Report: Front-End Developers’ Skills in the US 2025
PayScope's original analysis of front-end job listings found a split between volume and pay: TypeScript dominates postings, Jest pays the most. Here's what that data still tells you, and how the broader market has moved since.
Michael Vavilov
Product leader with a track record of launching AI-driven HR and talent platforms that scale rapidly, boost user acquisition, and create measurable operational efficiencies.
Executive summary
PayScope analyzed job listings requiring front-end development skills and found a split between volume and pay. TypeScript shows up in the largest share of listings, over 27,000 in the original sample, and pays close to $173,000 on average. Jest appears in far fewer listings, about 3,500, but pays the most of the five skills tracked here, at $188,282. GraphQL, Svelte, and Next.js round out the top five, each commanding six-figure averages despite lower listing volume than TypeScript.
The salary and mention-count figures below are from PayScope's original analysis, run in June 2025. They haven't been re-pulled since then, so treat them as a snapshot of that specific period rather than a live read on today's market. A market-context section further down uses newer, third-party data to check whether the underlying trend still holds, and it does.
Methodology
PayScope pulled a sample of US front-end developer job listings and tagged each one for the frameworks and tools named in the posting. For each skill, this report tracks two numbers: how often it appeared across the sample, and the average salary offered in the listings that mentioned it. The five skills below showed the clearest pay signal in that sample.
This is PayScope's own data, not a public survey. For a live estimate of what your specific skills are worth right now, run your resume through PayScope directly.
Two limitations are worth stating plainly. The sample covers US listings only, so it doesn't reflect pay in other markets outside the US. And it measures what employers advertise in a posting, not final negotiated offers, which tend to land above the listed range for a strong, well-prepared candidate.
Front-end skills ranked by average salary
Here's how the five skills stacked up against each other in the original sample, ranked by average salary rather than by how often they appeared.
| Skill | Job listing mentions | Average salary |
|---|---|---|
| Jest | ~3,500 | $188,282 |
| TypeScript | 27,000+ | $173,232 |
| GraphQL | ~8,000 | $170,814 |
| Svelte | 330 | $160,678 |
| Next.js | 2,080 | $158,918 |
Source: PayScope job listing analysis, US market, collected June 2025.
What the numbers show
TypeScript is the default, not a specialization
TypeScript appeared in more than 27,000 of the listings PayScope sampled, by far the highest volume of the five skills, with an average salary above $170,000. That combination, high volume and high pay, marks it as close to a baseline expectation for front-end roles rather than a skill that sets a candidate apart on its own.
The practical takeaway is that not knowing TypeScript is a bigger liability than knowing it is an advantage. Its volume alone means most hiring managers now assume it, the same way plain JavaScript once was.
Jest pays the most and shows up the least
Jest appeared in only about 3,500 listings, the smallest sample of the five, yet it paid the highest average salary at $188,282. Companies that test rigorously tend to invest more broadly in engineering quality, and that shows up in the compensation band attached to the role, not just in the specific skill being tested for.
Read the low mention count as a signal about who's hiring for it, not about whether it's worth learning. A smaller pool of listings that pay well usually means a smaller pool of employers with the engineering maturity to ask for it in the first place.
GraphQL is a quieter, still-relevant skill
GraphQL showed up in about 8,000 listings with an average salary of $170,814. It gets less attention in current framework discussions than it did a few years ago, but the pay data says demand for people who can build and maintain a GraphQL API hasn't gone anywhere.
Svelte and Next.js: smaller markets, real pay
Svelte appeared in just 330 listings but still averaged $160,678. Next.js showed up in 2,080 listings at $158,918. Both are smaller markets than TypeScript or GraphQL, but the pay in both cases sits well above the front-end median, which is the usual pattern for a skill specific enough to filter out most candidates.
Next.js at 2,080 mentions is the more liquid of the two markets. Svelte at 330 is closer to a bet: strong pay when a listing calls for it specifically, but far fewer listings to apply to than any other skill in this report. Pair either one with a more widely demanded skill like TypeScript rather than leaning on it alone.
