Salary report · 2026 to date
Data Science & ML jobs in United States advertised a median of $200K a year in 2026 (middle half $148K–$260K), from 964 job postings on JobRipe. Figures come only from pay ranges employers published; estimates are never counted.
Number of postings by yearly midpoint. The first and last bands also hold the lowest and highest 5%.
Every row rests on at least 5 postings; groups with fewer are left out.
| Level | Middle half (yearly) | Median | ≈ hourly | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internship | $118K – $146K | $136K | $65.43 | 46 |
| Entry level | $59K – $105K | $80K | $38.46 | 22 |
| Mid level | $133K – $235K | $173K | $82.93 | 370 |
| Senior | $160K – $236K | $197K | $94.66 | 208 |
| Staff/Principal | $224K – $292K | $259K | $124 | 192 |
| Manager | $185K – $290K | $228K | $109 | 93 |
| Director | $236K – $324K | $262K | $126 | 29 |
JobRipe, "What Data Science & ML jobs pay in the United States, 2026", https://jobripe.com/salary-reports/2026/us/data_science (23 October 2026).
Journalists and researchers are welcome to quote these figures with a link to this page. Questions about the data: support@jobripe.com
The median advertised pay is $200K a year (about $96.15 an hour), from 964 job postings on JobRipe that published a pay range between 8 January 2026 and 23 October 2026. Half of them fall between $148K and $260K.
One in ten postings advertised $319K a year or more; one in ten advertised $115K or less.
By median advertised pay, among cities with enough postings: San Mateo $266K; San Francisco $252K; Sunnyvale $250K; Santa Clara $242K.
| Workplace | Middle half (yearly) | Median | ≈ hourly | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| On-site | $161K – $281K | $224K | $108 | 438 |
| Remote | $125K – $215K | $173K | $82.93 | 425 |
| Hybrid | $224K – $319K | $262K | $126 | 101 |
| City | Middle half (yearly) | Median | ≈ hourly | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $208K – $313K | $252K | $121 | 207 |
| New York | $190K – $278K | $238K | $114 | 71 |
| Mountain View | $195K – $281K | $238K | $114 | 42 |
| Sunnyvale | $207K – $347K | $250K | $120 | 22 |
| Seattle | $172K – $302K | $241K | $116 | 15 |
| Palo Alto | $206K – $285K | $229K | $110 | 15 |
| San Mateo | $231K – $293K | $266K | $128 | 14 |
| Menlo Park | $223K – $277K | $236K | $113 | 12 |
| Santa Clara | $205K – $242K | $242K | $116 | 11 |
| Washington | $173K – $285K | $178K | $85.51 | 10 |
| Redmond | $139K – $173K | $145K | $69.71 | 6 |
| Denver | $181K – $203K | $201K | $96.63 | 5 |
| Hawthorne | $143K – $193K | $183K | $87.74 | 5 |
| Company | Middle half (yearly) | Median | ≈ hourly | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | $258K – $404K | $323K | $155 | 51 |
| Waymo | $177K – $281K | $238K | $114 | 46 |
| Anthropic | $298K – $351K | $333K | $160 | 39 |
| Bright Vision Technologies | $125K – $150K | $125K | $60.10 | 39 |
| Capital One | $192K – $246K | $217K | $105 | 32 |
| SpaceX | $145K – $285K | $183K | $87.74 | 27 |
| $260K – $315K | $276K | $133 | 26 | |
| $214K – $306K | $271K | $130 | 25 | |
| Lyft | $144K – $167K | $158K | $76.15 | 18 |
| Adobe | $155K – $209K | $207K | $99.44 | 17 |
| Innodata | $31K – $144K | $31K | $15.00 | 14 |
| Roblox | $228K – $293K | $278K | $134 | 13 |
| Airbnb | $212K – $275K | $229K | $110 | 12 |
| Jobgether | $141K – $238K | $169K | $81.37 | 12 |
| Scale AI | $243K – $299K | $243K | $117 | 11 |
| Company size | Middle half (yearly) | Median | ≈ hourly | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small (under 50) | $215K – $284K | $250K | $120 | 15 |
| Mid-size | $189K – $254K | $225K | $108 | 118 |
| Large | $167K – $275K | $224K | $108 | 375 |
| Enterprise | $183K – $333K | $281K | $135 | 170 |
| Industry | Middle half (yearly) | Median | ≈ hourly | Postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ai | $239K – $348K | $299K | $144 | 134 |
| Social | $212K – $304K | $260K | $125 | 76 |
| Finance | $166K – $246K | $211K | $102 | 50 |
| Fintech | $195K – $248K | $226K | $108 | 38 |
| Saas | $148K – $235K | $203K | $97.36 | 27 |
| Enterprise | $31K – $242K | $173K | $82.93 | 25 |
| Data | $190K – $277K | $235K | $113 | 21 |
| Hardware | $151K – $264K | $194K | $93.07 | 20 |
| Mobility | $141K – $167K | $158K | $76.15 | 19 |
| Health | $109K – $153K | $126K | $60.79 | 18 |
| Devtools | $183K – $311K | $224K | $108 | 17 |
| Gaming | $208K – $293K | $254K | $122 | 15 |
Median advertised pay is $173K for remote postings (425) and $224K for on-site ones (438). Remote and on-site roles also differ in seniority and employer, so this is not a like-for-like comparison.