New Hampshire·Computer and Mathematical Occupations·SOC 15-1252

Best Software Developer programs in New Hampshire, ranked by enrollment

Research, design, and develop computer and network software or specialized utility programs.

13 schools in New Hampshire run programs that feed this job, graduating 2,376 people a year. The job pays a median of $139,720 in New Hampshire across about 10,840 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledDeveloperSoftware EngineerSoftware ArchitectSoftware DeveloperBeta TesterGame EngineerGame DeveloperServer Engineer
Graduates / yr
2,376
in New Hampshire
Median pay · New Hampshire
$139,720
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
10,840
people employed
Schools
13
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
50%
across those schools
Median net price
$29,600
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in New Hampshire that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

8 programs in New Hampshire that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in New Hampshire (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own New Hampshire page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
12,098
88.3%
7$70,374$23,250
2157
6.6%
3
386
3.6%
5$57,986$24,286
415
0.6%
1$78,333$24,098
513
0.5%
1$78,333$24,098
64
0.2%
2$46,719$20,729
72
0.1%
1
81
0.0%
1$33,504$27,000

Top 13 schools in New Hampshire

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 5 of the 13 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Southern New Hampshire University
Manchester, NH Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs
1,547Computer Science$71,76443%$34,565100%
2Rivier University
Nashua, NH Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
352Computer Science52%$25,06583%
3Dartmouth College
Hanover, NH Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
189Computer Science$132,91996%$14,6895%
4New England College
Henniker, NH Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
146Data Science, General35%$30,08692%
5University of New Hampshire at Manchester
Manchester, NH Public · 1 feeder programs
47Information Technology$75,15650%81%
6University of New Hampshire - Main Campus
Durham, NH Public · 2 feeder programs
32Information Technology$75,15676%88%
7Plymouth State University
Plymouth, NH Public · 2 feeder programs
15Computer Science$59,20352%88%
8Nashua Community College
Nashua, NH Public · 1 feeder programs
14Computer Science38%
9Saint Anselm College
Manchester, NH Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
10Computer Science80%$29,60078%
10Manchester Community College
Manchester, NH Public · 3 feeder programs
8Computer Science41%
11University of New Hampshire College of Professional Studies Online
Manchester, NH Public · 1 feeder programs
8Information Technology30%
12NHTI - Concord's Community College
Concord, NH Public · 1 feeder programs
6Information Technology29%
13Great Bay Community College
Portsmouth, NH Public · 1 feeder programs
2Computer Programming/Programmer, General34%

All 13 schools in New Hampshire

Every school in New Hampshire with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in New Hampshire that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Southern New Hampshire UniversityManchesterPrivate not-for-profit1,5473
Rivier UniversityNashuaPrivate not-for-profit3521
Dartmouth CollegeHanoverPrivate not-for-profit1892
New England CollegeHennikerPrivate not-for-profit1461
University of New Hampshire at ManchesterManchesterPublic471
University of New Hampshire - Main CampusDurhamPublic322
Plymouth State UniversityPlymouthPublic152
Nashua Community CollegeNashuaPublic141
Saint Anselm CollegeManchesterPrivate not-for-profit102
Manchester Community CollegeManchesterPublic83
University of New Hampshire College of Professional Studies OnlineManchesterPublic81
NHTI - Concord's Community CollegeConcordPublic61
Great Bay Community CollegePortsmouthPublic21

What software developers earn in New Hampshire

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in New Hampshire
$139,720
Mean annual
$144,530
Jobs in state
10,840
What the range looks like
10th pct$92,510Median$139,72090th pct$205,370
Versus the national median
+2.8%

U.S. median $135,980. New Hampshire pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
1.46×

Concentrated here: New Hampshire employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in New Hampshire

Manchester-Nashua, NH
$162,090median
4,370 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+15.8%
Much faster than average
Openings per year
115,200
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
267,700
1,693,800 → 1,961,400
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Software Developers page.

How to become a Software Developer

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

Critical ThinkingReading ComprehensionActive LearningActive ListeningWritingSpeaking

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in New Hampshire

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 20 majors mapped to Software Developers20 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 11.0102Artificial Intelligence
  • 11.0103Information Technology
  • 11.0104Informatics
  • 11.0201Computer Programming/Programmer, General
  • 11.0202Computer Programming, Specific Applications
  • 11.0203Computer Programming, Vendor/Product Certification
  • 11.0204Computer Game Programming
  • 11.0205Computer Programming, Specific Platforms
  • 11.0401Information Science/Studies
  • 11.0701Computer Science
  • 11.0804Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulation
  • 11.0902Cloud Computing
  • 14.0901Computer Engineering, General
  • 14.0903Computer Software Engineering
  • 15.1204Computer Software Technology/Technician
  • 30.0801Mathematics and Computer Science
  • 30.1601Accounting and Computer Science
  • 30.3901Economics and Computer Science
  • 30.4801Linguistics and Computer Science
  • 30.7001Data Science, General

Common questions

Answers for people weighing software developers programs in New Hampshire.

What degree do you need to become a Software Developer?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Computer Science, which awarded 2,098 degrees in New Hampshire in 2024-25, 88.3% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Software Developer?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 8 programs to this occupation. The largest are Computer Science, Data Science, Computer and Information Sciences, Computer Engineering, plus 3 more. Together they graduate about 2,376 people a year in New Hampshire.

How much do software developers earn in New Hampshire?+

The median is $139,720 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 2.8% above the U.S. median of $135,980. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for software developers growing?+

BLS projects a +15.8% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 115,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in New Hampshire?+

13 institutions in New Hampshire reported graduates from at least one of the 8 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do software developers work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Developer, Software Engineer, Software Architect, Software Developer among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 15-1252.

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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