Desk·2026-09-16
OpenAI still leads the SF lab SWE mark
Same software-engineer title. OpenAI prints the higher typical. Anthropic is the other Mission lab under it. Name the city before the lab brand.
OpenAI typical $653,000 against $591,000 at Anthropic.
SF SWE typical
OpenAI typical sits ~1.10× Anthropic
Same title, same city. Frontier lab clears the higher mark. Second lab clears a thinner cash mix. Thin samples on both.
How to plan it
Name the SF lab seat before treating both books as one
A mid IC who can ship systems in San Francisco should sit OpenAI and Anthropic as two books, not one lab market. OpenAI prints $653k typical on the ledger. Anthropic prints $591k. Both are paper-heavy frontier marks in the same city, not cash years you can spend in two years. Jane Street still prints $525k typical in cash you keep without underwriting the lab. If you want the 2026 frontier resume and can carry the mark, take the OpenAI loop first — it leads the pair by about $62k. If you want the other Mission name and a slightly lower composite, take Anthropic — but name the tradeoff. Do not treat a $653k OpenAI year and a $591k Anthropic year as the same SF move. The title is shared; the books are not.
Also: OpenAI vs Anthropic · SWE companies