Software Developer Job Trends in the North West

Software Developer
England > North West

The median Software Developer salary in the North West is £60,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 24 May 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
24 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 83 41 100
Rank change year-on-year -42 +59 +90
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Developer 194 405 219
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 1.78% 8.93% 2.27%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.94% 10.07% 2.40%
Number of salaries quoted 186 22 185
10th Percentile £28,250 £37,500 £36,250
25th Percentile £50,000 £38,375 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £46,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +30.43% -8.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £56,750 £61,250
90th Percentile £75,000 £64,850 £70,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £62,500 £53,500
% change year-on-year -4.00% +16.82% -6.96%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
North West

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in the North West. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in the North West with a recognized job title 10,023 4,022 9,126
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.17% 88.65% 94.78%
Number of salaries quoted 6,976 1,981 7,288
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £27,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £38,750 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £53,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +3.77% +6.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £70,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £85,000 £78,750
England median annual salary £55,250 £57,500 £53,000
% change year-on-year -3.91% +8.49% -12.83%

Software Developer
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Software Developer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Software Developer job vacancy trend in the North West

Software Developer
Salary Trend in the North West

Salary distribution trend for Software Developer job vacancies in the North West.

Salary distribution trend for Software Developer job vacancies in the North West

Software Developer
Salary Histogram in the North West

Salary distribution for jobs citing Software Developer in the North West over the 6 months to 24 May 2026.

Salary histogram for Software Developer in the North West

Software Developer
Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Software Developer within the North West region over the 6 months to 24 May 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Cheshire +29 89 £55,000 +15.79% 7
Manchester +30 74 £65,000 +10.17% 8
Lancashire -54 18 £70,000 +75.00% 7
Merseyside -24 13 £40,000 -14.89% 3
Software Developer
England

Software Developer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West

For the 6 months to 24 May 2026, Software Developer job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads across the North West region featuring Software Developer in the job title.

1 71 (36.60%) Azure
2 68 (35.05%) C#
3 56 (28.87%) .NET
4 47 (24.23%) SQL Server
5 40 (20.62%) ASP.NET
6 39 (20.10%) .NET Core
7 38 (19.59%) Microsoft
7 38 (19.59%) Software Engineering
8 36 (18.56%) SQL
9 31 (15.98%) Agile
10 30 (15.46%) Full-Stack Development
11 29 (14.95%) Mentoring
12 24 (12.37%) AWS
13 23 (11.86%) .NET Framework
13 23 (11.86%) CI/CD
14 20 (10.31%) DevOps
15 19 (9.79%) Fintech
15 19 (9.79%) Python
16 18 (9.28%) Git
16 18 (9.28%) Java
17 17 (8.76%) CSS
17 17 (8.76%) JavaScript
18 16 (8.25%) Clean Code
18 16 (8.25%) RAD
19 15 (7.73%) HTML
20 13 (6.70%) API Development
20 13 (6.70%) TypeScript
21 11 (5.67%) Degree
21 11 (5.67%) Docker
22 10 (5.15%) GitHub

