Am I underpaid as a developer? How much can I get paid as a front-end and back-end web developer?

In 1995, as a developer with a couple years experience, I was making exactly what you're making now, and this was in the Midwest, where the cost of living is lower.  So yes, you're horrifically underpaid, even for a startup. :-) I get the impression that you really enjoy your work, that you're probably good at it, and that you've gotten some good experience over the past few years. I'm not intimately familiar with the prevailing salaries in NY, but I'd be willing to bet that you're worth two to three times what you're making now.Unless there are other problems with your job besides low pay, I disagree with the advice to quit immediately. I would discretely start a job search, accept an offer and give the standard two week's notice.

You're getting paid peanuts. My guess is you could make twice that, but it depends on your location a bit. Are you familiar with Ramit Sethi? He has great info about making more from your job. Here's a start: http://99u.com/videos/23973/ramit-sethi-how-to-charge-what-youre-worth

That's what mid-level software developers get in a third world country. So I should probably say, yes. You are underpaid. The most I was offered was $82,000. In Europe, it's considered high. In the United States, it's good enough for the experienced software engineers. Sometimes, you think you're winning with a high salary but you're not. You have to consider work-life balance and maybe the number of paid holidays. The U.S can be really expensive. If you live there, your quality of life is low with that amount. I do not suggest quitting immediately until you find a new job you like.No perfect situation. Don't compare.

There have been quite a few good answers, so I won't elaborate on how you are underpaid. And I would also recommend you to seek other opportunities asap, I doubt you'd have trouble finding a better compensated job given how on demand your skill sets are. But unlike some I'd suggest you to not quit your jobs immediately, but quietly look around and research about how your level of skills compare to the average in the market instead. I get the impression that you enjoy the experience learnt from work, which could be valuable and gives you a competitive edge that may benefit you in the long run. So you should consider the potential for competence growth in your options. As the quickest way to further your career, prioritize opportunities for learning and improvement, especially if you are young. That being said, your company does not to seem to give you enough respect, evidenced by the obviously subpar compensation; and if that is a result of management level's ignorance about the technical complexity of your work, you'd want to get out as quickly as possible

You're so underpaid it's not even funny. Seriously. Just look at these average salaries for front end developers in NY: http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=Front+end+developer&l1=New+York Even junior front end devs should make at least 50k. The good news is your skills are in high demand. You could probably get a new job in less than a month that pays double what you make now.

My first development job doing web development with a LAMP stack as well as front-end with JS, paid about $50K. However, I had held several roles previous to that where I did some development, albeit the focus was system and network analysis and administration. I was earning between $35-45K at those points. After that I got into more consulting work, which tends to pay a bit better, and I was making about $100K. I got out of consulting and had a job making $80K as a "Software Engineer." I left there after about a year and got another role making $85K as a "Lead Engineer" (however, this company did not pay very well at all and I was very underpaid at that time) followed by a role making $110K as a "Senior Software Engineer". I make just under $115K at my current role, also as a senior-level and I have over 12 years of experience. However, I live in an area with a very high cost of living, so making $115K in DC is kind of like making $85-100K in Ohio or Alabama. I am a little bit underpaid now based on my skills, experience, and knowledge, however my job has fantastic benefits, so it all sort of evens out. It is worth mentioning though, I do *not* have a degree, so even though school teaches you very little that will actually be used in the real world (depending on the types of projects you work on of course), that piece of paper essentially grants you about 5 years of theoretical experience and subsequently another $5-10K a year in most cases. TLDR version: You are *way* under paid. Not only are you being milked, but it sounds like they are treating your poorly as well. If you give in to the torture, they will think they can keep doing that to other developers too, and if you experience it again, you will feel like it's normal. I went through a very similar thing, and it's definitely caused me a lot of unnecessary stress even now, years later, with bosses and co-workers who know what's up and don't treat engineers like magicians engaging in the dark arts. Please have some self-respect and quit immediately. I do have a good bit of experience, but I can generally find a job, read as "some job coding and making over $100K", in under a week (my last record was 3 days from sending out my resume to getting a job offer). If I want to find a good job, it might take two weeks to a month, and that's being really conservative about the estimation too. The biggest problem in regards to the fiscal side of this industry is that so many people allow themselves to get stepped on and used. There's no reason that you should ever accept less than $45-50K for a junior developer position unless your boss is a family member or close friend and even then, they better treat you like freaking gold man because you are doing them a favor. And with 2-3 years experience, you're no longer a junior really, so you're really more in the $50-70K range, even in a lower cost of living area.

I don't like to share my earnings, thus the anonymity. I fit pretty much your description (with a couple of years of experience) and I can give a couple of numbers for Europe and some rough estimations for the US Yearly salary in EURO: * Berlin: 45-55 k (€) * Copenhagen: 60-65k (€) US is a huge place though... you can't really shoot a single number. * SFO & Bay Area you may easily go for the 100-120k ($) A lot (really a lot) depends on how good you are at selling yourself and your value during the interviews, especially tech interviews.

You are way underpaid. Period. Quit this job now. I'm not a developer by any means but I know what they make -30 grand is not it for your position. I would quit your job and try to get a bachelor's degree. As you are a "non traditional" student (you got your associates then worked) you could have a good shot at some really good schools assuming your grades at CC were stellar. (Plus a lot of your credits should transfer over)If going back to school doesn't appeal to you, then I would still quit and get another job -show your perspective employers your projects and that should be good. Honestly what's valued in CS is raw skill which you have, not pedigree like most other jobs. 

Absolutely - I was in a similar situation making $30k at my first "professional" job (after 6+ years of freelance work starting in middle school). When I was a little younger than you (after 2 years on the $30k job doing OO PHP 4), someone suggested I put my resume on Monster and asked for $40/hour. I thought that was ridiculously high given my current salary, but I figured it couldn't hurt. A few weeks later I got a call from a head hunter, two interviews later I had an offer for the full $40 / hr. Fast forward a bit ... 4 years later I took a job paying $50 / hr and then jobs paying $55 / hr, $60 / hr over the course of a year or two. This is in Dallas so different markets may be different. Even now, sometimes I think I'm being underpaid based on things I pick up from some other contractors. I get the impression they make $75-80 / hour, and I arguably do better work than them (though they have better "credentials" and more time in the field). So put yourself out there. I bet you could get $40/hr no problem based on what you said. If not, move to Dallas. I know you can get that here. Update: your ability to do both front-end and back-end makes you more valuable than the typical PHP only developer or front-end only developer. You really have the upper hand in this environment. Reach out to some headhunters in your area and tell them what you're looking for in a job. I have no doubt you'll have multiple options to choose from. When you get the job paying 2-3x more than you make now, be careful not to make the same mistake I did which was spending the next couple years being afraid I wasn't worth my salary, not asking for raises, being afraid to change jobs for a raise due to a fear that I got lucky and that I might not be up to par at the other places. As long as you're holding your own as one of the best developers on the team, you're almost always worth more than you're making (even when you're making six figures) - if not at your current company, then at another company in town.