With the myriad of competition in Silicon Valley attracting quality talent, Google has ensured it recruits the brightest software engineers by offering an above-average salary.
According to a new study conducted by job listings and information site Glassdoor, Google software engineers earn an average base salary of $128,336.
In comparison, Facebook offered $123,626, while Apple mustered up $114,413 this year. eBay, meanwhile, pays $108,809 and Zynga forks out a total of $105,568.
Last year, Google issued a 10 percent raise to every single employee working for the search engine giant. Facebook, however, is seemingly edging closer to reaching Google's above-average salary for engineers. Glassdoor says that the average salary difference between the two companies decreased this year to $4,710. Comparatively, it was $6,852 during 2011.
The majority of the major Silicon Valley firms listed in the Glassdoor report are well ahead of the national average for a software engineer’s base salary -- $92,648, which represents a 2.5 percent increase from last year's figure.