- Get on Board Insights, salary gaps report (2026-S1): average monthly net salaries offered, USD, region-wide.
- Sysarmy / Openqube, Encuesta de sueldos 2026.01 (Argentina): median monthly gross salary, ARS.
- Codigo Fonte TV, Pesquisa Salarial de Programadores 2026 (Brazil): median monthly gross salary by language and level, BRL.
- Revelo, 2026 Latin America hiring guide and Revelo, hire back-end developers: vendor-reported salary ranges and all-in monthly costs.
- Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025: no Latin American country salary data published.
- Howdy, 2025 Latin America software developer salaries: vendor-reported average salaries.
If you cite this report: please attribute it as "Ryz Labs, Latin America Engineering Talent Report 2026" with a link to ryzlabs.com/guides/latam-engineering-talent-report-2026, and name the original source of any figure you quote (for example, "Levels.fyi data compiled by Ryz Labs").
Questions we didn't answer? Email info@ryzlabs.com.