Software Developer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 4 (2.06%) IIS
2 1 (0.52%) Apache
2 1 (0.52%) nginx
Cloud Services
1 71 (36.60%) Azure
2 24 (12.37%) AWS
3 10 (5.15%) GitHub
4 9 (4.64%) Azure DevOps
4 9 (4.64%) SaaS
4 9 (4.64%) Serverless
5 4 (2.06%) Azure Monitor
6 3 (1.55%) Azure Key Vault
6 3 (1.55%) Entra ID
6 3 (1.55%) Figma
7 2 (1.03%) Azure Functions
7 2 (1.03%) GCP
8 1 (0.52%) Azure AKS
8 1 (0.52%) Azure Service Bus
8 1 (0.52%) Cloud Run
8 1 (0.52%) Firebase
8 1 (0.52%) GitHub Copilot
8 1 (0.52%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 9 (4.64%) Internet
2 3 (1.55%) HTTPS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 47 (24.23%) SQL Server
2 5 (2.58%) MySQL
2 5 (2.58%) Relational Database
3 2 (1.03%) PostgreSQL
4 1 (0.52%) Azure SQL Database
4 1 (0.52%) Data Lake
4 1 (0.52%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 18 (9.28%) Git
2 3 (1.55%) GitLab
2 3 (1.55%) NUnit
3 2 (1.03%) Bitbucket
4 1 (0.52%) gulp
4 1 (0.52%) webpack
General
1 14 (7.22%) Finance
2 12 (6.19%) Banking
3 9 (4.64%) Multimedia
4 3 (1.55%) Social Skills
5 2 (1.03%) Electronics
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 56 (28.87%) .NET
2 40 (20.62%) ASP.NET
3 39 (20.10%) .NET Core
4 23 (11.86%) .NET Framework
5 17 (8.76%) CSS
6 15 (7.73%) HTML
7 6 (3.09%) Entity Framework
7 6 (3.09%) React
7 6 (3.09%) Spring
7 6 (3.09%) Spring Boot
8 5 (2.58%) ASP.NET Web API
8 5 (2.58%) OpenAPI
8 5 (2.58%) REST
8 5 (2.58%) RESTful
8 5 (2.58%) Swagger
9 4 (2.06%) AngularJS
9 4 (2.06%) JSON
9 4 (2.06%) Vue
10 3 (1.55%) ASP.NET Core
10 3 (1.55%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 10 (5.15%) Cloud Native
2 5 (2.58%) Mobile App
3 4 (2.06%) IoT
4 2 (1.03%) Enterprise Software
4 2 (1.03%) Product Ownership
5 1 (0.52%) Greenfield Project
5 1 (0.52%) Legacy Systems
5 1 (0.52%) Lidar
5 1 (0.52%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 1 (0.52%) Android
1 1 (0.52%) Apple iOS
1 1 (0.52%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 38 (19.59%) Software Engineering
2 31 (15.98%) Agile
3 30 (15.46%) Full-Stack Development
4 29 (14.95%) Mentoring
5 23 (11.86%) CI/CD
6 20 (10.31%) DevOps
7 19 (9.79%) Fintech
8 16 (8.25%) Clean Code
8 16 (8.25%) RAD
9 13 (6.70%) API Development
10 10 (5.15%) TDD
11 9 (4.64%) Continuous Improvement
11 9 (4.64%) Cybersecurity
11 9 (4.64%) Infrastructure as Code
11 9 (4.64%) Scrum
12 8 (4.12%) Computer Science
12 8 (4.12%) Test Automation
13 7 (3.61%) MVC
14 6 (3.09%) Open Source
14 6 (3.09%) Problem-Solving
Programming Languages
1 68 (35.05%) C#
2 36 (18.56%) SQL
3 19 (9.79%) Python
4 18 (9.28%) Java
5 17 (8.76%) JavaScript
6 13 (6.70%) TypeScript
7 10 (5.15%) PHP
8 5 (2.58%) C++
9 3 (1.55%) Bicep
10 2 (1.03%) Ruby
11 1 (0.52%) Kusto Query Language
11 1 (0.52%) T-SQL
11 1 (0.52%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 11 (5.67%) Degree
2 9 (4.64%) AWS Certification
2 9 (4.64%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
2 9 (4.64%) Azure Certification
2 9 (4.64%) Microsoft Certification
3 8 (4.12%) Computer Science Degree
4 1 (0.52%) DV Cleared
4 1 (0.52%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (2.06%) QA
2 1 (0.52%) Accessibility
System Software
1 11 (5.67%) Docker
Systems Management
1 7 (3.61%) Terraform
2 6 (3.09%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 38 (19.59%) Microsoft
2 3 (1.55%) DevExpress
2 3 (1.55%) Splunk
2 3 (1.55%) Zoho
3 2 (1.03%) Google
4 1 (0.52%) Adobe