# Machine Learning Engineer Salary in the USA

> Machine Learning Engineer roles in the USA pay a median of $250k a year, based on 233 live listings that disclose salary. The middle half earns $212k to $292k, and the top 10% more than $347k. 33% of these roles are remote. Highest median pay: OpenAI.

- **Median (USD):** $250k
- **25th to 75th percentile:** $212k to $292k
- **10th to 90th percentile:** $177k to $347k
- **Disclosed roles:** 233

## By level

From the title and requirements, not from a company level framework.

| Group | n | P25 | Median | P75 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Intern | 14 | $146k | $146k | $146k |
| Senior | 68 | $200k | $228k | $248k |
| Staff | 76 | $251k | $276k | $302k |
| Principal | 7 | $296k | $348k | $390k |
| Lead | 8 | $250k | $273k | $349k |
| Exec | 3 | $375k | $433k | $433k |

## By city

| Group | n | P25 | Median | P75 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| San Francisco | 66 | $212k | $258k | $328k |
| Mountain View | 48 | $194k | $238k | $281k |
| New York | 17 | $241k | $272k | $282k |
| Sunnyvale | 10 | $331k | $358k | $378k |
| Foster City | 7 | $242k | $296k | $302k |
| Palo Alto | 6 | $238k | $278k | $310k |
| Seattle | 4 | $120k | $187k | $276k |
| Redwood City | 3 | $238k | $250k | $250k |
| San Mateo | 3 | $214k | $236k | $268k |
| Denver | 3 | $265k | $265k | $287k |
| South San Francisco | 3 | $219k | $225k | $240k |

## Remote vs on-site

| Group | n | P25 | Median | P75 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| On-site / hybrid | 155 | $196k | $238k | $282k |
| Remote | 78 | $224k | $271k | $304k |

## Top-paying companies

Companies with at least three disclosed salaries here, by median.

| Group | n | P25 | Median | P75 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [OpenAI](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/openai) | 7 | $382k | $402k | $453k |
| [Wayve](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/wayve) | 9 | $331k | $366k | $382k |
| [Attentive](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/attentive) | 8 | $282k | $328k | $353k |
| [Zoox](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/zoox) | 7 | $242k | $296k | $302k |
| [Spotify](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/spotify) | 4 | $263k | $276k | $293k |
| [Reddit](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/reddit) | 18 | $271k | $276k | $276k |
| [Pinterest](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/pinterest) | 18 | $216k | $275k | $338k |
| [Plaid](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/plaid) | 4 | $264k | $272k | $272k |
| [Scale AI](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/scale-ai) | 4 | $232k | $265k | $276k |
| [DoorDash](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/doordash) | 12 | $167k | $251k | $300k |

## Other roles

- [AI Engineer Salary in the USA](https://aijobsgrid.com/salaries/ai-llm-engineer/usa)
- [Research Scientist Salary in the USA](https://aijobsgrid.com/salaries/research-scientist/usa)
- [Data Scientist Salary in the USA](https://aijobsgrid.com/salaries/data-scientist/usa)
- [Data Engineer Salary in the USA](https://aijobsgrid.com/salaries/data-engineer/usa)
- [MLOps Engineer Salary in the USA](https://aijobsgrid.com/salaries/mlops-infrastructure/usa)
- [Computer Vision Engineer Salary in the USA](https://aijobsgrid.com/salaries/computer-vision/usa)
- [NLP Engineer Salary in the USA](https://aijobsgrid.com/salaries/nlp/usa)
- [Robotics Engineer Salary in the USA](https://aijobsgrid.com/salaries/robotics/usa)
- [AI Safety Researcher Salary in the USA](https://aijobsgrid.com/salaries/ai-safety-alignment/usa)
- [AI Product Manager Salary in the USA](https://aijobsgrid.com/salaries/ai-product-manager/usa)
- [Prompt Engineer Salary in the USA](https://aijobsgrid.com/salaries/prompt-eval-engineer/usa)
- [Analytics Engineer Salary in the USA](https://aijobsgrid.com/salaries/analytics-engineer/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. Live roles: [Machine Learning Engineer jobs](https://aijobsgrid.com/ai-jobs/machine-learning-engineer). Check an offer: https://aijobsgrid.com/salaries/calculator?role=machine-learning-engineer&facet=usa&offer=185000

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Source: AIJobsGrid (https://aijobsgrid.com). Listings come from each employer's own job board and are removed when the employer closes them. Apply through the employer link on each job.
Site map for AI tools: https://aijobsgrid.com/llms.txt