The salary of a CTO in the United States varies depending on several factors, including experience, location, education level, marketing trend and company sizes.
As of April 01, 2025, the average hourly pay of CTO in the United States is $127. While Salary.com is seeing that CTO salary in the US can go up to $159 or down to $111, but most earn between $119 and $144. Salary.com shows the average base salary (core compensation), as well as the average total cash compensation for the job of CTO in the United States.
| Annual Salary |
Monthly Pay |
Weekly Pay |
Hourly Wage |
|
| 75th Percentile | $144 | $12 | $3 | $0 |
| Average | $127 | $11 | $2 | $0 |
| 25th Percentile | $119 | $10 | $2 | $0 |
As of April 01, 2025, Salary.com is seeing that an entry-level CTO with under 1 year experience makes about $253,524. With less than 2 years of experience, a mid-level CTO makes around $255,145. After 2-4 years, the CTO pay rises to about $256,496. Those senior CTO with 5-8 years of experience earn roughly $258,657, and those CTO having 8 years or more experience is expected to earn about $261,358 on average.
| Levels | Salary |
|---|---|
| Entry Level CTO | $253,524 |
| Intermediate Level CTO | $255,145 |
| Senior Level CTO | $256,496 |
| Specialist Level CTO | $258,657 |
| Expert Level CTO | $261,358 |
| Entry Level | 4% |
| Mid Level | 4% |
| Senior Level | 3% |
| Top Level | 2% |
| Experienced | 1% |
Salaries in the United States can vary significantly from state to state due to a multitude of factors, including cost of living, local economic conditions, and industry presence.
For example, as of April 01, 2025, the average yearly salary of CTO is $291,900 in California and in Massachusetts, the average annual salary goes to $288,000. While in New Jersey, a CTO earns $286,800 per year.
What Am I Worth?
Salaries in the United States can vary significantly from city to city due to a multitude of factors, including cost of living, local economic conditions, and industry presence.
For example, as of April 01, 2025, the average yearly salary of CTO in San Francisco, CA is $330,500 and in New York, NY, the average annual salary goes to $306,600. While a CTO earns $295,100 per year in Boston, MA.
For those exploring the changing dynamics of CTO salaries, Salary.com offers detailed insights through our Job Trending in CA Labor Market analysis. As of April 01, 2025, our research highlights a notable shift in CTO compensation over the past six years. For instance, the median salary has moved from $243,673 in 2023 to about $243,800 in 2024 (for a comprehensive analysis of CTO salary trends, click here). It's crucial to consider several elements, including geographical location, experience level, industry demand, and economic development, as they play a significant role in influencing salary variations.
Salary.com job board provides millions of CTO information for you to search for. Click on search button below to see CTO job openings or enter a new job title here.
Here are companies hiring for CTO and their salaries, click below for more details.
| Core Compensation | ||||
| Core Compensation | Median | % of Total | ||
| Base Salary | $264,600 | 75.8% | ||
| Bonus | $0 | 0.0% | ||
| Value of Benefits | ||||
| Core Compensation | Median | % of Total | ||
| Social Security | $14,290 | 4.1% | ||
| 401K/403B | $10,500 | 3.0% | ||
| Disability | $5,292 | 1.5% | ||
| Healthcare | $8,352 | 2.4% | ||
| Pension | $13,500 | 3.9% | ||
| Time Off | $32,566 | 9.3% | ||
| Total Compensation | $349,100 | 100% | ||
| Degree Level | % of user with this level of education |
|---|---|
| No Diploma | 1.6% |
| High School | 5.6% |
| Associates | 6.7% |
| Bachelors | 39.3% |
| Masters | 32.9% |
| Doctorate | 13.9% |
What Am I Worth?
The CTO directs the strategic design, acquisition, management, and implementation of an enterprise-wide technology infrastructure. Responsible for the long-range direction of an organization's technology function. Being a CTO establishes technology standards and communicates technical information to the organization. Monitors and analyzes technology and trends that could improve the company's products and performance. In addition, CTO typically requires an advanced degree in Computer Science or Engineering. Typically reports to Chief Information Officer or Chief Executive Officer. The CTO manages a business unit, division, or corporate function with major organizational impact. Establishes overall direction and strategic initiatives for the given major function or line of business. Has acquired the business acumen and leadership experience to become a top function or division head.
Specify the abilities and skills that a person needs in order to carry out the specified job duties. Each competency has five to ten behavioral assertions that can be observed, each with a corresponding performance level (from one to five) that is required for a particular job.
Leadership: Knowledge of and ability to employ effective strategies that motivate and guide other members within our business to achieve optimum results.
Information Security: A practice of preventing unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, inspection, recording, or destruction of confidential, private, and sensitive information.
Cybersecurity: Computer security, cybersecurity or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems from the theft of or damage to their hardware, software, or electronic data, as well as from the disruption or misdirection of the services they provide. The field is becoming more important due to increased reliance on computer systems, the Internet and wireless network standards such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and due to the growth of "smart" devices, including smartphones, televisions, and the various devices that constitute the "Internet of things". Due to its complexity, both in terms of politics and technology, cybersecurity is also one of the major challenges in the contemporary world.
