Research › Pakistan Digital Skills Salary Report 2026
Pakistan Digital Skills Salary Report 2026
By BvLogic Academy. Published 18 Oct 2026. Free to quote with a link (CC BY 4.0). Download the data (CSV) · PDF
Ten digital roles, three bands each, read from public salary pages and job adverts between September and October 2026, with the sample size beside every city figure. The report is for a student choosing a course, a parent judging a fee, and a journalist who needs a number with a source.
Findings
Entry pay for digital roles advertised in Faisalabad sits between Rs 20,000 and Rs 50,000 a month across marketing, design, web and e commerce adverts, while the same roles in Lahore and Karachi start higher.
Evidence: Public source. Rozee and Indeed adverts and salary pages for Faisalabad, read 30 September 2026 and listed in the table below. Read 30 Sep 2026. Source
AI engineering and data science are the best paid of the roles read: a Lahore AI engineer's median total pay is about Rs 117,000 a month and a data scientist's about Rs 145,000, both from around fifty submissions each.
Evidence: Public source. Glassdoor Lahore salary pages, read 17 October 2026 and cited on the role pages linked in the table. Read 17 Oct 2026. Source
The spread inside one role is wider than the gap between roles: Lahore web developers range from about Rs 14,000 to Rs 122,000 a month across 158 reported salaries, and video editors from Rs 29,000 to Rs 108,000 across 669.
Evidence: Public source. Indeed Pakistan salary pages for Lahore, updated 10 October 2026. Read 18 Oct 2026. Source
Remote work for foreign clients is a separate market with figures that come from guides and bootcamp blogs rather than surveys; the report prints them as estimates and never averages them with local pay.
Evidence: Public source. The remote notes on each role page name their source; the best known quotes US$1,000 to 3,000 a month for Pakistan based AI engineers. Read 17 Oct 2026. Source
The macro picture behind the pay: record IT exports, record freelance receipts and more than 34,000 registered IT companies.
Evidence: Public source. State Bank, Finance Ministry and Economic Survey figures listed under public figures below. Read 17 Oct 2026. Source
https://bvlogic.academy/research/pakistan-digital-skills-salary-report-2026/chart-1.svg
https://bvlogic.academy/research/pakistan-digital-skills-salary-report-2026/chart-2.svgPay bands by role
PKR a month. Sources read 17 Oct 2026; each band's sources are on the role's own page.
| Role | Entry | Mid | Senior | Cities read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI engineer | 50,000 to 100,000 | 100,000 to 210,000 | 200,000 to 400,000 | Lahore, Karachi |
| Python developer | 50,000 to 80,000 | 120,000 to 200,000 | 250,000 to 500,000 | Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore |
| Data scientist | 60,000 to 100,000 | 145,000 to 250,000 | 300,000 to 600,000 | Lahore, Karachi |
| Digital marketer | 20,000 to 50,000 | 70,000 to 120,000 | 150,000 to 260,000 | Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad |
| SEO specialist | 40,000 to 70,000 | 80,000 to 150,000 | 170,000 to 300,000 | Karachi, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Hyderabad, Multan |
| Graphic designer | 25,000 to 40,000 | 50,000 to 100,000 | 100,000 to 250,000 | Karachi, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad |
Four more roles, average pay with the sample size
| Role, city | Average | Low to high | Salaries | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web developer, Lahore | 41,986 | 14,488 to 121,671 | 158 | Indeed Pakistan salary page, updated 10 October 2026, read 18 Oct 2026 |
| Data analyst, Karachi | 68,246 | 27,196 to 171,258 | 39 | Indeed Pakistan salary page, updated 25 September 2026, read 18 Oct 2026 |
| Video editor, Lahore | 56,187 | 29,287 to 107,795 | 669 | Indeed Pakistan salary page, updated 10 October 2026, read 18 Oct 2026 |
| User experience designer, Karachi | 71,151 | 46,938 to 107,855 | 2 | Indeed Pakistan salary page, updated 9 December 2025; only two salaries, so read it as an indication, not a figure, read 18 Oct 2026 |
Entry pay in adverts, by career cluster
The minimum and maximum stated in adverts for each cluster, read 30 Sep 2026.
