The US has been for a long time the biggest app market in the world, only recently being surpassed by China for number of downloads in 2015. There are currently over 100 million users in the country access the internet with a mobile device, and in 2014 the iOS App Store alone made $10 billion worth of earnings for developers.
The app developer market in the USA is, as a natural consequence also in extremely good health. Estimates say there were about 1.66 million app economy jobs in the US at the end of 2015, up from 750,000 in 2013. From big-name companies to niche and boutique studios, the landscape is rich with choice. This guide will help you guide that landscape, giving you the tools you need to choose the right developer for your app
The guide is divided in the following sections:
- The app developer market in the US
- US app development costs and statistics
- How to choose an app developer in the US
We’ll begin with a quick overview of the app developer market in the USA
The app developer market in the US
As of 2014 there were an estimated 680,00 mobile app developers in the US, and Actonline says 74% of all global development companies are found in the USA.
As you would expect, distribution is heavily skewed towards cities, the main hubs being San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, New York and Chicago. However, the sheer number of app developers, and the size of the country, means that despite there being a high number of devs in urban centres, about 82% of developers are actually outside cities. The map below is a representation of the distribution of development companies across the United States.
App development company distribution in Contiguous USA
Source: Cariboudigital.net
If you leave in the United States, chances are there’s an app developer near you. Having spoken of the strength of the app economy and where devs can be found, the next question is how much does app development cost?
US app development costs and statistics
App development costs can vary not only from developer to developer, but from platform to platform – as well as naturally rising with the complexity of the app. Prices for developing an iOS mobile app can average around $27,000, with cost decreasing to $23,000 for Android (though this is on the rise as Android gains market leadership) and $18,000 for Windows phone.
Below is a graph representing the range of rates and median average rate one can expect to pay an app developer for iOS and Android apps.
Range of app development costs per hour in US (US Dollars)
Data source: Nine Hertz
The relatively high top end prices, compared to global rates, are because the best developers in the world can be found in the USA, and they bring the mean average up considerably (which is why we’ve chosen to show the median instead). However, the US also has the biggest range of rates, and while we don’t recommend going for the bottom-of-the-barrel rate, there are plenty of talented and award-winning developers at all points on the scale.
Top US App Development Companies:
- App Maisters - Trusted Digital Transformation Partner for Startups, Growing and Enterprise Companies
- Konstant Infosolutions - Top Mobile App Development Company
- Bright Brains Information Technology - Digital Business Aspiration
- VERVE LOGIC - Turning Vision Into Success Stories
- eleks - Your Technology Partner for Software Innovation and Market-leading Solutions
- Emizen Tech - Mobile app Development Company
- Orangesoft - We build mobile & web apps that people love
- The NineHertz - Smart & Robust Mobile App Development
- Rantmedia - Think. Make. Innovate.
- Cleveroad - Proven Mobile App Development Partner! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
- VironIT - custom software development company
- Sonin - A Decade of Award-Winning Apps
- Intuz - Consulting Beyond Technology
- OpenXcell - Build your own offshore software development team
- Intellectsoft - Engineering Your Vision
- SEM Nexus - Startup App Experts
- Light IT - Reliable technical partner for more than 500 companies since 2006
- NMG Technologies - US BASED AWARD WINNING Mobile App, WEB & ECOM
- HQSoftware - Value-driven Digital Transformation. IoT, AI, AR, VR, and end-to-end custom software development
- Netsells - Building Something Better
- hedgehog lab - We help global brands solve their problems with digital products on mobile, web and connected platforms.
- 360 Degree Technosoft - Mobile App Development Company You Can Rely On
How to choose an app developer in the US
There’s two major sections this divides into: research you can do on your own, and the interview phase with the app developer, where you’ll explore their skills and expertise while they try to understand your business and your app. The research you can do at home is as follows:
- Review their portfolio: not only to see how many apps they’ve made and how successful they’ve been, but also to see which industries they’ve worked for. A niche social network app has vastly different characteristics and challenges to a mobile enterprise app for industry. Experience in your specific field of business is just as important as development skills.
- Recommendations: ask others in your industry who have launched successful apps to recommend a developer, or find out who made the most successful apps if there’s an industry benchmark.
List of mobile app development companies in the USA
App Maisters
Trusted Digital Transformation Partner for Startups, Growing and Enterprise Companies
| Founded | Employees | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 10-50 |
NMG is a global full-cycle software development company building advance websites, software and mobile apps using latest technologies since 2008. We are working with more than 300 smart business owners and entrepreneurs who are looking to take their businesses to the next level.
