AI Engineer Salary in the USA
AI Engineer roles in the USA pay a median of $243k a year, based on 563 live listings that disclose salary. The middle half earns $202k to $292k, and the top 10% more than $328k. 37% of these roles are remote. Highest median pay: Anthropic.
- $243k
- median USD
- $202k
- 25th percentile
- $292k
- 75th percentile
- 563
- disclosed roles
Shaded: middle half ($202k to $292k)
By level
From the title and requirements, not from a company level framework.
| Level | n | P25 | Median | P75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intern | 4 | $116k | $125k | $132k |
| Entry | 13 | $140k | $140k | $143k |
| Senior | 110 | $190k | $212k | $238k |
| Staff | 124 | $237k | $279k | $300k |
| Principal | 20 | $274k | $322k | $332k |
| Lead | 29 | $220k | $265k | $293k |
By city
| City | n | P25 | Median | P75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | 234 | $226k | $278k | $310k |
| New York | 82 | $215k | $242k | $285k |
| Mountain View | 35 | $195k | $215k | $250k |
| Menlo Park | 19 | $224k | $287k | $305k |
| Boston | 19 | $189k | $220k | $270k |
| Bellevue | 16 | $204k | $244k | $274k |
| Washington, D.C. | 12 | $225k | $257k | $288k |
| Seattle | 12 | $172k | $191k | $226k |
| Redwood City | 11 | $137k | $172k | $182k |
| Palo Alto | 9 | $168k | $236k | $273k |
| San Diego | 8 | $184k | $185k | $213k |
| Foster City | 8 | $210k | $245k | $276k |
Remote vs on-site
| Group | n | P25 | Median | P75 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| On-site / hybrid | 354 | $195k | $240k | $300k |
| Remote | 209 | $212k | $243k | $285k |
Top-paying companies
Companies with at least three disclosed salaries here, by median.
Live roles
Senior Engineer, Bioinformaticsnew
AnthropicSan Francisco, CA, US
~$300k–$320k
ai llm engineerSenior~$300k–$320k · 3h agoSenior Software Engineer, Frontend Platform (R5790)
Shield AISan Diego, CA, US
$130k–$240k
ai llm engineerSenior$130k–$240k · 1d agoSenior/Staff Software Engineer, Data Lifecycle
DecagonNew York, New York, US
$200k–$400k
ai llm engineerStaff$200k–$400k · 1d agoSoftware Engineer, University Grad
GleanMountain View, CA, US
~$150k–$160k
ai llm engineer~$150k–$160k · 1d agoForward Deployed AI Engineer
TuringLos Angeles, California, US
~$200k–$250k
ai llm engineer~$200k–$250k · 1d agoAI Engineer, Internal Tools
FigmaSan Francisco, NY • United States, US
~$153k–$296k
ai llm engineer~$153k–$296k · 2d agoInfra Software Engineer, Agentic Runtime
AndurilWashington, District of Columbia, US
~$191k–$254k
ai llm engineer~$191k–$254k · 2d agoSoftware Engineer, Storage Systems (Agent Infra)
BasetenRemote (US)
$160k–$330k
Remoteai llm engineer$160k–$330k · 2d agoSenior / Staff Software Engineer — Product (Backend-Focused)
Snorkel AISan Francisco, CA, US
~$208k–$315k
ai llm engineerStaff~$208k–$315k · 2d agoSoftware Engineer, Networking (Agent Infra)
BasetenRemote (US)
$160k–$330k
Remoteai llm engineer$160k–$330k · 2d ago
Other roles
- Machine Learning Engineer Salary in the USA
- Research Scientist Salary in the USA
- Data Scientist Salary in the USA
- Data Engineer Salary in the USA
- MLOps Engineer Salary in the USA
- Computer Vision Engineer Salary in the USA
- NLP Engineer Salary in the USA
- Robotics Engineer Salary in the USA
- AI Safety Researcher Salary in the USA
- AI Product Manager Salary in the USA
- Prompt Engineer Salary in the USA
- Analytics Engineer Salary in the USA
Every live listing here that discloses a number, in any currency. Converted to USD at ECB reference rates as of 2026-10-28. Hourly, weekly, and monthly figures are annualised (2,080 / 52 / 12). Where a salary is a range we use its midpoint. Breakdowns with fewer than three disclosed salaries are left out. All AI and ML salaries