Software Developer Job Trends in the North West

Software Developer
England > North West

The median Software Developer salary in the North West is £65,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 5 July 2026.

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

6 months to
5 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 82 38 107
Rank change year-on-year -44 +69 +85
Permanent jobs requiring a Software Developer 198 408 219
As % of all permanent jobs in the North West 1.77% 8.13% 2.05%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.87% 9.07% 2.15%
Number of salaries quoted 186 28 187
10th Percentile £40,000 £36,750 £36,250
25th Percentile £50,000 £42,375 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +23.81% +5.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £60,000 £61,250
90th Percentile £75,000 £63,950 £70,000
England median annual salary £60,000 £64,000 £53,500
% change year-on-year -6.25% +19.63% -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 10,571 4,498 10,168
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.58% 89.60% 95.30%
Number of salaries quoted 7,966 2,335 7,730
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,000 £27,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,250 £37,263
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,055 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.88% +0.11% -9.09%
75th Percentile £72,500 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £82,500 £80,000
England median annual salary £57,500 £56,673 £52,500
% change year-on-year +1.46% +7.95% -12.50%

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 5 July 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 5 July 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 +40 81 £55,000 +10.00% 2
Manchester +24 78 £65,000 +9.24% 3
Lancashire -39 24 £70,000 +75.00% 4
Merseyside -26 15 £50,000 +6.38% 3
Software Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 5 July 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 60 (30.30%) C#
2 48 (24.24%) .NET
3 47 (23.74%) Azure
4 45 (22.73%) Software Engineering
5 36 (18.18%) Full-Stack Development
6 34 (17.17%) SQL Server
7 27 (13.64%) SQL
8 26 (13.13%) ASP.NET
8 26 (13.13%) Mentoring
9 25 (12.63%) .NET Core
10 23 (11.62%) Agile
10 23 (11.62%) CI/CD
11 22 (11.11%) Microsoft
12 21 (10.61%) Java
13 20 (10.10%) DevOps
14 19 (9.60%) Fintech
15 18 (9.09%) Python
15 18 (9.09%) TypeScript
16 16 (8.08%) AWS
16 16 (8.08%) Clean Code
17 14 (7.07%) API Development
18 13 (6.57%) .NET Framework
18 13 (6.57%) SaaS
19 12 (6.06%) TDD
20 11 (5.56%) JavaScript
20 11 (5.56%) Serverless
21 10 (5.05%) Azure DevOps
21 10 (5.05%) Continuous Improvement
21 10 (5.05%) CSS
21 10 (5.05%) Docker

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 (2.02%) IIS
Business Applications
1 1 (0.51%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 47 (23.74%) Azure
2 16 (8.08%) AWS
3 13 (6.57%) SaaS
4 11 (5.56%) Serverless
5 10 (5.05%) Azure DevOps
6 5 (2.53%) Azure Monitor
7 4 (2.02%) Azure Functions
8 3 (1.52%) Azure Key Vault
8 3 (1.52%) Azure Service Bus
8 3 (1.52%) Entra ID
8 3 (1.52%) Figma
9 2 (1.01%) GitHub
10 1 (0.51%) Azure AKS
10 1 (0.51%) Azure Data Factory
10 1 (0.51%) Cloud Run
10 1 (0.51%) Dynamics 365
10 1 (0.51%) Firebase
10 1 (0.51%) GCP
10 1 (0.51%) GitHub Copilot
10 1 (0.51%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 3 (1.52%) HTTPS
2 1 (0.51%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (17.17%) SQL Server
2 6 (3.03%) Relational Database
3 3 (1.52%) MySQL
3 3 (1.52%) PostgreSQL
4 2 (1.01%) Azure SQL Database
5 1 (0.51%) Data Lake
5 1 (0.51%) Power BI
5 1 (0.51%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 9 (4.55%) Git
2 3 (1.52%) GitLab
2 3 (1.52%) NUnit
3 2 (1.01%) Bitbucket
4 1 (0.51%) gulp
4 1 (0.51%) webpack
General
1 20 (10.10%) Finance
2 13 (6.57%) Banking
3 7 (3.54%) Social Skills
4 3 (1.52%) Electronics
5 1 (0.51%) Aerospace
5 1 (0.51%) Analytical Skills
5 1 (0.51%) Automotive
5 1 (0.51%) Multimedia
5 1 (0.51%) Public Sector
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (24.24%) .NET
2 26 (13.13%) ASP.NET
3 25 (12.63%) .NET Core
4 13 (6.57%) .NET Framework
5 10 (5.05%) CSS
6 8 (4.04%) HTML
6 8 (4.04%) Vue
7 6 (3.03%) Entity Framework
7 6 (3.03%) Spring
7 6 (3.03%) Spring Boot
8 5 (2.53%) ASP.NET Web API
8 5 (2.53%) OpenAPI
8 5 (2.53%) React
8 5 (2.53%) REST
8 5 (2.53%) Swagger
9 4 (2.02%) AngularJS
9 4 (2.02%) ASP.NET MVC
9 4 (2.02%) JSON
9 4 (2.02%) RESTful
10 3 (1.52%) Ruby on Rails
Miscellaneous
1 12 (6.06%) Cloud Native
2 6 (3.03%) Mobile App
3 5 (2.53%) IoT
4 3 (1.52%) Product Ownership
5 2 (1.01%) Enterprise Software
6 1 (0.51%) Algorithms
6 1 (0.51%) Legacy Systems
6 1 (0.51%) Lidar
6 1 (0.51%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 1 (0.51%) Android
1 1 (0.51%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 45 (22.73%) Software Engineering
2 36 (18.18%) Full-Stack Development
3 26 (13.13%) Mentoring
4 23 (11.62%) Agile
4 23 (11.62%) CI/CD
5 20 (10.10%) DevOps
6 19 (9.60%) Fintech
7 16 (8.08%) Clean Code
8 14 (7.07%) API Development
9 12 (6.06%) TDD
10 10 (5.05%) Continuous Improvement
10 10 (5.05%) Problem-Solving
10 10 (5.05%) Scrum
11 9 (4.55%) Infrastructure as Code
11 9 (4.55%) Test Automation
12 8 (4.04%) Computer Science
12 8 (4.04%) MVC
12 8 (4.04%) Technical Leadership
13 7 (3.54%) Performance Optimisation
13 7 (3.54%) SDLC
Programming Languages
1 60 (30.30%) C#
2 27 (13.64%) SQL
3 21 (10.61%) Java
4 18 (9.09%) Python
4 18 (9.09%) TypeScript
5 11 (5.56%) JavaScript
6 9 (4.55%) C++
7 8 (4.04%) PHP
8 3 (1.52%) Bicep
8 3 (1.52%) Ruby
9 2 (1.01%) Scala
10 1 (0.51%) Apex Code
10 1 (0.51%) Kusto Query Language
10 1 (0.51%) T-SQL
10 1 (0.51%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 9 (4.55%) Degree
2 8 (4.04%) Computer Science Degree
3 3 (1.52%) Security Cleared
4 2 (1.01%) SC Cleared
5 1 (0.51%) AWS Certification
5 1 (0.51%) AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
5 1 (0.51%) Azure Certification
5 1 (0.51%) DV Cleared
5 1 (0.51%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (2.53%) QA
2 1 (0.51%) Accessibility
System Software
1 10 (5.05%) Docker
Systems Management
1 7 (3.54%) Terraform
2 6 (3.03%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 22 (11.11%) Microsoft
2 5 (2.53%) Zoho
3 3 (1.52%) DevExpress
3 3 (1.52%) Splunk
4 2 (1.01%) Google
5 1 (0.51%) Salesforce