Germany is home to Europe's third and fourth largest tech hubs, Berlin and Munich. This makes it one of the best countries for software developers, including JavaScript developers. Here, we'll look at average salaries for JavaScript developers at each stage of their careers and how they compare to Java and Python developer salaries.
Average junior JavaScript developer salary trends
Entry-level JavaScript developers in Germany with less than two years of experience can expect an average salary of €35 824 per year. This is 3.2%, or €1 180, less than an entry-level Python developer's salary of €37 004, and 9.82%, or €3 901, less than their Java equivalents.
With two years under their belt, a junior JavaScript developer can expect a significant 24% jump. This gives them an average annual salary of €44 409, 5.6%, or €2 637, behind junior Python developers and 1.55%, or €676, ahead of Java's average.
Once they pass the four-year mark, they can look forward to another 13.2% pay rise, taking their average salary up to €50 269. A mid-level JavaScript developer now earns 15.6%, or €9 261, less than their Python equivalents, and 7.37%, or €4 002, less their Java counterparts.
Average JavaScript Developer Salaries by Experience
| Years of Experience | 25th Percentile | Average | 75th Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-2 | €28,680 | €35,824 | €48,700 |
| 2-4 | €30,930 | €44,409 | €59,550 |
| 4-6 | €39,150 | €50,269 | €62,376 |
| 6-10 | €46,650 | €61,668 | €74,316 |
| 10-15 | €54,850 | €75,434 | €89,500 |
Average Salary by Years Experience, showing 25th and 75th percentiles
Average senior JavaScript developer salary trends
Salary growth for JavaScript developers increases once they become seniors:
JavaScript developers with at least six years of experience see their salaries rise by 22.7% for an average annual salary of €61 668. That's still 11.9%, or €8 316, less than the average for senior Python developers at this level, but 1.66%, or €1 005, more than a Java developer with comparable experience.
Senior JavaScript developers with more than ten years of experience can expect their salaries to rise a further 22.3% to €75 434. This narrows the gap between themselves and Python to just 4%, or €3 125. At this stage of their careers, they've also nudged 4.16%, or €3 013, ahead of their Java counterparts.
Why do senior JavaScript developers see such significant salary increases? Veteran developers in this language are typically able to solve challenging problems and utilise advanced techniques to build more complex systems.
They should understand refactoring, design patterns, and architectural paradigms and have experience with infrastructural maintenance and server deployments. Developers with these skills will continue to remain desirable and paid accordingly.
Keep in mind
The data in this article is taken from StackOverflow's 2022 Developer Survey's open data. In this article, 'salary' refers to the gross annual salary (before tax) provided by 2060 survey respondents from Germany who identified as JavaScript developers.
We only included salary insights for experience levels with enough data points to ensure that the amounts represent JavaScript developers in the country. That's why we've developers with more than fifteen years of experience from the article.
We also ran an outlier analysis to identify data points skewing the distribution of salaries. These points were removed from the final dataset to ensure that the amounts are representative of JavaScript developers in Germany. We've also included the 25th and 75th percentiles to give you further information about the distribution of salary data.
Average salaries are single data points and only one part of a bigger story. Many respondents may earn significantly more or significantly less than these averages. However, we aim to show underlying trends by mapping the average salaries for different experience levels.
These averages should not be used to estimate what your actual salary will or should be. Salaries depend on the company size, industry, individual, perks and nature of the work. These factors all influence the salary a company will offer to a prospective hire. In addition, most developers are "fluent" in several languages and work across multiple roles, affecting the final figures.
It's also important to remember that every individual's context is different. Salary is a personal conversation that should take place between employee and employer.
On OfferZen you can hire JavaScript developers and find JavaScript developer jobs.
Related resources
- How to Negotiate a Job Offer That's More Than Just the Money
- How to Negotiate when Hiring Developers
- Full Stack Developer Salary Trends in the Netherlands
- Munich: City Guide for Software Developers
- Securing a Developer Work Visa for Germany: The Blue Card
- Berlin: City Guide for Software Developers
- Front End Developer Salary Trends in Germany
- Python Developer Salary Trends in Germany
- Java Developer Salary Trends in Germany