How this compares to general software engineer pay
PayScope's broader software engineer salary guide puts the national median for the role at $115,000, with senior engineers at $145,000 and lead or staff engineers at $176,000. All five front-end skills in this report's top five average above that $115,000 median, and four of the five sit above the $145,000 senior figure. That points to these specific skills clustering in postings aimed at mid-to-senior candidates rather than acting as entry-level differentiators.
Broader market context, 2025 to 2026
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' most recent estimate puts the median annual wage for web and digital interface designers at $98,090, as of May 2024, with the field projected to grow 7% from 2024 to 2034, faster than the average occupation. That's a broader median across the full web development field, not specific to any one framework, but it points in the same direction as PayScope's own data: demand for front-end skills keeps climbing.
Stack Overflow's 2025 Developer Survey, based on roughly 49,000 respondents, shows where framework usage has shifted since PayScope's original analysis. Node.js and React remain the two most-used technologies overall, at 48.7% and 44.7% of respondents. Next.js usage climbed to 20.8%, and Vue.js held at 17.6%, both signs that the frameworks in PayScope's original top five haven't lost relevance. The survey doesn't break out compensation by framework, so it can't confirm whether the specific salary numbers above have moved, only that the underlying skills are still in active use.
What this means for you
If you already work in front-end development, this gives you a reference point for a negotiation or a job search. A specific number, even one collected a year ago, is a stronger anchor than no number at all. Check your own profile against current market data on PayScope or against a general benchmark like the software engineer salary guide before you rely on any single data point in this report.
If you're deciding what to learn next, testing and typing are still worth the investment based on this data. TypeScript's volume and Jest's premium show no sign of reversing in the newer framework-usage data above, and both skills compound: they make you more valuable at almost any front-end job, not just the ones that name them specifically. Our guide on resume skill gap analysis walks through how to check which of your specific skills are actually moving your number.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I prioritize learning Jest based on this data? If you're already writing tests, this is a reason to go deeper rather than stop. The data shows testing skills carry a real premium, but it's from a single sample collected in June 2025, so treat it as a directional signal, not a guarantee. Pair it with a look at the specific job postings you're targeting.
Is Svelte worth learning for the salary premium? The premium is real in this sample, but Svelte's listing volume, 330 mentions, is small enough that a handful of high-paying postings could skew the average. It's a reasonable skill to add alongside a more widely demanded framework like TypeScript or React, not a substitute for one.
Why do some less common front-end skills pay more than widely used ones? Scarcity plus usefulness usually explains it. When fewer developers have a skill and companies still need it, competition for those candidates pushes pay up. Testing and GraphQL both fit that pattern in this data: less universal than TypeScript, but valuable enough that companies pay for the specific expertise.
Has front-end skill demand changed since this data was collected in June 2025? The underlying frameworks are still in active use. Stack Overflow's 2025 Developer Survey shows Next.js and Vue.js usage holding or climbing, and Node.js and React remain the two most-used web technologies overall. That survey doesn't report compensation by framework, so it confirms the skills are still relevant without confirming whether PayScope's specific salary figures have moved. Our piece on how AI is reshaping which skills hold their value covers the broader shift in more detail.
How do I know if my specific front-end skills are priced fairly right now? This report is a snapshot from June 2025, not a live number. Run your resume through PayScope for a current estimate based on your actual skills, experience, and location, rather than relying on a report-level average for a decision about your own pay.
The skills that paid the most in June 2025 were the ones that were either everywhere (TypeScript) or hard to find (Jest, Svelte). That trade-off between volume and scarcity is the pattern worth remembering even as the specific numbers age. The exact dollar figures in this report will drift as the market moves, but the underlying logic, that ubiquity and scarcity both get rewarded for different reasons, is the part that holds up regardless of which year you're reading this in.
