A newly leaked spreadsheet has revealed just how wild salaries are at one of the most valuable companies on the planet.
Obtained by Business Insider, the spreadsheet compiled voluntarily-disclosed pay rates from some 600 Microsoft employees at various levels of seniority. While the tech giant employs over 220,000 people overall, it still provides a valuable snapshot into the work life at one of the largest tech firms in the game.
Because Microsoft uses a job level system to determine career tiers, the salaries vary wildly. On level 59 and 60 — roughly equivalent to entry-level software engineers — the base pay ranges from as little as $111,000 to as high as $155,500. Cash bonuses in this range could be zilch, though some reported them as high as $25,000.
Considering that the United States median income in 2025 was $53,010, that’s already an eye-watering amount of money. Even compared to starter wages for similar entry-level engineers, Microsoft appears to be on the high-end, with ZipRecruiter flagging an average starter salary of just under $105,000.
