0.80
▼ 22% since the 2022 peak
headcount of US software developers aged 22–25, December 2025 (November 2022 = 1)
20212025

What the chart shows

Brynjolfsson and colleagues index employment in each age group to November 2022. For software developers aged 22–25, headcount peaked at 1.03 in September 2022 and fell to 0.80 by December 2025, 22% below the peak. Developers aged 26–30 were 6% below theirs.

Older developers grew over the same period: those aged 41–49 reached 1.15 and those aged 35–40 1.11, both close to their highest levels. The AI Index notes that the fall for the youngest group had reached close to 20% by September 2025.

Key numbers

MeasureValue
Ages 22–25, Sep 2022 (peak)1.027
Ages 22–25, Dec 20250.803
Ages 26–30, Dec 20250.946
Ages 35–40, Dec 20251.107
Ages 41–49, Dec 20251.145

How to read it

  • Headcount is indexed to 1 in November 2022 for each age group, so the lines show change within a group, not the groups’ relative size.
  • The AI Index text describes the decline to September 2025; the data file runs to December 2025, which we use.
  • Customer support agents, the other occupation in this figure, are in a companion chart.
Source: Brynjolfsson et al., 2025, via the AI Index Report 2026 (Stanford HAI), figure 4.4.29: Normalized headcount trends by age group for software developers and customer service agents, 2021–25. Chart and text by AI Adoption.
Numbers checked against the published data on 20 October 2026.
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