Figuring out what you should earn as a tech professional in Canada can feel like solving a puzzle with missing pieces. Salaries shift depending on your role, your years of experience, and the province you work in, and the gap between the lowest and highest earners in tech can be surprisingly wide. This guide breaks down what Canadian tech workers are earning in 2024-2025 across roles, experience levels, and provinces so you can approach your next job search or salary negotiation with real data behind you.
Quick takeaways
- Tech salaries in Canada range from roughly $55,000 for entry-level roles to $200,000 or more for senior engineers at larger companies.
- Ontario and British Columbia offer the highest average salaries, but Quebec and Alberta are increasingly competitive.
- Experience level is often the single biggest factor in determining your pay, more than your specific role.
- Total compensation includes equity, bonuses, and benefits, not just base salary.
- Remote work has partially equalized salaries across provinces, though regional gaps still exist.
Why Tech Salaries Vary So Much Across Canada
Canada does not have one tech job market. It has several. The tech ecosystems in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Calgary each have their own mix of industries, employers, and talent supply dynamics. Toronto hosts a large share of fintech, enterprise software, and startup activity. Vancouver is home to gaming studios, cloud computing companies, and a dense startup scene. Montreal has become a recognized hub for AI research. Calgary has a growing tech sector closely connected to the energy industry.
Industry drives pay as much as location
A software developer at a bank in Toronto may earn significantly more than someone in the same role at a small agency in the same city. The sector matters. Financial services, enterprise software, and tech-native companies tend to pay above average. Non-profits, small agencies, and public sector employers tend to pay below average. When researching salary expectations, factor in both location and the type of employer you are targeting.
Remote work has changed the equation
Since 2020, remote work has allowed many Canadian tech workers to earn salaries tied to Toronto or Vancouver benchmarks while living in lower-cost cities or provinces. This has compressed some regional salary differences, though it has not eliminated them. Employers still often adjust for location, but the adjustment is smaller than it used to be, and fully remote roles at companies headquartered in major markets sometimes offer the same rate regardless of where the employee lives.
Company size is a major variable
Large tech companies and scale-ups typically pay more than small businesses. They can afford structured compensation bands, equity programs, and competitive bonuses. If maximizing total compensation is your goal, company size and funding stage are worth factoring into your job search strategy alongside role and location.
Tech Salaries by Role in Canada
Below are typical base salary ranges for common tech roles in Canada. These reflect the broader market and will vary based on industry, employer, and location.
Software Developers and Engineers
Software development remains the backbone of the Canadian tech job market. Salaries vary by specialization:
- Junior software developer: $55,000 to $75,000 per year
- Mid-level software developer: $85,000 to $110,000 per year
- Senior software developer: $120,000 to $165,000 per year
- Staff or principal engineer: $155,000 to $200,000 or more
Full-stack developers, backend engineers, and cloud-focused developers tend to command higher pay than frontend-only roles, though strong senior frontend engineers earn comparable salaries. Mobile developers on iOS and Android have seen steady demand with salaries that mirror general software engineering ranges.
Data Scientists and Analysts
Data roles have expanded significantly over the past five years. Salaries reflect the technical depth required:
- Data analyst: $55,000 to $85,000 per year
- Data scientist (mid-level): $90,000 to $120,000 per year
- Senior data scientist or ML engineer: $130,000 to $175,000 per year
Machine learning engineers with production experience, those who can deploy and maintain models rather than just train them, are in particularly high demand and often earn at the top of these ranges.
Cybersecurity Professionals
Cybersecurity has moved from a niche specialty to a core organizational priority. Compensation reflects that shift:
- Security analyst (junior to mid): $65,000 to $100,000 per year
- Penetration tester or ethical hacker: $85,000 to $130,000 per year
- Security architect or CISO: $140,000 to $220,000 per year
Certifications such as CISSP, CEH, and OSCP meaningfully influence salary, particularly at the mid and senior levels. Organizations of all sizes are actively hiring in this space.
DevOps and Cloud Engineers
DevOps and cloud roles have seen strong wage growth as organizations move infrastructure to AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Proficiency in any of the major cloud platforms is highly marketable:
- Junior DevOps engineer: $65,000 to $85,000 per year
- Mid-level cloud engineer: $95,000 to $125,000 per year
- Senior DevOps or site reliability engineer: $130,000 to $170,000 per year
Kubernetes expertise, infrastructure-as-code skills using tools like Terraform or Pulumi, and platform engineering experience push salaries toward the higher end of these ranges.
