# Research Scientist Salary in the USA

> Research Scientist roles in the USA pay a median of $295k a year, based on 156 live listings that disclose salary. The middle half earns $238k to $364k, and the top 10% more than $600k. 25% of these roles are remote. Highest median pay: Anthropic.

- **Median (USD):** $295k
- **25th to 75th percentile:** $238k to $364k
- **10th to 90th percentile:** $194k to $600k
- **Disclosed roles:** 156

## By level

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

| Group | n | P25 | Median | P75 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Senior | 14 | $221k | $276k | $300k |
| Staff | 44 | $232k | $279k | $325k |
| Principal | 4 | $285k | $326k | $372k |

## By city

| Group | n | P25 | Median | P75 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| San Francisco | 90 | $251k | $330k | $440k |
| New York | 23 | $250k | $279k | $323k |
| Mountain View | 8 | $186k | $216k | $249k |
| Broomfield | 4 | $186k | $207k | $221k |
| Bellevue | 3 | $197k | $203k | $223k |
| Redwood City | 3 | $295k | $295k | $316k |
| Palo Alto | 3 | $206k | $224k | $350k |

## Remote vs on-site

| Group | n | P25 | Median | P75 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| On-site / hybrid | 117 | $243k | $313k | $413k |
| Remote | 39 | $231k | $262k | $288k |

## Top-paying companies

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

| Group | n | P25 | Median | P75 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Anthropic](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/anthropic) | 23 | $425k | $675k | $675k |
| [OpenAI](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/openai) | 17 | $370k | $440k | $440k |
| [Thinking Machines Lab](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/thinking-machines-lab) | 4 | $413k | $413k | $413k |
| [Datadog](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/datadog) | 3 | $360k | $360k | $360k |
| [Mercor](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/mercor) | 7 | $330k | $330k | $335k |
| [Turing](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/turing) | 9 | $300k | $300k | $325k |
| [Decagon](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/decagon) | 5 | $300k | $300k | $300k |
| [Snorkel AI](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/snorkel-ai) | 4 | $286k | $288k | $295k |
| [Cohere](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/cohere) | 4 | $279k | $279k | $283k |
| [Exa](https://aijobsgrid.com/companies/exa) | 3 | $265k | $265k | $265k |

## Other roles

- [Machine Learning Engineer Salary in the USA](https://aijobsgrid.com/salaries/machine-learning-engineer/usa)
- [AI Engineer Salary in the USA](https://aijobsgrid.com/salaries/ai-llm-engineer/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: [Research Scientist jobs](https://aijobsgrid.com/ai-jobs/research-scientist). Check an offer: https://aijobsgrid.com/salaries/calculator?role=research-scientist&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