What Software Developers earn in Rockingham County, NH
The median pay for Software Developers in Rockingham County, NH is $166,090 per year, which works out to $79.85 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metropolitan area, the labor market that Rockingham County, NH belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $162,440, which is 2.2% below the median, which suggests many workers sit near the top of the pay scale. The survey counts about 42,310 people working in this occupation across the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Rockingham County, NH has roughly 319,082 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Software Developers in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $102,950 a year ($49.50 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $214,100 or more ($102.93 an hour). That is a gap of $111,150 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $131,880 at the 25th percentile and $183,740 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.1 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Software Developers in Rockingham County, NH is $79.85. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $166,090, and the same salary is $13,841 a month before taxes or about $6,388 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $59.83 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Software Developers
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Software Developers this way: "Research, design, and develop computer and network software or specialized utility programs. Analyze user needs and develop software solutions, applying principles and techniques of computer science, engineering, and mathematical analysis. Update software or enhance existing software capabilities. May work with computer hardware engineers to integrate hardware and software systems, and develop specifications and performance requirements. May maintain databases within an application area, working individually or coordinating database development as part of a team."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Analyze information to determine, recommend, and plan installation of a new system or modification of an existing system"; "Analyze user needs and software requirements to determine feasibility of design within time and cost constraints"; "Confer with data processing or project managers to obtain information on limitations or capabilities for data processing projects"; "Confer with systems analysts, engineers, programmers and others to design systems and to obtain information on project limitations and capabilities, performance requirements and interfaces".
Job outlook for Software Developers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 1,717,800 jobs in 2025 to 1,892,600 in 2035, a change of +10.2%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 95,300 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 5.5% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: bachelor's degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $135,980 for this occupation; the Rockingham County, NH median of $166,090 is 22.1% above it.
How pay in Rockingham County, NH compares
Compared with the New Hampshire average
Pay for Software Developers in Rockingham County, NH is in line with the statewide figure: $166,090 locally against an employment-weighted New Hampshire average of $164,712, a difference of only $1,378 (0.8%). Within New Hampshire, Rockingham County, NH already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Software Developers is $146,295 across the contiguous United States. At $166,090, Rockingham County, NH pays $19,795 more, which is 13.5% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Rockingham County, NH
Among the 581 occupations with published wages in Rockingham County, NH, Software Developers ranks number 28 by median pay, ahead of about 95% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Natural Sciences Managers at $291,000 a year, which is $124,910 more than the median for Software Developers.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $166,090 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $41,634 a year, which leaves $124,456, or $10,371 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $25 goes to taxes and $75 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 25.1%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $150,340. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 24% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $28,929, an effective 17.4% of gross pay, well below the 24% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $10,298 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $2,408. FICA totals $12,706, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in New Hampshire
There is no state income tax on wages in New Hampshire, which means Software Developers in Rockingham County, NH keep the full $124,456 left after federal and payroll taxes. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $8,305 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $692 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Rockingham County, NH
IRS Statistics of Income data for Rockingham County, NH show an average adjusted gross income of $130,341 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 16.6% across all filers. Filers in the $100,000 to under $200,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 11.8%, compared with the 17.4% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Rockingham County, NH
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Rockingham County, NH: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $124,456 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Rockingham County, NH is $1,756 a month, or $21,072 a year. A two-bedroom costs $2,289 a month. For Software Developers, a one-bedroom absorbs 16.9% of take-home pay and 12.7% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 2.1% of gross pay for Software Developers in Rockingham County, NH. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using New Hampshire residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $2,473 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $737, for $3,210 in total. Gasoline in New Hampshire averages $3.25 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,505.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $29,222 a year, 23% of take-home pay. That leaves $95,233 a year, or $7,936 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 57.3% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Rockingham County, NH
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Rockingham County, NH: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Rockingham County, NH, set beside the New Hampshire and national medians.
Property taxes in Rockingham County, NH
Homeowners in Rockingham County, NH pay a median of $7,839 a year in real estate taxes, 18% above the New Hampshire median of $6,667 and 151% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $497,500, the median tax bill is 1.58% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Software Developers median of $166,090, a tax bill of that size would equal 4.7% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Rockingham County, NH
Renters in Rockingham County, NH pay a median gross rent of $1,687 a month in the Census survey, 13% above the New Hampshire median of $1,491. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,756 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $497,500, 24% above the New Hampshire median of $402,500. Median household income is $118,331, 19% above the New Hampshire median of $99,031, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 17.8% of that income.
Commuting in Rockingham County, NH
Workers in Rockingham County, NH who travel to a workplace spend an average of 28.9 minutes each way, 8% above the New Hampshire average of 26.7. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.8 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 19.4% of workers in Rockingham County, NH work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Software Developers afford to live in Rockingham County, NH?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $166,090 that ceiling is $4,152 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,756 is $2,396 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $33.77 an hour; the median for Software Developers is $79.85, which is 136% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $59.83 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 6.8 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,289 a month means $1,145 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,338 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $102,571.
How fast you can save
At $7,936 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 2 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 4 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Software Developers pay in Rockingham County, NH
What is the hourly wage for Software Developers in Rockingham County, NH?
The median is $79.85 per hour, based on $166,090 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $49.50 at the 10th percentile to $102.93 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Software Developers in Rockingham County, NH?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $166,090 becomes $124,456 a year. That is $10,371 a month, $4,787 every two weeks or $2,393 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Software Developers in Rockingham County, NH?
Total taxes are $41,634 a year, an effective rate of 25.1%: $28,929 federal income tax, $12,706 FICA and no New Hampshire income tax.
Is pay for Software Developers in Rockingham County, NH above the New Hampshire average?
It is about the same. The local median of $166,090 is within 0.8% of the New Hampshire average of $164,712.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Software Developers salary in Rockingham County, NH?
A one-bedroom costs $1,756 a month against take-home pay of $10,371, which is 16.9% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $4,152 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Software Developers in Rockingham County, NH?
About $7,936 a month ($95,233 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $29,222 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Rockingham County, NH at the 30% guideline?
$33.77 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $21,072 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Software Developers is $79.85.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the New Hampshire rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.