Rust is the second fastest-growing programming language in the world and 12% of developers now use the low-level language. Learn how much Rust developers earn or cost via an IT outsourcing partner across different international tech talent markets.
•UPDATED ON November 29, 2023
John Adam
Author
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At an international median average of $87,012 in 2023, Rust developer salaries are relatively high in the context of mainstream coding languages. For context, the average salary of a JavaScript developer, the language that dominates modern web development, is $74,034.
Developers coding in Java, a popular language and alternative to Rust in many contexts, earn even less – an average of $72,701.
Rust developers earning relatively high salaries, a fact subsequently reflected in the rates for Rust developers and development services through third-party providers, is a consequence of a number of factors, including:
- Growing demand for Rust developers. Use of the language grew 5% between 2021 and 2022 – the second-highest growth of any of the mainstream languages tracked by GitHub.
- The tech giants like Microsoft, Google and Dropbox have sucked up Rust talent as they migrate critical software systems to the relatively new language.
- It is a relatively challenging language to learn due to the strict rules that govern its strongly typed nature.
But average Rust developer salaries and rates do show significant variation internationally. It does not cost the same to recruit or pay for Rust developers of comparable tech stack, project experience and soft skills in the USA as it does in even Western Europe. Salaries and rates are different again in offshore and nearshore IT outsourcing markets like Poland, Ukraine and India.
If you plan to recruit Rust developers or staff positions that require Rust expertise through an IT outsourcing provider, you should make a cost analysis of your options. How much will a preference to recruit Rust developers locally cost compared to remote alternatives?
Will advantages that might come from regular in-office presence if you recruit developers within commuting distance of your physical be significant enough to justify the additional cost? And the geographically limited tech talent pool available to you?
Below we analyse average Rust developer salaries across different international tech talent markets, summarised as:
- Average Rust developer salary in Germany – €102,500 a year or €8542 a month
- Average Rust developer salary in Switzerland – CHF135,000 a year or CHF11,250 a month
- Average Rust developer salary in the UK – £75,000 a year or £6250 a month
- Average Rust developer salary in Poland – PLN324,948 ($81,372) a year or PLN27,079 ($6781) a month
- Average Rust developer salary in Ukraine – $42,000 a year or $3500 a month
- Average Rust developer salary in India – ₹4,355,206 ($58,069) a year or ₹362,934 ($4893) a month
- Average Rust developer salary in the USA – $153, 063 a year or $12,755 a month
What is the average rate for Rust developers via an IT outsourcing partner?
Rates charged by third party providers of Rust developers, development teams and services can vary significantly based on:
- The geography of recruitment – average salary expectations, local tax regimes etc.
- The seniority of developers
- The provider’s business model and commercial strategy
How do you know if you are being offered a fair price for Rust development services or staffing?
You should familiarise yourself with the market rate for Rust developer salaries with the profile and broader tech stack you need in the geographies you are recruiting from – this content will help you do that.
You should then add approximately 30%. I break down why in this LinkedIn post on how to assess fair value when considering offers from IT outsourcing providers.
If you are offered rates that are a significant discount to that – be cautious and ask why.
Rust developer salary range in Germany
The data set available for Rust developer salaries in Germany is a little limited but tech-specialised jobs portal germantechjobs.de puts the average annual salary for a Rust developer at €67,500, rising to €75,000 for higher earners.
That works out at a medium average of €5625 a month, rising to €6250.
Source: germantechjobs.de
de.jobs.com, another German jobs portal that offers developer salary data, also puts the average salary for a Rust developer in the country at €5625, based on 5 surveyed salaries – a limited sample size.
However, refining the search to ‘Rust engineer’, suggesting more senior roles, sees a leap in renumeration to a median average of €102,500 a year (€8542), rising to €158,000 (€13,167). The lower end of the range comes in at €90,000 (€7500) with the data based on 6 salaries.
Source: de.jobs.com
Rust developer salary range in Switzerland
Switzerland-localised ch.jobs.com puts the average salary of a Rust engineer in the country at CHF135,000 a year or CHF11,250 a month. Again, it should be noted that figure is based on a limited data set of just 4 salaries.
Source: ch.jobs.com
Those figures roughly correspond with the Rust developer salary data available on swissdevjobs.ch, which puts the median average annual salary at CHF125,000 or CHF10,417 a month.
The jobs give a salary range from CHF90,000 a year or CHF7500 a month at the lower end, rising to an annual CHF170,000 for the highest earning Rust developers in Switzerland.
Source: swissdevjobs.ch
Rust developer salary range in the United Kingdom
After Germany, the UK is Europe’s biggest market for software developers, including those with Rust in their tech stacks. It’s also a relatively high wage economy.
