If I look at the situation in my home country, chemical engineers still make more than any other kind. Why? Because big pharma (and big tobacco!) extract the mo

If I look at the situation in my home country, chemical engineers still make more than any other kind. Why? Because big pharma (and big tobacco!) extract the most profits per engineer. When I was in Germany, mechanical and electrical engineers were typically making more than me. Same reason. A few american software companies are making over a million yearly per developer. 200k for a new grad is nothing to them. You're right that investors probably spend more to fund the work of programmers in VC backed startups, but nobody forces them. They could simply start investing in more companies outside tech hubs (or even outside the country).