Google lead the pack when it comes to engineer salaries in Silicon Valley

When it comes to engineer salaries, it looks as though Google are the leaders in yet another category. With increased competition such as Facebook, the Mountain View-based company want to continue being one of the best places to work, offering above-average salaries for engineers according to a new study from job listings and information site, Glassdoor, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The study shows that Google's software engineers earn an average base salary of $128,336 compared to Facebook's $123,626, Apple's $114,413 and eBay and Zynga with $108,809 and $105,568, respectively. Facebook and Zynga have noticed the value of employee equity stakes drop following their IPO launches, where base salary makes a more important stance in terms of overall compensation.

Google on the other hand make the base salary a key selling point, where across-the-board last year the search giant gave all employees a 10% pay rise. Glassdoor found that the national average for a software engineer's base salary was around $92,648.