What are typical startup compensation benchmarks in 2026?

StartupCFO's 2026 bands put a seed-stage senior engineer in the SF Bay Area at a median of about $144K base plus about 0.4% equity, a Series A senior engineer at about $175K plus 0.35%, and a Series A engineering lead at about $215K plus 1.1%. Founder CEO salary typically runs $85K to $165K at seed and $140K to $215K at Series A; Kruze Consulting's 2026 payroll data puts the average startup CEO at $165K. US remote roles run about 12% below SF.

What does a senior engineer make at a seed-stage startup?

A senior engineer at a seed-stage SF Bay Area startup has a median base of about $144K, with a typical range of $118K to $176K, plus 0.27% to 0.56% equity (fully diluted). US remote roles run about 12% lower. Moving to Series A raises the median base about 22% to roughly $175K while the typical equity grant falls about 13%.

How do I build competitive pay bands for a startup?

Pick a benchmark source, set a deliberate percentile (most seed and Series A startups target the 50th for cash and lean on equity), then build a band of roughly 18% below to 22% above that midpoint for each role and level, which is the spread this tool uses. Adjust for location (NYC about 5% below SF, US remote about 12% below) and rebenchmark at least annually and at every fundraise. Tie the total to your hiring plan and runway before you publish bands.

How much equity do founders typically keep?

Solo founders typically start with 90% of common stock (10% option pool). After seed + Series A + Series B, two-founder teams typically each hold 12-22% of fully diluted shares. Heavy option pool top-ups in late-stage rounds further dilute.

How is equity granted at early-stage startups?

Most startups grant ISOs (incentive stock options) with a 4-year vesting schedule and 1-year cliff. Strike price is set at fair market value per the latest 409A valuation. Some later-stage companies grant RSUs (restricted stock units) instead.

Should I prioritize cash or equity?

Depends on personal runway and conviction. Equity is a long-call option: high upside, often zero. Early employees who join 1-3 years before exit often hit the optimal risk/reward. For early-stage joiners, ensure base covers 12+ months of personal runway before optimizing for equity.

How often should salaries be benchmarked?

At least once per year and at every fundraise. Comp bands evolve quickly in tight talent markets, and Series A/B raises typically warrant level-by-level rebenchmarking. We help our clients build comp bands tied to runway and dilution targets.

How do remote vs. SF salaries compare?

SF Bay Area sets the top. NYC runs ~5% below. US Remote roles run ~12% below SF. International remote roles run ~38% below SF (with wide variance, since top engineers in low-COL markets command US-equivalent comp).

Where does the salary benchmark data come from?

These are orientation bands, not a compensation survey. They are built from a role base scaled by stage and location, informed by the public sources in this space (Kruze's annual CEO salary survey, Pave, Carta and AngelList), and they are deliberately round. Use them to sanity-check an offer or a plan, not to set a number. For founder pay specifically, our 2026 Founder Salary Report carries the surveyed medians, which sit below these bands at seed and above them at Series B.

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Startup Salary Benchmark

A free startup compensation tool for cash and equity benchmarks across common startup roles. Filter by stage, role, and location to see realistic pay bands.

Based on the StartupCFO 2026 Founder Salary Report and the public compensation sources in this space. They are orientation bands rather than surveyed medians.

Startup salary benchmarks at a glance (2026)

A senior engineer at a seed-stage SF Bay Area startup has a median base of about $144K (25th to 75th percentile $118K to $176K) plus about 0.4% equity, fully diluted. At Series A the median rises to about $175K with about 0.35% equity.
An engineering lead or VP at Series A has a median base of about $215K in the SF Bay Area, with roughly 1.1% equity.
Founder CEO cash salary typically runs $85K to $165K at seed, $140K to $215K at Series A, and $190K to $280K at Series B. Kruze Consulting's 2026 payroll data puts the average venture-backed CEO salary at $165K, with stage averages of $153K at seed, $203K at Series A, and $216K at Series B.
Location moves the whole band: NYC runs about 5% below the SF Bay Area, US remote about 12% below, and international remote about 38% below.

Employee figures are the tool's median bands for the SF Bay Area; founder ranges are from the 2026 Founder Salary Report. Orientation bands informed by Kruze, Pave, Carta, and AngelList public data, not a survey.

Pick a role, stage, and location to see the benchmark band

Role

Stage

Location

Your salary ($K) (optional)

Enter in thousands ($K). “150”, “$150”, and “150K” all parse as $150,000.

25th percentile

$118K

Median (50th)

$144K

75th percentile

$176K

Equity grant range (% fully diluted)

P25

0.27%

P50

0.40%

P75

0.56%

Orientation bands scaled by role, stage and location, informed by the public compensation sources in this space rather than a survey of our own. Cash compensation only, with equity shown as a percentage of fully diluted shares. For founder pay, the surveyed medians are in our 2026 Founder Salary Report.

