Moving into Laravel development? Here's what you can expect to earn

Despite what you may have heard, PHP isn’t dead — in fact, it’s more in demand than ever. (We know, we know).

Whether you’re a seasoned PHP developer or are just starting in the field, it’s wise to have an idea of what the industry standard is before you apply for that job or ask for a raise.

In this post, we’ll cover:

• What happens when you decide to specialize and focus on a PHP framework such as Laravel
• How the average Laravel developer's salary stacks up to similar developers’ salaries
• How your job requirements could change if you decide to niche down and become a Laravel pro

Ready? Let’s dive in…

Laravel Developer Requirements and Responsibilities

As a Laravel developer, there are several skills you’ll need under your belt. Proficiency in PHP is a must, but you’ll also need to know how to work with and manage databases and SQL.

Knowledge of server tools and technologies will come in handy, as will skills in frontend development. More specifically, you’ll need to know the basics of other programming languages, especially HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Although a bachelor’s degree or better in a computer science-related field is nice to have, it’s not necessary as you can have a successful career as a Laravel developer, even if you’re self-taught or have only gone through a coding bootcamp.

As far as your responsibilities as a Laravel developer, your primary role is to develop and maintain web applications, write secure modular code on an as-needed basis, and develop necessary PHP modules.

You’ll also work with others — either in a developer team or with other teams in the company, such as marketing or operations teams. Your primary responsibilities here will be ensuring the web application possesses all the necessary functionality. You’ll also be handling the task of debugging and optimizing code.

Other responsibilities may include testing and optimizing the user interface, designing databases, documenting the entire process and development plan, and checking that the code is valid and consistent throughout the application.

Is Laravel in Demand?

According to Laraval usage statistics compiled by BuiltWith, Laravel has been steadily growing in popularity, with more than 700,000 live sites using it.

According to Stack Overflow’s Developer Survey from 2021, the Laravel framework was used by 10% of developers. Laravel was also ranked as the most popular framework in 2015 on SitePoint. While it’s not a top-ranked framework on Stack Overflow trends, it still has a decent following that shows a career as a Laravel developer is viable.

The Average Laravel Developer Salary

So now that we’ve covered essential details about working as a Laravel developer, it’s time to take a look at the numbers and see what kind of picture they paint.

According to Glassdoor, the average Laravel developer salary is $90,487 per year. This is based on 8,640 salaries reported to Glassdoor, with the lowest salary being $65K and the highest $126K.

ZipRecruiter reports a slightly higher number at $92,285 per year, with a low of $40K and a high of $150K.

Payscale, on the other hand, reports a slightly lower number of $78K annually, while Salary.com similarly lists the average salary at $79K per year, with a low of $65K and a high of $95K.

When you average out the numbers above, the final figure comes to $85K per year.

Laravel Salary by Experience

No matter what kind of career you decide to pursue, one thing is always sure: The more experience you have, the more you’ll earn. Working as a Laravel developer is no different.

As a junior Laravel developer, you can expect to make $56K/year on average, according to Glassdoor.

Throughout your career, you can expect an increase of $30K — an average salary for a senior Laravel developer is listed at **$86K/year **over on ZipRecruiter.

Laravel Developer Salary by Country

The numbers listed above are all data for the United States. So how do other countries fare when it comes to Laravel developer salaries?

Below, we’ve listed the data for several different countries to give you an idea of how the pay differs. Note that the salaries have been converted to USD for ease of comparison.

Bangladesh: $4K/year or ৳360K BDT per year
Canada: $53K/year or C$68K/year
Egypt: $4K/year or E£ 61K/year
Germany: $53K/year or €45K/year
India: $5K/year or ₹403K/year
Indonesia: $4K/year or Rp 60m/year
Italy: $31K/year or €26K/year
Malaysia: $10K/year or RM 42K/year
Netherlands: $49K/year or €42K/year
New Zealand: $56K/year or NZ$79K/year
Pakistan: $4K/year or Rs 720K/year
Philippines: $6K/year or ₱313K/year
Portugal: $18K/year or €15K/year
Russia: $13K/year or 960K₽/year
Singapore: $33K/year or S$45K/year
South Africa:$23K/year or R346K/year
Spain: $28K/year or €24K/year
Sri Lanka: $5K/year or 1m LKR/year
UK: $41K/year or £30K/year

Laravel vs Symfony, Django, and Node.js

When it comes to web application frameworks, there’s no shortage of options. Nowadays, the most popular frameworks are Symfony, Django, and Node.js, which are PHP, Python, and JavaScript frameworks, respectively.

Here’s how their salaries stack up.

As far as Symfony goes, Glassdoor reports an average salary of $81K per year, with a low of $47K and a high of $138K. ZipRecruiter lists slightly higher numbers, with an average salary for a Symfony developer coming in at $97K per year.

Working as a Django developer results in slightly higher numbers.

More specifically, Glassdoor lists the average Django developer salary as $90K per year, with a low of $61 and a high of $131K. ZipRecruiter has it at $118K per year, while Payscale reports the lowest number out of the three, at $89K per year.

Lastly, let’s take a look at the average salary of a Node.js developer.

According to Glassdoor, an average salary is $88K per year, with a low of $64K and a high of $126K. ZipRecruiter says the average Node.js developer salary is $114K/year, whereas Payscale lists it at $105K/year.

If we crunch all these numbers, we get the following information:
Average Symfony developer salary: $89K/year
Average Django developer salary: $99K/year
Average Node.js developer salary: $102K/year

From these numbers, it’s easy to see that the average Laravel developer salary is lower. However, the difference is not too drastic, especially when compared to other PHP frameworks.

It’s also worth noting that Node.js can be used as both a frontend and backend framework, so it’s not surprising that the average salary comes out to be the highest.

Laravel Developer Salary vs PHP Developer Salary

Working as a Laravel developer, you’ll have a more specialized skill set and knowledge. When it comes to your salary, how much of a difference will it make compared to the average salary of a PHP developer?

Here’s what the numbers say.

If you’re working as a PHP developer, Glassdoor reports the average salary at $81K/year, with a low of $55K and a high of $100K. ZipRecruiter lists it at $86K/year, with a low of $16K and a high of $137K.

Payscale reports the average salary of a PHP developer at $64K/year, with a low of $43K and a high of $94K. Lastly, Indeed lists the average salary at $94K per year.

The numbers above give us an average of $81K/year, which is only $4K less than the average salary of a Laravel developer.

In Conclusion

If you’re thinking about working as a Laravel developer, sharpening your frontend developer skills alongside your skills in Laravel development could be an excellent way to get a pay increase and add diversity to your daily job requirements.

What are your thoughts on these salary levels for a Laravel developer? Do these numbers match up with what you’ve experienced working in the field?

Let us know in the comments, then head to our PHP resources section to learn more!