Stack Overflow's annual developer survey has revealed significant shifts in the programming landscape, with 87,585 developers from 185 countries participating in 2024.

Programming Language Rankings

JavaScript maintains its dominance for the 12th year running, used by 65.36% of developers. However, the real story is in the satisfaction metrics.

Most Loved Languages

  1. Rust - 87.0% (↑2 positions)
  2. Elixir - 75.2%
  3. Clojure - 71.7%
  4. TypeScript - 70.8%
  5. Julia - 70.3%
Rust's climb to the top satisfaction spot reflects growing adoption in systems programming and web backends, with major companies like Discord and Dropbox migrating critical services.

Key Findings

AI Impact

73% of developers now use AI coding assistants regularly:

  • GitHub Copilot leads with 55% usage
  • ChatGPT for coding: 42%
  • Amazon CodeWhisperer: 18%

42% of developers work fully remote, down from 47% in 2023, indicating a gradual return to hybrid models.

Salary Insights:

  • Highest paid role: Engineering Manager ($165k average)
  • Fastest growing: DevRel Engineer (+23% year-over-year)
  • Remote premium: 15% higher salaries for remote positions
  • AI skills bonus: +$12k average for ML/AI expertise

Framework Preferences

React continues to dominate frontend development (40.58%), but Svelte shows the highest satisfaction rating (71.47%).

"The gap between what developers use and what they want to use continues to widen. Legacy systems keep us tied to older technologies while our hearts are with modern alternatives."
- Stack Overflow Research Team

WebAssembly usage doubled to 4.8%, driven by performance-critical applications and cross-platform development needs.

Edge computing knowledge is now considered essential by 67% of senior developers.