Learn more about App Maisters
NMG Technologies is a global full-cycle software development company building advance websites, software and mobile apps using latest technologies since 2008. NMG Technologies is trusted by enterprises & Fortune 500 companies across 30 countries.
It offers Enterprise Software Development, Dedicated Development Team, IT Consulting, Mobile App Development. As well as the following solutions – Corporate/Business Websites, Enterprise Ecommerce, Blockchain Development, FinTech, Augmented Reality, Cloud Apps , Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things
- Platforms: Android, HTML5, iOS, Mobile Web
- Sector Focus: IoT, FinTech, Chatbot, AR/VR, Blockchain, AI.
- Offices: Delhi, India, London, UK, Las Vegas, US.
| Founded | Employees | Social | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 51-200 | 7k+ |
Netsells is one of the leading UK based digital agencies that will turn 10 this year. It has an expertise in native (iOS and Android) and cross-platform mobile app development. The agency has been serving clients of all sizes from more than 40 countries. Some of its top clients are Hiscox, Uber, Trainline and Capita. Netsells developers team specialities ranges from web design, web development, logo design to mobile app development.
- Platforms: Android, iOS, HTML5
- Sector Focus: Broadcasting, Jobs, Finances, Fitness.
- UK Office: Suite 3, Mill House, North Street, York, YO1 6JD
| Founded | Employees | Revenues | Social | Traffic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 101-200 | 5M | 1800 | 800 |
Founded in 2013, Emizentech has emerged with a plethora of insights and result-driven aspects by delivering cutting-edge mobile app development solutions to clients from all over the globe. Being globally acknowledged as a leading mobile app developer, Emizentech develops futuristic mobile software solutions for all sized businesses, and too with satisfaction.
Learn more about Emizen Tech
| Founded | Employees | Revenues | Social | Traffic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 300+ | - | - | - |
Intellectsoft is a digital transformation consultancy that provides cutting-edge engineering solutions for global organizations. Each day companies ranging from startups to the world’s most recognizable brands, including Universal Pictures, Jaguar Motors, Qualcomm, Ernst & Young, Clinique, Bombardier, London Stock Exchange, Harley-Davidson leverage Intellectsoft’s creative solutions and mobile development services to enhance their products and maximize KPIs.
- Platforms: Android, iOS, HTML5
- Sector Focus: Construction, Healthcare, Insurance, Fintech, Logistics & Automotive, Travel & Hospitality, Retail & Ecommerce, Sports & Teams, Musicians & Bands.
- US Office: 721 Colorado Avenue, Suite 101 Palo Alto, CA USA 94303
The NineHertz is one of the leading mobile app development companies globally that offers top-notch business solutions. Since 2008, we have developed more than 1000 mobile apps for both iOS and Android platforms for businesses, startups, enterprises across all industries.
We have expertise in various technology domains including mobile app and web development, emerging technologies (IoT, AR/VR, Big Data, iBeacon, and PWA), Salesforce, Talend Data Integration, Digital Marketing, Industrial Solutions, and e-Commerce Services.
- Platforms: Android, iOS, Flutter, Ionic, React Native, PWA, Internet of Things, Web Development, Mobile Web
- Industry We Serve: Real Estate & Property, Travel & Hospitality, On-Demand Solutions, Food & Restaurant, Banking, Finance & Insurance, Education & eLearning, eCommerce, Media & Entertainment, Healthcare & Fitness
- Offices: Atlanta, Cincinnati (USA), Florida (USA), Jaipur (India), UAE
- Key Clients: Samsung, Casio, Vodafone, Airtel, Pepsi, Siemens
- Employees: 575+
- Serving in Industry: 12+ Years
- We have successfully 450+ clients in over 15+ countries
- We are NASSCOM member and Microsoft certified professional
| Founded | Employees | Revenues | Social | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 500+ | $25m+ | 10k+ |
Eleks – Ukraine, Kyiv based app development studio with more than 1,000 employees and 25+ years of software development experience the company leverages to develop superb mobile apps. The company’s development offices are located in Ukraine and Poland and the sales ones are in UK, US, Estonia and Germany. The spectrum of Eleks specialities is broad, it covers data science, mobility, quality assurance and testing, R&D, blockchain, AI, Cloud, IoT, ML, logistics and more.
- Platforms: iOS, Android, HTML5, Mobile Web, Web Development
- Sector Focus: Retail, Fintech, Logistics, Media & Entertainment, Heatlthtech, Government, Agriculture
- UK Office: South Quay, London, E14 9GE, E149JL, GB
| Founded | Employees | Revenues | Social | Traffic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 180+ | $16m+ | 5k+ | 47,000 |
Konstant Infosolutions is a globally recognized mobile app development company delivering the best-in-class solutions. Having served businesses, startups, enterprises across all industries, weíve developed over 600 Android, iOS and hybrid mobile apps.
