Vancouver tech salaries, 2026

Vancouver has had pay ranges in public postings since November 2023, when B.C.'s Pay Transparency Act kicked in. The sample is smaller than Toronto's, so the numbers move more.

Salary ranges in Vancouver

A senior software engineer in Vancouver has a posted range of $144K to $209K, median $169K in base salary in 2026, from public pay-transparency postings.

Posted ranges, Vancouver. Base salary in CAD, from public job postings.

Role	Junior (0 to 1 years)	Intermediate (2 to 4 years)	Senior (5 to 7 years)	Staff / Lead (8+ years)
Software Engineer	Not enough posted ranges yet (n=0)	$109K to $139K, median $118K, n=14	$144K to $209K, median $169K, n=21	$210K to $267K, median $227K, n=11
AI / ML Engineer	Not enough posted ranges yet (n=0)	Not enough posted ranges yet (n=2)	$110K to $136K, median $135K, n=12	Not enough posted ranges yet (n=1)
Engineering Manager	Not enough posted ranges yet (n=0)	$189K to $226K, median $206K, n=10	Not enough posted ranges yet (n=3)	Not enough posted ranges yet (n=0)

Low to high is the middle half of employers' posted midpoints (25th to 75th percentile). n is the number of postings. A cell needs 10 or more postings from 5 or more employers. Data as of October 29, 2026.

Cite: Phil Mosher, Canadian tech salary data, baselinetalent.xyz, data as of October 29, 2026. CC BY 4.0.

No posted ranges yet for Data Engineer, DevOps / SRE / Platform Engineer, Cybersecurity Engineer, Tech Lead, Product Manager, Product Designer, UX Designer / Researcher.

Where the government figure disagrees

• Senior and staff or lead posted medians sit 35% to 125% above the government survey figure (Software Engineer, AI / ML Engineer). That's expected, because the survey covers every experience level.
• Many of these postings come from foreign-headquartered multinationals, which pay above local medians: Engineering Manager, intermediate, 58% above (70% of postings).

Check your role and level in the salary calculator.

Government survey figures for Vancouver

For software work in Vancouver, the government figures are: Job Bank median $130K, StatCan average offered wage $116K (Table 14-10-0444-01) for software engineers and designers (NOC 21231). Job Bank median $109K, StatCan average offered wage $86K (Table 14-10-0444-01) for software developers and programmers (NOC 21232). All levels, survey data, not job postings. They're a check on the posted ranges, never part of them.

Government survey, Vancouver. All levels, survey data, not job postings.

Occupation	Job Bank median	StatCan average offered wage
Computer and information systems managers (NOC 20012)	$140K	$130K
Data scientists (NOC 21211)	$100K	$101K
Cybersecurity specialists (NOC 21220)	$95K	$106K
Software engineers and designers (NOC 21231)	$130K	$116K
Software developers and programmers (NOC 21232)	$109K	$86K
Information systems testing technicians (NOC 22222)	$73K	$78K
Graphic designers and illustrators (NOC 52120)	$75K	$86K

Job Bank (ESDC) median wages by occupation and economic region, reference period 2023-2024, times 2,080 hours. Statistics Canada Table 14-10-0444-01, average offered hourly wage on job vacancies, 2025-07 to 2026-04 (4 quarters), times 2,080 hours. Both cover every experience level and every employer. They are not job postings and are never mixed with the posted ranges.

Cite: Phil Mosher, Canadian tech salary data, baselinetalent.xyz, data as of October 29, 2026. CC BY 4.0.

The market

Vancouver competes with Seattle and with U.S. remote roles as much as with Toronto. A lot of the posted ranges here come from U.S.-headquartered companies.

• CBRE ranks Vancouver #9 in North America for tech talent in 2026 (up one spot).
• 22.4% of Vancouver workers mostly worked from home in May 2024. B.C. has required pay ranges on public job postings since 2023-11-01 (no width limit).

Cost of living

Vancouver has the highest rents of the big six cities. Highest rents of the six cities: average 2-bedroom $2,363 in October 2025 (vacancy 3.7%). Average asking rent $2,741 in September 2026 (down 1.3% year over year).

What it costs to hire a senior software engineer in Vancouver

Hiring a senior software engineer in Vancouver costs an employer $177,619 to $180,920 a year once CPP, EI, payroll tax and benefits sit on top of the posted median base.

What a senior software engineer costs the employer, per year

Line	Amount
Base salary (posted median, senior software engineer)	$169,300
CPP (5.95% on $3,500-$74,600)	$4,230
CPP2 (4% on $74,600-$85,000)	$416
EI employer (2.282% up to $68,900)	$1,572
Small employer: B.C. EHT (payroll up to $1M exempt)	$0
Large employer: B.C. EHT 1.95% (payroll over $1.5M)	$3,301
Group health, dental and life benefits (assumption: $175 per employee per month)	$2,100
Total, small employer	$177,619
Total, large employer	$180,920

Leaves out bonus, equity, RRSP/pension matching, workers' compensation premiums, vacation pay (inside base), recruiting fees, equipment and office. Benefits are an assumption, not a published figure.

"Small employer" means your payroll is under B.C.'s Employer Health Tax exemption. "Large" means you're past it.

How this was built

Every number here comes from public data, with a minimum of 10 postings from 5 employers per cell.

How every number here is built, tested and checked against government data: how the salary data is built.