Software engineers make up a significant portion of the global workforce. As of 2022, there are an estimated 26.9 million professional software engineers worldwide, up from 21 million in 2016.

By country United States In 2023, there were an estimated 1.6 million professional software developers in North America. There are 166 million people employed in the US workforce, making software developers 0.96% of the total workforce. Summary

Role # SE title # TE title Ratio of SE to TE Practitioners 611,900 Software engineers 1,157,020 Traditional engineers 53% Managers 264,790 Computer and information systems managers 413,750 Engineering managers + construction managers 64% Educators 16,495 Computer science (practical) 29,310 Engineering teachers 56% Technicians 457,320 Computer programmers 516,170 Engineering technicians 88%

Software engineers vs. traditional engineers The following two tables compare the number of software engineers (611,900 in 2002) versus the number of traditional engineers (1,157,020 in 2002).

There are another 1,500,000 people in system analysis, system administration, and computer support, many of whom might be called software engineers. Many systems analysts manage software development teams, and as analysis is an important software engineering role, many of them may be considered software engineers in the near future. This means that the number of software engineers may actually be much higher.

The number of software engineers declined by 5 to 10 percent from 2000 to 2002.

CodeDescriptionNumber (2002)Hourly pay (2002)Annual salary (2002)Number (2021)Mean hourly pay (2021)Mean annual salary (2021) 15-1031Software eng., applications356,760$34.09$35.48$73,8000.7 % 15-1032Software eng., systems software255,040$35.60$36.46$75,8400.6 % 17-2011Aerospace engineers74,210$34.97$35.63$74,1101.1 %56,640$ 59.12$ 122,970 17-2021Agricultural engineers2,500$24.38$26.79$55,7302.9 %1,120$ 41.99$ 87,350 17-2031Biomedical engineers7,130$29.04$30.97$64,4201.7 %17,190$ 48.57$ 101,020 17-2041Chemical engineers32,110$34.85$36.06$75,0101.0 %24,180$ 58.58$ 121,840 17-2051Civil engineers207,480$28.88$30.29$63,0100.4 %304,310$ 45.91$ 95,490 17-2061Computer hardware engineers67,180$34.69$36.61$76,1501.1 %73,750$ 65.50$ 136,230 17-2071Electrical engineers146,180$32.78$33.88$70,4800.4 %186,020$ 51.87$ 107,890 17-2072Electronics eng., exc. computer126,020$33.62$34.43$71,6000.6 %107,170$ 55.53$ 115,490 17-2081Environmental engineers45,720$29.52$30.50$63,4400.7 %42,660$ 48.18$ 100,220 17-2111Health and safety, exc. mining34,160$27.89$28.77$59,8300.7 %22,870$ 47.93$ 99,700 17-2112Industrial engineers151,760$29.88$30.57$63,5900.3 %293,950$ 45.77$ 95,200 17-2121Marine eng., naval architects4,810$32.04$32.83$68,2802.2 %7,380$ 47.03$ 97,820 17-2131Materials engineers22,780$30.09$30.92$64,3101.0 %21,530$ 49.02$ 101,950 17-2141Mechanical engineers203,620$30.23$31.33$65,1700.4 %278,240$ 46.64$ 97,000 17-2151Mining and geological eng.5,050$29.70$31.14$64,7702.4 %7,370$ 48.29$ 100,450 17-2161Nuclear engineers15,180$39.11$39.57$82,3001.3 %12,670$ 58.54$ 121,760 17-2171Petroleum engineers11,130$40.08$41.13$85,5401.4 %22,100$ 70.06$ 145,720

Computer managers vs. construction and engineering managers Computer and information system managers (264,790) manage software projects, as well as computer operations. Similarly, Construction and engineering managers (413,750) oversee engineering projects, manufacturing plants, and construction sites. Computer management is 64% the size of construction and engineering management. CodeDescriptionNumberHourly payAnnual salary 11-3021Computer and information systems managers264,790$40.98$43.48$90,4400.3% 11-9021Construction managers208,360$30.53$34.24$71,2100.7% 11-9041Engineering managers205,390$43.71$46.03$95,7500.3%

Software engineering educators vs. engineering educators

Most people working in the field of computer science, whether making software systems (software engineering) or studying the theoretical and mathematical facts of software systems (computer science), acquire degrees in computer science. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2023 data), there were approximately 44,800 postsecondary computer science teachers and 50,300 engineering teachers, indicating that the computer science educator workforce is nearly 89% as large as that of engineering educators. The combined number of postsecondary chemistry (25,400) and physics (17,100) teachers totaled 42,500, slightly less than the number of computer science educators.

CodeDescriptionNumberHourly payAnnual salary 25-1021Computer science teachers, postsecondary32,990(4)(4)$55,330 1.1% 25-1032Engineering teachers, postsecondary29,310(4)(4)$73,100 1.3% 25-1052Chemistry teachers, postsecondary17,670(4)(4)$60,800 1.3% 25-1054Physics teachers, postsecondary11,940(4)(4)$66,9601.0

Other software and engineering roles

CodeDescriptionNumberHourly payAnnual salary 15-1051Computer systems analysts467,750$30.24$31.20$64,8900.5% 15-1041Computer support specialists478,560$18.80$20.35$42,3200.5% 15-1061Database administrators102,090$26.68$28.41$59,0800.5% 15-1071Network and computer systems administrators232,560$26.35$27.70$57,6200.4% 15-1081Network systems and data communications analysts133,460$28.09$29.51$61,3900.6% 17-3011Architectural and civil drafters101,190$17.95$18.78$39,0600.6% 17-3012Electrical and electronics drafters35,470$19.76$21.16$44,0200.8% 17-3013Mechanical drafters68,280$19.58$20.71$43,0800.9%

Relation to IT demographics Software engineers are part of the much larger software, hardware, application, and operations community. In 2000 in the U.S., there were about 680,000 software engineers and about 10,000,000 IT workers. As of early 2025, there are an estimated 47.2 million software developers worldwide, representing a 50% increase from 31 million in Q1 2022.

There are no numbers on testers in the BLS data.

India There has been a healthy growth in the number of India's IT professionals over the past few years. From a base of 6,800 knowledge workers in 198586, the number increased to 522,000 software and services professionals by the end of 200102. It is estimated that out of these 528,000 knowledge workers, almost 170,000 are working in the IT software and services export industry; nearly 106,000 are working in the IT enabled services and over 230,000 in user organizations.From Website of the National Association of Software and Service Companies, one of the more authoritative sources of information.

Australia In May 2024, the Australian government reported that 169,300 Australians are employed as software and applications programmers, 17% of who are women. The role grew annually by 8,300 workers.

Russia According to the Russian government, the number of IT specialists in the country increased by 13% in 2023, reaching approximately 857,000. During the initial phase of the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, an estimated 100,000 IT specialists left Russia.

See also Software engineering List of software engineering topics List of programming occupations Software engineering economics Software engineering professionalism

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