Its team of 180+ professionals possess the finest combination of skills in business analytics, project management, code development, UI/UX design, app prototyping and strategy, web design, quality assurance and various other verticals. With a vision to becoming the top choice of businesses worldwide as a trusted offshore development partner, Konstantinfo continues to follow on-time, in-budget principles and offer cost-effectiveness in each of the projects delivered.
- Platforms: Android, iOS, Flutter, Ionic, React Native, PWA, Internet of Things, Web Development, Mobile Web
- Sector Focus: Real Estate & Property, On-Demand Solutions, Social Networking, Food & Restaurant, Banking, Finance & Insurance, Education & eLearning, Ecommerce, Retail & B2B, Travel & Hospitality, Media & Entertainment, Healthcare & Fitness, Transport & Automotive, Gaming & Leisure, Directory & Organization, Event & Tickets
- Offices: California (USA), Florida (USA), Jaipur (India), UAE
- Key Clients: United Nations, Volkswagen, Stanley Connect, Delmonte, Citrix Systems, Thomasville, Tailored Brands, Reliance Infrastructure, Wonder Cement, Rawbank, Scholastic
- Employees: 180+
- Serving in Industry: 17+ Years
| Employees | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10-50 |
Who We Are: We are the nations hottest startup mobile app development and marketing agency. We\'ve helped launch a variety of mobile apps from their inception. We can attribute a lot of our success to our affordable pricing and agile process, which has made us capable of attributing more of the clients budget to growth.
Learn more about SEM Nexus
| Founded | Employees | Social | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 51-200 | 2k+ |
INTUZ is a Global IT Consulting Company. We have been the preferred choice as a technology consulting partner for software application development for SMBs and Startups. Being an AWS Certified, Microsoft Partner, ISO Certified, INTUZ works long term with clients looking for Web, Mobile, IoT, Blockchain and Cloud application development experts. With over 10+ years in the industry, we have provided custom solutions solving real work business challenges.
- Platforms: iOS, Android, IoT, BlockChain
- Sector Focus: Healthcare, Fintech, Retail, Ecommerce, Manufacturing, E-learning, On-demand Solutions, Marketplace
- Key Clients: Bosch, Mercedes AMG, JLL, HolidayInn, Cambridge Publications and more.
- US Office: 18 Bartol Street Suite #130, San Francisco CA 9413
| Founded | Employees | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 10-50 |
| Founded | Employees | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 50-200 |
| Founded | Employees | Revenues | Social | Traffic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 11-50 | - | 1k+ | 400+ |
Rantmedia is a small UK-based app development studio with 15+ experience of delivering superb software for desktop and mobile. Rantmedia team is ready to work with companies of all sizes, from small startups to global well established brands. It was awarded with BAFTA for Technical Achievement by The British Academy of Film and Television Arts in Wales.
- Platforms: Android, iOS
- Sector Focus: Sports, Games, Broadcasting
- UK Office: 22 Cathedral Rd, Cardiff CF11 9LJ, London, UK
- Key clients: BBC, TV/S Soccer, NHS, Project AWARE
| Founded | Employees | Revenues | Social | Traffic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 10-50 | 5m | 11100 | 6000 |
| Founded | Employees | Revenues | Traffic | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 101-200 | 10m | 20000 |
We\'re VerveLogic and we\'ve been serving our clients with our IT, designing and Marketing services since 2011. Everyday, our team of dedicated professionals work to make this world a little better through our premier solutions.
Learn more about VERVE LOGIChedgehog lab
We help global brands solve their problems with digital products on mobile, web and connected platforms.
| Founded | Employees | Revenues | Social | Traffic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 51-200 | $5m + | 6k + | 74,000 |
- Platforms: iOS, Android, Web
- Sector Focus: Finance, Supply Chain and Logistics and Healthcare
- Offices: Newcastle upon Tyne, London & Boston
- Employees: 51+
| Founded | Employees | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 10-50 |
Welcome to Bright Brains, your \"industry leading\" digital design and development firm. We are looking to help businesses showcase their best goods, services, and products through an exceptional mobile application development, innovative web designs and development, and cutting-edge social media marketing and advertising specifically designed to connect you with your target audiences on a deeper level than ever before.