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Our CFOs build compensation bands tied to your funding plan, runway, and dilution targets.

How These Benchmarks Work

Where the data comes from

No startup publishes its comp bands, so useful benchmarks are always a synthesis. The bands here are informed by the public compensation sources in this space: Kruze Consulting's annual CEO salary survey, Pave's role-level compensation platform, Carta Equity Insights, and AngelList data, alongside the StartupCFO 2026 Founder Salary Report. Aggregated sources beat anecdotes because they average across thousands of companies rather than the two or three data points a founder hears from peers.

How to read the percentiles

Each band shows the 25th percentile, median, and 75th percentile. The median is the midpoint of the market, and the width of the band is real variance, not noise. Stage moves the whole band: median founder cash comp runs from roughly $85K at seed to $175K at Series A and $235K at Series B in the 2026 data, and employee roles scale similarly. Geography shifts it again: SF Bay Area sets the top, NYC runs about 5% below, US Remote about 12% below, and International Remote about 38% below, with wide variance. A number near the 75th percentile is defensible for a critical hire in a hot market; paying above it should have a specific reason you can articulate.

Cash is only part of the number

Startup compensation is salary plus equity, and cash benchmarks alone mislead: an early-stage offer that looks 30% below big-company market can be competitive once you price the option grant, which is why this tool shows equity as a percent of fully diluted shares alongside cash. Use the bands the way boards do: to anchor offers at a deliberate percentile, to build the payroll line of your hiring plan, and to bring data rather than anecdotes to board comp discussions. For the founder-specific version, read the 2026 Founder Salary Report and our guide on how to pay yourself as a startup founder.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are typical startup compensation benchmarks in 2026?: StartupCFO's 2026 bands put a seed-stage senior engineer in the SF Bay Area at a median of about $144K base plus about 0.4% equity, a Series A senior engineer at about $175K plus 0.35%, and a Series A engineering lead at about $215K plus 1.1%. Founder CEO salary typically runs $85K to $165K at seed and $140K to $215K at Series A; Kruze Consulting's 2026 payroll data puts the average startup CEO at $165K. US remote roles run about 12% below SF.
What does a senior engineer make at a seed-stage startup?: A senior engineer at a seed-stage SF Bay Area startup has a median base of about $144K, with a typical range of $118K to $176K, plus 0.27% to 0.56% equity (fully diluted). US remote roles run about 12% lower. Moving to Series A raises the median base about 22% to roughly $175K while the typical equity grant falls about 13%.
How do I build competitive pay bands for a startup?: Pick a benchmark source, set a deliberate percentile (most seed and Series A startups target the 50th for cash and lean on equity), then build a band of roughly 18% below to 22% above that midpoint for each role and level, which is the spread this tool uses. Adjust for location (NYC about 5% below SF, US remote about 12% below) and rebenchmark at least annually and at every fundraise. Tie the total to your hiring plan and runway before you publish bands.
How much equity do founders typically keep?: Solo founders typically start with 90% of common stock (10% option pool). After seed + Series A + Series B, two-founder teams typically each hold 12-22% of fully diluted shares. Heavy option pool top-ups in late-stage rounds further dilute.
How is equity granted at early-stage startups?: Most startups grant ISOs (incentive stock options) with a 4-year vesting schedule and 1-year cliff. Strike price is set at fair market value per the latest 409A valuation. Some later-stage companies grant RSUs (restricted stock units) instead.
Should I prioritize cash or equity?: Depends on personal runway and conviction. Equity is a long-call option: high upside, often zero. Early employees who join 1-3 years before exit often hit the optimal risk/reward. For early-stage joiners, ensure base covers 12+ months of personal runway before optimizing for equity.
How often should salaries be benchmarked?: At least once per year and at every fundraise. Comp bands evolve quickly in tight talent markets, and Series A/B raises typically warrant level-by-level rebenchmarking. We help our clients build comp bands tied to runway and dilution targets.
How do remote vs. SF salaries compare?: SF Bay Area sets the top. NYC runs ~5% below. US Remote roles run ~12% below SF. International remote roles run ~38% below SF (with wide variance, since top engineers in low-COL markets command US-equivalent comp).
Where does the salary benchmark data come from?: These are orientation bands, not a compensation survey. They are built from a role base scaled by stage and location, informed by the public sources in this space (Kruze's annual CEO salary survey, Pave, Carta and AngelList), and they are deliberately round. Use them to sanity-check an offer or a plan, not to set a number. For founder pay specifically, our 2026 Founder Salary Report carries the surveyed medians, which sit below these bands at seed and above them at Series B.

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