Based on a rich sample set of 411 salaries, the jobs portal uk.jobs.com puts the median annual salary of a Rust engineer in the UK at £75,000 or £6250 a month.
Rust engineers at the low end of the given salary range make £60,000 a year or £5000 a month and those on the highest salaries earn £90,000 a year or £7500 a month.
Source: uk.jobs.com
For positions with the title ‘developer’ instead of ‘engineer’, the same portal puts the average annual salary at £70,000 a year or £5833 a month. The lower end of the range for jobs with a developer title is the same £60,000 a year as with ‘engineer’, while the upper end of the range is a slightly lower £85,000 a year or £7083 a month.
Source: uk.jobs.com
Another data source for UK developer salaries, the jobs portal, devITjobs.uk, provides similar data.
Its figures group all positions, titled developer or engineer, together and puts the median annual Rust developer salary at a corroborative £77,500 a year or £6458 a month.
The lowest paid Rust developers in the given range earn £42,500 a year or £3542 a month. The highest earners bring home £97,500 a year or £8125 a month.
Source: devITjobs.uk
Rust developer salary range in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a broad term covering a diverse patchwork of nations that were signatories of the Warsaw Pact and fell under the sphere of Soviet influence, or control, between the Second World War and the years that followed the destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
While these nations have some shared history during this period, there are also huge differences. Countries like the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia are not only geographically further west than several countries considered Western, they have a Central European cultural history that is reflected today.
On the other side of “Eastern Europe” are the Caucasus nations including Georgia, Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan (Russia is also officially one of the six Caucasus nations), which have very different histories and cultures, even between each other.
Some even count Central Asian nations like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan that are starting to emerge as frontier IT outsourcing and international tech talent markets as falling under the broad umbrella term of “Eastern Europe”.
Here we will focus on the salary ranges for Rust developers in the two largest IT outsourcing markets in Eastern Europe – Poland and Ukraine.
K&C is a nearshore IT outsourcing specialist with experience in recruiting developers and IT specialists from across Eastern Europe and Central Asia. If you are interested in the average salaries of Rust developers from other countries than those covered here, please get in touch.
We offer 3 geography-based rate brackets for dedicated teams and body leasing services.
Rust developer salary range in Poland
The jobs portal Jooble puts the average annual salary of a Rust developer at PLN324,948 ($81,372) or PLN27,079 ($6781) a month.
Keep in mind that even if that sum is similar to that in Germany, you will save at least 30% in the overall cost once taxes and social security contributions are taken into account.
Source: pl.Jooble.org
Rust developer salary range in Ukraine
Data provided by the Ukrainian tech jobs portal djinni.co shows the average median annual salary for Rust developers in the country is around $42,000 or $3500 a month.
The lowest paid Rust developer salaries in Ukraine, presumably for Junior positions, start at around $12,000 a year or $1000 a month.
The highest paid Rust developers in Ukraine can earn $84,000+ a year or $7000+ a month.
Source: djinni.co
Rust developer salary range in India
India is a huge IT outsourcing market best known for its low rates. It should, however, be appreciated that the salaries expected by experienced senior developers in India is usually relatively similar to nearshore markets in Eastern Europe.
Junior to advanced IT specialists, however, can earn significantly less than in most other international tech talent markets.
Salary data from Indian jobs portals is often heavily skewed by the large number of more junior tech positions outsourced to the country. Keep in mind, if you need more senior developers, prices may be comparable to those you could expect from Ukraine.
The jobs portal Jooble.org put the average annual salary for a senior Rust developer in India at ₹4,355,206 ($58,069) or ₹362,934 ($4893) a month.
Source: in.Jooble.org
Rust developer salary range in the USA
The USA is notorious for high tech sector salaries and software developers, especially senior professionals, are well renumerated. How does that translate to average Rust developer salaries in the U.S.?
Data from ZipRecruiter puts the average Rust developer salary in the USA at $109,905 or $9158 a month. The highest earning developers in the USA earn up to $170,000 a year or $14,167 a month.
Source: ZipRecruiter.com
However, data provided by rival portal jobs.com based on 300 salaries put the median annual salary of a Rust developer in the USA at a significantly lower $153,063 a year or $12,755 a month.
The range starts at $121,875 a year or $10,156 a month at the lower end and rises to $200,000 a year or $16,667 a month for the best paid Rust developers.
Source: jobs.com
While 300 salaries represent a relatively rich data set, it can be presumed by the high salaries starting at over $120,000 that the range covers senior positions only.