How Experience Level Affects Your Pay
Experience level is often the biggest single driver of salary in Canadian tech. Moving from junior to mid-level, and from mid-level to senior, are the two most significant salary jumps most tech workers will make in their careers.
Junior (0-2 years of experience)
Entry-level tech workers in Canada typically earn between $50,000 and $75,000 per year depending on role, location, and employer. Bootcamp graduates and those transitioning from other fields often start toward the lower end of this range, while computer science graduates from well-known university programs may enter closer to the top. During this phase, the priority should be building depth in a specialization and gaining exposure to production systems. The salary growth from year two to year three can be substantial when accompanied by a role change or promotion.
Mid-level (3-5 years of experience)
Mid-level is where Canadian tech salaries become genuinely comfortable. Workers in this band typically earn between $80,000 and $125,000 per year depending on role and location. At this stage, lateral moves between companies are often the fastest way to close any remaining gap between your current pay and market rates. If you have been at the same employer for more than two years without a meaningful raise, the market may have moved without you.
Senior (6 or more years of experience)
Senior roles represent the clearest break from the mid-market. Base salaries in this range typically start at $120,000 and can reach $180,000 or more for in-demand specializations. Beyond salary, senior roles often come with equity, signing bonuses, and larger variable pay components, making total compensation meaningfully higher than the base number suggests. The step into staff engineer, engineering manager, or principal engineer can add another $20,000 to $50,000 to annual compensation at larger employers.
Tech Salaries by Province
Geography still matters for Canadian tech pay, though the gap has narrowed with the expansion of remote work. Here is how the major provinces compare.
Ontario
Ontario, and Toronto in particular, remains Canada's highest-paying tech market. The city's concentration of banks, enterprise software firms, and well-funded startups creates strong upward pressure on salaries. Workers in Toronto typically earn 10 to 20 percent more than the national average for equivalent roles, though the cost of living is also among Canada's highest.
Ottawa has a smaller but stable tech market, shaped heavily by federal government contracts and defense technology. Roles in this segment offer competitive pay and strong job security, often with robust pension and benefits packages.
British Columbia
Vancouver is Canada's second-largest tech market by volume and competes closely with Toronto on salary. The gaming industry, Amazon's large local presence, and a dense startup ecosystem support strong compensation. Salaries are roughly comparable to Toronto, with similar cost-of-living tradeoffs around housing.
Victoria and other BC cities offer lower nominal pay but also lower costs and a different set of lifestyle advantages that attract many tech workers.
Alberta
Calgary has emerged as a legitimate tech hub, driven both by demand from the energy sector and by a diversifying startup ecosystem. Tech salaries in Calgary are generally competitive with the national mid-range. Alberta has no provincial sales tax, which affects purchasing power in ways that are worth accounting for when comparing after-tax income across provinces.
Edmonton also has a growing tech community with active hiring across public sector, energy, and healthcare technology organizations.
Quebec
Montreal's tech market is known for its concentration of AI research, gaming studios including major international publishers, and a growing enterprise software sector. Salaries in Montreal are typically 10 to 15 percent below Toronto averages in nominal terms, but the cost of living, particularly for housing, is substantially lower. The real purchasing power difference is much smaller than the headline salary gap suggests.
It is worth noting that Quebec's provincial income tax is among the higher rates in Canada, which affects take-home pay and is worth modeling when evaluating offers that cross provincial lines.
Other provinces
Smaller tech markets in Halifax, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and other cities typically offer base salaries 15 to 25 percent below major hub averages. These markets often feature lower costs of living and different competitive dynamics, which can make them attractive depending on your career priorities.
What Total Compensation Actually Includes
Base salary is only one component of what you earn as a tech professional in Canada. When evaluating an offer, total compensation often includes:
- Equity (RSUs or stock options): Particularly common at startups and publicly traded tech companies. Equity can range from a few thousand dollars annually to multiples of your base salary at successful companies.
- Signing bonuses: More common at larger companies and at the senior level. Typically $5,000 to $30,000 for mid to senior roles at competitive employers.
- Annual performance bonuses: Variable pay tied to individual or company performance, often 5 to 20 percent of base salary.
- Extended health and dental coverage: Reduces out-of-pocket costs meaningfully for workers and their families.
- RRSP matching: Some employers match Registered Retirement Savings Plan contributions up to a fixed percentage, effectively adding to total annual compensation.
