China IT Engineer Salary Trends | Generated by AI
Question: What are the average or median IT engineer salaries in China over the last 30 years?
Answer:
Comprehensive historical data on average or median salaries specifically for IT engineers (or software developers/engineers) in China over the full last 30 years (1995–2025) is limited, as the modern IT sector in China emerged significantly in the late 1990s and boomed in the 2000s with internet growth. Early data from the 1990s is scarce and not well-documented in public sources.
Reliable sector-level data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for the “Information Transmission, Software, and Information Technology Services” industry (which closely aligns with IT engineering roles) is available from around 2013 onward for urban non-private units (state-owned, foreign-invested, etc., often higher-paying):
- 2013: ~93,000 CNY
- 2016: ~121,000 CNY
- 2017: ~130,000 CNY
- 2022: 220,418 CNY
- 2023: 231,810 CNY
These figures represent average annual wages in the sector and have shown steady growth, roughly doubling from 2013 to 2023.
For specific software/IT engineer roles in recent years (2023–2025), sources vary due to differences in methodology, location (higher in cities like Beijing/Shanghai/Shenzhen), experience, and company type (e.g., big tech like Alibaba/Tencent pay more):
- Average salaries range from ~200,000–400,000+ CNY annually, with medians often around 320,000–388,000 CNY.
- In tier-1 cities or at top firms, mid-level engineers commonly earn 400,000–600,000+ CNY total compensation (including bonuses).
- Private sector averages are lower (~120,000–150,000 CNY in the IT sector per some reports), while non-private or multinational firms skew higher.
Salaries have risen rapidly with China’s economic growth, tech boom (e.g., mobile/internet/AI since 2010s), and demand for skilled talent. Pre-2010 estimates suggest much lower figures (likely under 50,000 CNY annually in urban areas during the early 2000s), adjusted for inflation and development stage.
References:
- https://www.ceicdata.com/en/china/average-wage-by-industry/average-wage-information-transmission-software-and-information-technology-service
- https://teamedupchina.com/average-salaries-by-industry-in-china/
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/278350/average-annual-salary-of-an-employee-in-china-by-region/ (related sector data)
- https://teamedupchina.com/average-software-engineer-salary-in-china/
- https://worldsalaries.com/average-software-engineer-salary-in-china/
- https://www.levels.fyi/t/software-engineer/locations/china