WordPress developer pay in the US averages $85k, with most earning $65k–$115k, and higher totals for senior or niche roles.
Here is the payoff: clear, current pay numbers, why they differ, and steps you can use to land a better offer or rate.
WordPress Developer Pay: What A Typical Year Looks Like
Four trusted sources paint a tight picture for full time pay in the US. Glassdoor lists an average near $86k based on user reports. ZipRecruiter shows an average around $84k from postings and placements. PayScale, which emphasizes base pay, places a typical figure near $64k. Blend those with the BLS web developer median near $90,930, and the center of gravity for WordPress work lands in the mid eighties. That range lines up with what hiring managers quote across agencies, product teams, and well run studios.
Salary Snapshot
| Source | What It Measures | Typical US Pay |
|---|---|---|
| BLS (Web Dev median) | Median wage for web developers | $90,930 |
| Glassdoor (WordPress) | Reported average total pay | $86,841 |
| ZipRecruiter (WordPress) | Average based on job market | $84,542 |
What Moves The Number Up Or Down
Role depth: building themes only lands less than building custom plugins, headless setups, or complex WooCommerce stacks.
Tech stack: PHP, modern JavaScript, React, REST, and database tuning raise value. Add basic DevOps and you step into higher bands.
Business model: agencies use steady bands; product firms may add equity; solo shops win with retainers.
Industry: regulated sectors pay for care and uptime. Ecommerce pays for revenue impact. Nonprofits often sit lower.
Portfolio proof: shipped sites with speed scores, clean code, and outcomes beat long tool lists.
Communication: clear discovery, scope, risk calls, and change control stop churn and earn trust.
Experience And Leveling
Entry: builds and styles sites, edits themes, ships small features, handles bug lists with guidance.
Mid: owns features end to end, custom fields, CPTs, Gutenberg blocks, caching, and simple integrations.
Senior: leads architecture, builds plugins, plans migrations, handles scale, mentors others, and talks to stakeholders.
Lead or architect: shapes roadmap, secures budgets, and lines up cross team delivery; pay rises with that scope.
Early Range By Experience
| Level | Typical Salary | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Entry (0–2 years) | $55k–$75k | Often agency or in house |
| Mid (3–5 years) | $75k–$105k | Broader stack, client facing |
| Senior (6+ years) | $100k–$140k+ | Leadership or niche work |
Location And Remote Factors
Top metros still pay more, but remote roles compress gaps. Bay Area, Seattle, and New York push the high end. Mid cost cities aim for the center. Fully remote teams often peg pay to bands by region. Strong candidates with rare skills can cross those bands when impact is clear.
Some firms use geo bands. A common setup has three tiers: high cost metros at 100% of band, mid regions at 85–90%, and low cost regions at 75–85%. Remote teams sometimes tie offers to where you live; others pay one national rate to keep hiring simple. Ask how bands work, and whether moves or travel change your bracket.
Employment Type And Pay Mix
Full time roles bring base pay plus benefits. Contract roles trade benefits for higher rates. Freelancers blend hourly work, project fees, and retainers. Product makers add plugin or theme revenue. Educators add course sales or training gigs. Each path has a different risk profile and upside.
Freelance Rates That Convert
Mind your floor rate: billable hours drop once you add sales, admin, and learning. A $100 hourly target often nets closer to $60 after non billable time. Clear scope and staged milestones keep margin intact. Many freelancers pair build fees with a monthly care plan that bundles updates, backups, security, and minor tweaks.
Pricing Models That Work
Hourly: flexible, good for small tasks, but watch scope drift.
Fixed bid: match to a detailed spec and change rules.
Value based: price to the business result when you can define it and measure it.
Retainers: stable cash flow for maintenance, content help, and small enhancements.
Skills That Lift Pay Fast
Gutenberg and block themes: clean patterns, theme.json, and custom blocks are in demand across teams.
WooCommerce: checkout, subscriptions, taxes, shipping, and performance tuning pay well.
Headless builds: WordPress as a CMS with Next.js or similar can command higher bids.
Performance: Core Web Vitals, caching layers, image pipelines, and database work move needles that bosses track.
Security and updates: hardening, least privilege, and managed updates reduce risk and keep sites online.
Data and tracking: privacy wise analytics, server side tagging, and clean events help teams spend wisely.