- Remote work flexibility: While not financial in the direct sense, the ability to work remotely has real economic value through reduced commuting costs and expanded housing options.
Always calculate total compensation rather than comparing base salaries alone when evaluating or negotiating an offer.
How to Negotiate Your Tech Salary in Canada
Many Canadian tech workers leave money on the table because they do not negotiate. Negotiation is standard practice in tech hiring, and employers generally expect it. Accepting an initial offer without discussion is uncommon at the mid and senior levels.
Research before you enter the conversation
Know your market rate before any compensation discussion. Use job postings that list salary ranges, which are now required by law in several provinces including Ontario and British Columbia. Talk to peers in the industry and check current tech job listings to see what employers are actively offering. TechEmployment.ca is a useful starting point for seeing what Canadian tech employers are advertising in real time.
Lead with your value
Frame negotiations around what you bring to the role rather than your personal financial needs. Specific examples of impact, including systems you have built, problems you have solved, or team contributions you have led, give employers concrete reasons to stretch their initial offer. Be direct and specific rather than vague about what you are expecting.
Consider the full package
If an employer cannot move on base salary, ask about a signing bonus, additional equity, or an earlier performance review with a defined raise attached. These are often easier for employers to offer than permanent base salary increases, and they can meaningfully improve the value of an offer that initially looks low.
Tech Salary Trends for 2025
The Canadian tech market in 2024-2025 has moderated compared to the 2021-2022 peak. Significant layoffs at large tech companies have increased competition for some roles and tempered salary expectations at the top of the market. However, demand for specialized skills in AI and machine learning engineering, cloud architecture, cybersecurity, and platform engineering remains strong, and salaries for those specializations have held up well.
Mid-market employers, typically companies with 50 to 500 employees, are hiring actively and often offer competitive salaries without the hiring freezes that affected large tech companies over the past two years. For mid-level and senior workers with in-demand skills, the job market remains solid.
For those entering the field, competition for junior roles has increased, making practical project experience and a clear technical specialization more important than they were a few years ago. Candidates who can demonstrate real-world skills alongside their credentials are finding the market more navigable.
FAQ
What is the average tech salary in Canada?
The average tech salary in Canada is difficult to pin to a single number because it varies significantly by role and location. As a general benchmark, mid-level tech workers in major cities tend to earn between $85,000 and $115,000 per year. When junior roles and smaller markets are included, the national average across all tech roles likely falls closer to $75,000 to $90,000.
How much do software developers make in Canada?
Software developers in Canada earn anywhere from $55,000 for junior roles in smaller markets to $180,000 or more for senior engineers in Toronto or Vancouver. Mid-level developers in major cities typically earn between $90,000 and $115,000. Specializations such as machine learning, distributed systems, and cloud infrastructure tend to push salaries toward the upper end of the range.
Which Canadian province pays tech workers the most?
Ontario, and Toronto in particular, and British Columbia, anchored by Vancouver, generally offer the highest tech salaries in Canada. Alberta is competitive and benefits from having no provincial sales tax. Quebec's nominal salaries are somewhat lower, but the difference in cost of living, especially housing, makes the real gap smaller than it appears on paper.
Do Canadian tech job offers include benefits?
Most tech employers in Canada offer benefits in addition to base salary, including extended health and dental coverage, RRSP matching, and in many cases equity or bonuses. Job postings typically list base salary, so it is worth asking specifically about total compensation, including all variable components, before comparing offers.
Is the Canadian tech job market still strong in 2025?
The market has cooled from the 2021-2022 peak, but demand for skilled tech professionals remains solid, particularly for mid to senior roles in high-demand specializations. Junior roles are more competitive than they were a few years ago, but the long-term outlook for tech careers in Canada remains strong as digital transformation continues across industries.
How do I find Canadian tech jobs that list salary ranges?
Several provinces now require employers to disclose salary ranges in job postings. Checking job boards focused on the Canadian tech market is the most direct approach. TechEmployment.ca lists tech roles across Canada and is designed specifically for IT professionals and tech workers looking for opportunities in the Canadian market.
Understanding where you stand relative to the market is the first step to being paid what you are worth. Whether you are negotiating your first offer or evaluating whether it is time to make a move, having accurate salary benchmarks gives you a real advantage. Ready to take the next step? Visit techemployment.ca to explore job opportunities and find your next tech role in Canada.
