SQL jobs trend | HN Hiring Index

Skill ProfileLanguages

SQL

SQL appeared in 8 hiring posts in September 2026 — roughly 1.5% of all jobs. Currently #6 of 23 languages.

Mentions · September 2026-20%vs prior

mentions

this month

12-Mo TrendOct '25 → Sep '26

Share of All Jobs

1.5%

All-Time Peak

27mentions · October 2017

First Seen

April 2011

Month Momentum

Declining-20%

§ 01Demand Signal

Mention history

Annual averages give the long-run shape without the monthly noise; the last two years are zoomed in below.

All-time mentions

2,022since April 2011 · 186 months

+8.5% YoY2025 vs 2024

173

'15

167

'16

209

PEAK

'17

205

'18

178

'19

107

'20

191

'21

124

'22

'23

'24

'25

'26

Total mentions, by year · hatched column = year still in progress

All-time

2,022186 mo

↑ Best year

2017209

↓ Quietest full year

201264

Latest full year

2025+8.5% YoY

§ 02Compensation

What SQL jobs pay

Disclosed USD pay over the past 3 years (2023–Present). Single months are too sparse to band.

Pay over the past 3 years · 2023–Present

USD160Kmedian

$120k – $188k middle 50% · n=87

By seniority

Junior— n=7

Mid— n=3

Senior$149k – $200k n=32

Staff+$70k – $186k n=16

Bar = p25 to p75 · tick = median. Junior & Mid shown hatched below the 10-sample floor.

Disclosed

87of 376 posts

Disclosure rate

23.1%

Senior eng median · languages · 2023–Present

Where SQL sits in the pay distribution

−6%vs Swift+4%vs PHP

LanguageMedianvs SQL

Swift

$180k+6.7%

$176k+4.3%

TypeScript

$170k+0.7%

SQLyou are here

$169k—

GraphQL

$168k−0.7%

JavaScript

$165k−2.2%

PHP

$163k−3.7%

Senior eng disclosed pay · 2023–Present

§ 03Footprint

Where SQL is hired

Regions

Top geographies

Share of SQL posts by where the role is based.

United States50.0%

United States50.0%4

Unspecified37.5%

Unspecified37.5%3

Canada25.0%

Canada25.0%2

Remote Policy

63%remote

Remote

62.5%

Hybrid

12.5%

On-site

25.0%

§ 04Composition

Who hires for SQL

By Seniority

Roles by level

Senior25.0%

Senior25.0%2

Junior12.5%

Junior12.5%1

By Function

Roles by function

Engineering50.0%

Engineering50.0%4

Data / ML37.5%

Data / ML37.5%3

Product12.5%

Product12.5%1

§ 05Technical Skills

Python is the skill most co-mentioned with SQL.

#01

Signature Stack

SQL’s strongest
pairings

Skills with the highest lift when co-listed with SQL over 2023–Present.

Top-Lift Pairs · 2023–Present

Git

5.7×

JavaScript

3.6×

AWS

2.7×

Lift = how much more likely to co-appear than by chance

Common Stacks · Top co-mentioned skills2023–Present

01Python41064%

02TypeScript25139%

03AWS23136%

04PostgreSQL20732%

05React19330%

06JavaScript15925%

07Node.js13521%

08Kubernetes10617%

09Machine Learning10316%

10Google Cloud9915%

11Rust9214%

12Git9014%

13Terraform8814%

14Go8313%

15iOS7912%

% of SQL jobs also mentioning the skill · 2023–Present

Peer Comparison · LanguagesWhere SQL stands among languages

SkillMentionsYoYMarket share

Python

38+15%

7.1%

TypeScript

30-27%

5.6%

14-6.7%

2.6%

Rust

13+160%

2.4%

GraphQL

8+60%

1.5%

SQLyou are here

8+60%

1.5%

JavaScript

7-30%

1.3%

C++

5-17%

0.9%

4-20%

0.7%

HTML/CSS

3-40%

0.6%

Percentage of jobs mentioning the skill · September 2026

§ 06Sponsorship

Visa support stays a minority signal across the thread.

Visa Sponsorship

14 posts offer sponsorship

2.6%

Offer sponsorship

142.6%

Explicitly decline

234.3%

Don’t mention

50293.1%

Based on 539 HN job posts in September 2026. Visa policy is not broken down per language — these rates cover all postings in the thread.