Remote salary data is usually either self-reported, years out of date, or aggregated from job boards that never disclosed a number in the first place.

This one is different in a narrow but useful way: every figure here comes from a job posting that actually published a salary range. No survey responses, no estimates, no "competitive salary."

We analysed 448 open remote roles currently listed on BuiltByIndies. Of those, 171 published a salary, and 94 published a US-dollar annual range specific enough to compare. Those 94 are what this report is built on.

The Headline Numbers

The spread is the interesting part. The gap between the 25th and 75th percentile is roughly $91,000 — meaning two "remote engineer" roles posted the same week can differ by more than the entire salary of a junior hire.

If you are negotiating, that spread is your actual leverage. "Market rate for remote" is not a number; it is a range nearly $100k wide, and where you land inside it depends far more on seniority and company than on the job title.

By Experience Level

Two things stand out.

The mid-to-senior jump is the big one. Going from mid to senior is worth about $58,000 in median terms — a 67% increase, and by far the largest step on the ladder. Junior to mid is worth $24,100. Senior to lead, $40,400.

If you are optimising a career for earnings, the mid-to-senior transition is the single highest-value move available, and it is worth more than most job changes at the same level.

Senior roles dominate the listings. 46 of 94 disclosed-salary roles are senior, against 8 junior. Remote-first companies are overwhelmingly hiring people who need little supervision — which is a real and underdiscussed problem for anyone trying to start a career remotely.

By Technology

Only three tags had enough disclosed salaries to report honestly:

Python's $200,000 median is striking, but read it carefully. With only nine roles, this is a small sample, and the Python jobs in this dataset skew heavily toward machine learning and data infrastructure rather than general backend work. It reflects what kind of Python roles are being posted remotely, not a blanket premium for knowing Python.

The honest version: infrastructure and data roles pay more than product engineering roles, and Python happens to be the language those roles use.

We are not reporting medians for tags with fewer than six disclosed salaries, because at that size a single outlier moves the number by tens of thousands. A lot of salary content does report those numbers. It should not.

Remote US vs Remote Worldwide

This is the finding with the clearest practical consequence.

Roles open to the entire world pay a median of $41,338 less than roles restricted to the US — about 30% lower.

"Remote" is not one market. It is at least two. US-restricted remote roles compete with US office salaries, so they have to match them. Worldwide roles compete with a global labour pool, and the price reflects it.

For candidates outside the US, this is the number that matters most. The highest-paying remote jobs are disproportionately the ones you are not eligible for, and the gap is structural rather than a reflection of skill.

For US-based candidates: applying to worldwide-scope roles means competing on a pay scale set by a global market. Filter accordingly.

Where the Roles Are

US-restricted roles outnumber worldwide roles nearly 2 to 1. Combined with the pay gap above, the picture for non-US candidates is: fewer roles, and lower pay in the ones you can get.

Employment Type

Despite the persistent narrative that remote work is drifting toward contract and gig arrangements, 83% of these listings are conventional full-time employment.

Internships are almost nonexistent at four roles. Combined with the junior numbers above, remote-first hiring is not currently a viable entry route into the industry.

The Disclosure Problem

Only 171 of 448 roles (38%) published any salary information at all.

The remaining 62% expect candidates to invest time in an application without knowing whether the role pays $60,000 or $200,000 — a range this data shows is entirely plausible.

Also worth noting: zero of the 448 listings disclosed equity terms. For a job market that talks constantly about ownership and upside, the actual disclosure rate is nil.

If you are hiring: publishing a range costs you nothing and filters out mismatched candidates before either side wastes a call. If you are applying, asking for the range in the first message is entirely reasonable, and the 38% who publish have already demonstrated it is possible.

What to Do With This

If you are job hunting: The mid-to-senior jump is worth more than any lateral move. Filter for US-scope roles if you are eligible. Ask for the range immediately when it is not posted.

If you are hiring: Publish your range. You are competing against 171 listings that already do, and candidates increasingly filter out the ones that do not.

If you are outside the US: Understand you are looking at a different market with a 30% haircut, and price your negotiations against worldwide-scope roles rather than headline US numbers.

Method and Limitations

Based on 448 open roles on BuiltByIndies at the time of writing. Salary figures use the 94 roles publishing a US-dollar annual range; midpoints are the mean of the posted floor and ceiling. Medians are used throughout rather than averages, because a handful of very high ranges would otherwise distort every figure.

Three caveats stated plainly. Ninety-four roles is a modest sample — treat these as indicative, not definitive. Roles that disclose salaries may systematically differ from those that do not, likely skewing toward better-organised companies, so the true market median may be lower than reported here. And our board skews toward startups and product companies rather than enterprise or agency work.

We will re-run this as the board grows. You can browse the current openings or post a role — and if you do, please publish the range.