| Roles advertised | Where | Stated range | Tools named |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital Marketing (Executive), Social Media Executive | Faisalabad | 20,000 to 50,000 | Google Ads, Google Analytics, Google Sheets, Canva |
| Junior AI Automation Engineer, AI Automation Specialist | Lahore | 50,000 to 80,000 | n8n, Make, Zapier, OpenAI |
| Microsoft Excel aur Data Entry, Data Entry Officer | Faisalabad | 18,318 to 47,831 | Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office, ERP (named in advert title) |
| Python Backend Intern, Junior Data Analyst | Pakistan-wide | 38,190 to 101,116 | Python, SQL, Django, NumPy |
| SOC Analyst L1 Intern, L1 SOC Analyst | Pakistan-wide | 31,834 to 112,351 | Wazuh (SIEM), Nmap, Burp Suite, Metasploit |
| Amazon Virtual Assistant, Amazon Account Executive | Faisalabad | 25,000 to 45,000 | Amazon Seller Central, Helium 10, Amazon PPC, Shopify |
| Graphic Designer / Video Editor, UI/UX Designer | Faisalabad | 20,193 to 66,908 | Adobe Photoshop, Canva, Figma, Adobe Premiere Pro |
| WordPress Developer, Frontend Developer / React Developer | Faisalabad | 30,000 to 50,000 | WordPress, Elementor, WooCommerce, PHP/Laravel |
| Customer Support & Operations Agent (English), Client Relationship Agent | Faisalabad | 18,185 to 57,772 | CRM software, WhatsApp |
Remote work for foreign clients
- AI engineer: Remote work for foreign clients is a separate market: one bootcamp guide quotes US$1,000 to 3,000 a month for Pakistan-based AI and ML engineers. Treat it as a blog estimate, not a survey. Source, read 17 Oct 2026
- Python developer: Remote and freelance Python work for foreign clients pays in dollars and is a separate market; Pakistan's freelancers earned US$1.76 billion in FY2026. We have not found a reliable per-developer figure, so we do not quote one. Source, read 17 Oct 2026
- Data scientist: Remote data work for foreign clients pays in dollars and is a separate market. We have not found a reliable per-person figure for Pakistan, so we do not quote one. Source, read 17 Oct 2026
- Digital marketer: Marketing is a large share of Pakistan's non-IT freelance exports, which tripled to about US$592 million in FY2026 according to one guide; per-person earnings vary too much to quote. Source, read 17 Oct 2026
- SEO specialist: The same SEO skills placed with a Western employer through a talent platform are quoted at US$1,600 to 2,100 a month, several times the local mid band. Source, read 17 Oct 2026
- Graphic designer: Design is a large part of Pakistan's non-IT freelance exports. One training provider claims skilled freelancers earn Rs 200,000 to 500,000 a month; that is far above every other source and should be read as the top of the market, not the norm. Source, read 17 Oct 2026
Method
Each role's bands come from the academy's salary pages, where every band names its source and the date it was read: Glassdoor and Indeed city pages (with the sample size they state), Rozee adverts that print a salary, and published career guides. The report prints the same data; nothing is retyped.
Four roles were added for this report from Indeed Pakistan salary pages read on 18 October 2026, with the average, the low and high and the number of salaries behind each.
The Faisalabad bands are the minimum and maximum stated in adverts on Rozee and Indeed for that career cluster on 30 September 2026. An advert that stated no salary was not counted.
A figure older than ninety days raises a warning in the academy's monitoring and is re read before the next edition.
Limits
- Self reported salary sites skew towards people who chose to report; a median from fifty submissions is an indication, not a census.
- Faisalabad adverts are few and junior; the bands say what was offered, not what everyone earns.
- Remote figures are estimates from guides and are labelled as such.
Public figures behind the reports
- Pakistan's IT exports reached a record US$4.6 billion in the financial year 2025 to 2026, up about 21 percent on the year. State Bank of Pakistan figures reported by Business Recorder, read 17 Oct 2026. Source
- Freelancers in Pakistan earned a record US$1.76 billion in export receipts in the financial year 2026, up 78 percent on the year. Finance Ministry data reported by The Nation, read 17 Oct 2026. Source
- 34,420 IT and IT enabled services companies were registered with the SECP by March 2026. Pakistan Economic Survey 2025 to 26, chapter 15, read 17 Oct 2026. Source
- About 75,000 IT graduates leave HEC accredited institutes each year, and a Ministry of IT document put the share employable by export firms below ten percent. The Friday Times, citing a Ministry of IT and Telecommunication document, read 18 Oct 2026. Source
- The Higher Education Commission said in 2022 that Pakistani institutions produce about 50,000 IT graduates a year. Higher Education Commission news page, read 18 Oct 2026. Source
- The chairman of the software industry body P@SHA has said the local market needs about 15,000 fresh IT graduates a year. ProPakistani, read 18 Oct 2026. Source
Questions
Where do the numbers come from?
Every band and city figure has a source and a date beside it: Glassdoor and Indeed pages with their sample sizes, Rozee adverts that state a salary, and published guides. The CSV carries the same columns.
Can I quote a figure?
Yes, with a link to this page. The suggested wording is under Cite this report.
How often is it updated?
Each source is re read before it is ninety days old; the next edition is dated on the page.
Cite this report
BvLogic Academy (2026). Pakistan Digital Skills Salary Report 2026. bvlogic.academy/research/pakistan-digital-skills-salary-report-2026
Press summary and the raw data are free to use with a link. Press contact: info@bvlogic.academy, +92 336 5475500.
In ten lines
- Ten digital roles, three bands each, every figure with a dated public source.
- Entry pay in Faisalabad adverts: Rs 20,000 to 50,000 a month; Lahore and Karachi start higher.
- Best paid roles read: AI engineer and data scientist (Lahore medians about Rs 117,000 and Rs 145,000).
- Widest spread: web developers in Lahore, Rs 14,000 to Rs 122,000 across 158 salaries.
- Remote work for foreign clients is reported separately and only as estimates.
- Raw tables as CSV, charts free to embed with a link back, PDF for print.