Learn more about Bright Brains Information TechnologyHQSoftware
Value-driven Digital Transformation. IoT, AI, AR, VR, and end-to-end custom software development
| Founded | Employees | Revenues | Social | Traffic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 51-100 | $10k+ | 1500 | 4000 |
HQSoftware is a business software development company with a pool of 90+ experts focused on Java, .NET, PHP, Node.js and with offices in Europe and USA. Quick facts founded in 2001 300 happy customers 450 successful projects 25 countries trusted by Inc.
Learn more about HQSoftware
| Employees | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 201-500 |
Incorporated in 2009 and headquartered in the USA, OpenXcell is an industry-leading & most reliable offshore software and mobile app development company known for delivering innovative software solutions and engaging mobile apps.
Learn more about OpenXcell
| Founded | Employees | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 101-200 |
Light IT provides innovative mobile/web apps and software development solutions for your business. We offer more than just software development, we focus on clients’ needs, go deep into requirements to suggest improvements, plan our workflow to reduce the budget, and never miss the deadlines.
For over 14 years, we have delivered 500+ custom solutions for companies from Australia, Europe, United States, Canada, Japan, China, and many others.
| Founded | Employees | Social | Traffic | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 101-200 | 10000 | 30000 |
Cleveroad is a software development company that creates complex business-driven solutions, with a focus on innovation and transparency of actions and guaranteed product delivery. Main areas of expertise: Native mobile and web development; Cross-platform sollutions; Microservices and Cloud solutions; AI/Data Science, Machine Learning; Industrial IoT and Augmented reality.
Learn more about Cleveroad
| Founded | Employees | Revenues | Social | Traffic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 51-100 | 0.7 | 2000 | 800 |
Agicent offers high quality mobile app development services to startups, entrepreneurs, and growing organizations across the world. We created some famous apps like HASfit, Pregmo, and Drivewey. We assign you a dedicated developer (or team) for your project, no matter how small or big work it is so that you have full control and never have communication gap.
Learn more about Agicent App Company
Founded in 2008, [x]cube LABS is a leader in mobile app development and consulting. With deep expertise across Mobile, IoT & Wearables, Big Data and Cloud technologies, [x]cube is the partner of choice for several disruptive startups and Fortune 1000 brands like GE, Honeywell, Sharp, UHG, Amazon, Nokia, Dreamworks, Texas Instruments etc.
Learn more about [x]cube LABS
| Founded | Employees | Revenues | Traffic | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 10-50 | 2m+ | 1000 |
Hubspire is a results-driven intelligent solutions provider that utilizes emerging technologies to advance and drive competitive advantage for our clients. Our areas of expertise include: mobile app development, website, web app, iOS and Android development, Hybrid apps, data analytics and data visualization.
Learn more about Hubspire
| Founded | Employees | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 101-200 |
Code Brew Labs is a mobile focused software development company which has served startups and enterprises all across the globe. We are a team of around 100 people, using the best practices and having the best minds and creativity.
Learn more about Code Brew Labs
Appus Studio is a full-cycle app development company with the in-house team. The company was found in 2009 in Ukraine. Now it is a middle-sized IT company with 40 professionals (iOS, Android, Web developers, UI/UX designers, project managers, QA testers) on a board and one of the TOP app development companies, based in Ukraine that serves clients from all over the world.
Learn more about Appus Studio
| Founded | Employees | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 10-50 |
Arateg is a leading custom mobile & web app development company delivering hi-tech software solutions to clients in E-commerce, E-learning, Healthcare, Financial sectors, etc. We help startups & SMEs grow innovative beautiful products increasing your productivity and revenue.
Learn more about Arateg
| Founded | Employees | Revenues | Social | Traffic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 251-500 | $10m+ | 6.5k+ | 6k+ |
TechBlocks, Inc. is a software consulting and product engineering company headquartered in Toronto, that specializes in development of enterprise applications, products and platforms on web, mobile and cloud.
Learn more about TechBlocks
| Founded | Employees | Revenues | Social | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 10-50 | 1m+ | 5k |
Chelsea Apps – is a mobile and web app development agency with 70+ million mobile app downloads and generating in excess of £250m for its clients. The team is dedicated to crafting apps that make a real impact. People that work in Chelsea Apps bring to bear a blend of youth and experience with strengths in areas such as creativity, development, enterprise-level security and big data innovation. Chelsea Apps worked for companies likes of TFL, Ladbrokes, Waitrose, KPMG, Peace One Day and Telefonica among others
- Platforms: iOS, Android, Windows
- Sector Focus: Retail
- UK Office: 30 Stamford Street, London SE1 9LQ, & Telephone House, 18 Christchurch Rd, Bournemouth BH1 3NE United Kingdom
- Employees: 10+
