Pay’s not everything, but it does count for something. While the tech industry is doing a great job to promote healthy work-life balance and company culture, some of us still care about the old-fashioned paycheck. Coins not only give us an indication of the value we provide to the industry but also the potential value we can provide. 

If you are an outside looking in, or just a curious dev wanting to upskill, the highest-paying programming languages are a great place to start. In this article, we’ll look at the top 7 highest paying programming languages based on data from StackOverflow’s 2022 Developer Survey. While this data is a great indicator of what skilled developers are being paid in the industry, it’s important to keep in mind that salary is subject to a number of different factors including experience, market conditions, and location. 

Table of Contents:

1. Clojure $106,644
2. Erlang $103,000
3. F# $95,526
4. LISP $95,000
5. Ruby $93,000
6. Elixir $92,959
7. Scala $92,780

1. Clojure

Salary: $106,644

Clojure, according to StackOverflow, is the highest-paying programming language. There’s a strong correlation between the number of developers who work with a particular language and the pay. There are not many developers who seem to work with or know Clojure, therefore the average pay is quite high. 

So what does a typical Clojure developer do? Clojure developers are typically skilled in Lisp, functional programming, and the principles of immutable data and concurrency. They may also be familiar with other technologies and frameworks that are commonly used with Clojure, such as the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), the Apache Kafka distributed streaming platform, and the Hadoop data processing framework.

2. Erlang

Salary: $103,000

At number two we have Erlang. Erlang is a programming language that was designed to support the development of concurrent, distributed, and fault-tolerant systems. Erlang developers are software developers who specialize in using Erlang to build applications and systems.

Unfortunately, Erlang, despite its high average salary, is one of those programming languages that developers dread (hate) using. According to StackOverflow, around 45% of developers using Erlang said they dreaded using the language. That’s not great feedback... It seems like there are some better alternatives based on criticisms of the language, but this list isn’t about “the most loved programming languages.” 

3. F#

Salary: $95,526

F# is a programming language that is based on the functional programming paradigm and is designed to be concise, expressive, and efficient. F# developers are typically skilled in functional programming, and may also be familiar with other technologies and frameworks that are commonly used with F#, such as the .NET framework and the Visual Studio development environment.

F# is often used to build a wide range of applications, including web applications, data science and machine learning systems, and financial applications. It is particularly well-suited for tasks that involve working with large amounts of data, as it supports efficient and expressive data manipulation and analysis.

4. LISP

Salary: $95,000

LISP is a programming language that was one of the first high-level programming languages, and it has a long history of use in artificial intelligence, symbolic computing, and other fields. LISP developers are typically skilled in functional programming, and may also be familiar with other technologies and frameworks that are commonly used with LISP, such as the Common Lisp Object System (CLOS) and the SBCL implementation of Lisp.

LISP is often used to build a wide range of applications, including web applications, data science and machine learning systems, and financial applications. It is particularly well-suited for tasks that involve working with large amounts of data, as it supports efficient and expressive data manipulation and analysis.

5. Ruby 

Salary: $93,000

Ruby is a programming language that is designed to be concise, expressive, and easy to use. Ruby developers are typically skilled in object-oriented programming, and may also be familiar with other technologies and frameworks that are commonly used with Ruby, such as the Ruby on Rails web development framework, the Sinatra web framework, and the RSpec testing framework.

Ruby is often used to build web applications, and it is particularly well-suited for building server-side systems and building web applications quickly. It is also sometimes used for data processing and scientific computing.

6. Elixir

Salary: $92,959

Elixir is a programming language that is based on the Erlang virtual machine (VM) and is designed to be expressive, concurrent, and scalable. Elixir developers are typically skilled in functional programming, concurrency, and distributed systems, and may also be familiar with other technologies and frameworks that are commonly used with Elixir, such as the Phoenix web development framework and the OTP platform.

Elixir is often used to build scalable, concurrent, and distributed systems, such as real-time messaging systems, telecommunication systems, and distributed databases. It is also sometimes used for web development and data processing.

7. Scala

Salary: $92,780

Scala is a programming language that is based on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and is designed to be concise, expressive, and scalable. Scala developers are typically skilled in object-oriented programming and functional programming, and may also be familiar with other technologies and frameworks that are commonly used with Scala, such as the Apache Spark distributed computing framework and the Akka actor model library.

Scala is often used to build a wide range of applications, including web applications, data science and machine learning systems, and financial applications. It is particularly well-suited for tasks that involve working with large amounts of data, as it supports efficient and expressive data manipulation and analysis.

Find a Programming Job!

While these languages offer a higher average salary than your more common languages, they don’t receive the best feedback. Unfortunately, developers try to steer clear of these languages which is a positive if you don’t mind getting your hands dirty!  

Anyway, that covers the highest-paying programming languages of 2023! Whether you are skilled in Clojure, Erlang, Lisp, or any other language, there are hundreds of companies in Europe looking for developers like you. Create a profile on WeAreDevelopers and let companies apply to you!  

‍