Evidence And Benchmarks You Can Quote
The BLS web developer median sits near ninety one thousand for 2024. Glassdoor puts WordPress roles in the mid eighties, and ZipRecruiter shows a near match. PayScale lists a lower base average, which lines up with early roles or smaller markets. The Stack Overflow 2024 survey shows broad tech pay ladders by role; web facing work sits below cloud and data roles, which sets expectations for ceiling.
Career Paths And Salary Ceilings
Specialist engineer: deep plugin work, payment gateways, and API heavy builds raise the ceiling.
Tech lead: cross team planning, code review, and mentoring move you into six figure totals.
Product builder: sell a plugin, SaaS add on, or niche theme; upside grows with MRR and low churn.
Independent studio: small team, repeat clients, and a few retainers; income smooths out and grows with referrals.
How To Grow Into Higher Bands
Pick a market: ecommerce, membership, education, events, or media. Learn the edge cases, then ship fixes that save time or lift conversion.
Build proof: one case per market with clear before and after numbers beats a dozen generic sites.
Ship a plugin: even a small tool shows code taste, docs, and support skills.
Track your numbers: speed gains, uptime, bug burn down, and revenue lifts sell you better than slogans.
Negotiate with data: bring comps, show outcomes, state a clear range, and ask for the budget number.
Negotiation Script You Can Use
Start with a warm opener, then set the frame. “Roles like this land between ninety and one ten base in mid markets, with more for complex commerce. My last launch lifted checkout conversion by nine points and cut support tickets in half. I am targeting total pay from one hundred to one twenty. Where does your range sit?” Then pause. Let the other side speak first. Follow with questions on bonus, equity, and learning budget.
Benefits And Perks That Matter
Health and retirement plans weigh into total pay. Learning time, conference budget, and a gear stipend add value. True remote, flexible hours, and meeting sanity help you do better work. Paid time off beats burnout and turnover. Read the full package, not just base numbers.
Rough Rate Math For Freelancers
If you want $120k in personal income with six weeks off, and you can bill four hours per day on average, your target hourly rate needs to sit near $100 before tax. Add tools, insurance, and a cushion for slow months. A monthly care plan at $150–$300 per site, stacked across ten clients, adds stable MRR that makes the lean weeks less scary.
Freelance Rates And Scope Hints
| Scope | Starter Rate Range | When To Use It |
|---|---|---|
| Small site tune up (2–6 hours) | $90–$140/hr | Short bug fixes or tweaks |
| New brochure site (6–10 pages) | $3k–$8k | Clear content and light features |
| WooCommerce build (core store) | $8k–$25k+ | Payments, tax, shipping, speed |
Where Pay Is Headed Next
Web work keeps moving toward performance, privacy, and smarter stacks. Teams still need flexible CMS setups with editors who can ship fast without breaking layouts. That keeps this skill set in play. The ceiling grows when you tie work to revenue or risk reduction, not just pages shipped.
Skill Map For Better Offers
Code: PHP, JavaScript, React, SQL.
Ops: staging, backups, CI, and basic cloud.
UX: clean patterns, accessibility, and readable content models.
Commerce: subscriptions, tax rules, refunds, and fraud checks.
Data: events, dashboards, and guardrails around consent.
Soft skills: discovery calls, plain writing, and steady updates.
Certs And Proof That Help
Official badges have mixed value. Real proof wins more offers: shipped plugins, public repos, and write ups that show how you solved a gnarly bug or scaled a store for a seasonal rush. Client quotes with clear numbers close gaps that a badge cannot.
Common Pay Traps To Avoid
Long trial projects with no pay. Loose scope that never ends. Low anchor offers with “quick raises next quarter.” Per hour deals with tiny time caps. “Exposure” gigs. Offers that block portfolio rights. Vendor lock in stacks that make simple tasks take days. Walk away from these to free room for better work.
How Companies Evaluate Pay
Impact on pipeline and revenue. Speed to ship without rework. Skill mix and bus factor. Reliability and handoff quality. Fit with stack and roadmap. Budget cycles and band limits. You can influence many of these with solid prep and a tight pitch.
A Simple Plan For The Next 30 Days
Week 1: pick a niche and list pain points that keep buyers up at night.
Week 2: build a demo plugin or micro site that fixes one pain with clean code and docs.
Week 3: write a short case page with one clear chart and three bullets on outcomes.
Week 4: ask three target clients for a fifteen minute call, share the demo, and quote a scoped pilot.
Bottom Line
If you write clean code, ship outcomes, and back it with simple proof, the pay follows. Mid eighties is a fair US average, six figures is reachable with scope and skill depth, and independent paths can top that when you package value and mind your margins.