Side-by-side distribution
AI Engineer
$200,455
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 38.5%
- Live roles
- 5,105
Data Analyst
$110,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 32%
- Live roles
- 1,188
Highest-paying jobs
Senior/Staff Backend Engineer, Applied AI
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning (Audio)
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Backend Engineer, AI
Machine Learning Engineer - Fraud Risk
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Senior AI Security Engineer II
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Data Analyst
Senior Product Data Analyst
Financial Crimes & Risk Data Analyst
Senior Data Analyst
Senior Data Analyst
Senior Data Analyst
Senior Marketing Analyst, Strategy & Analytics
Senior Marketing Analyst, Strategy & Analytics - US-Based
Software Engineer, Macro Quant Analytics Technology
Data Analyst II
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
OpenAI
|
$239,000 | 37 |
Mindrift
|
$312,000 | 31 |
Handshake
|
$252,500 | 22 |
Databricks
|
$224,163 | 22 |
Motional
|
$200,500 | 21 |
Pinterest
|
$265,928 | 20 |
Reddit
|
$276,000 | 19 |
Applied Intuition
|
$173,500 | 18 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$130,500 | 11 |
Air Apps
|
$65,766 | 9 |
Burson
|
$55,000 | 8 |
Launch Potato
|
$135,000 | 6 |
Klaviyo
|
$155,000 | 5 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$106,400 | 5 |
Lyft
|
$93,150 | 5 |
Brigit
|
$150,000 | 4 |
AI Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Singapore | $250,000 | 4 |
| San Francisco | $229,756 | 466 |
| New York | $220,000 | 350 |
| Seattle | $205,500 | 97 |
| Los Angeles | $200,000 | 33 |
| Chicago | $197,500 | 36 |
| Austin | $196,000 | 44 |
| Bangalore | $194,838 | 3 |
| Sydney | $190,000 | 3 |
| Toronto | $187,500 | 59 |
Data Analyst salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $193,000 | 10 |
| San Francisco | $132,983 | 24 |
| Boston | $130,500 | 17 |
| Denver | $128,750 | 10 |
| New York | $125,000 | 79 |
| Austin | $121,800 | 9 |
| Los Angeles | $113,400 | 12 |
| Chicago | $98,706 | 14 |
| Toronto | $93,389 | 20 |
| Atlanta | $81,250 | 18 |
AI Engineer vs Data Analyst: which pays more?
The median for AI Engineer is $200,455 per year (typically $165,350–$243,750), versus $110,000 for Data Analyst ($85,000–$145,161). That puts AI Engineer about 82% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so AI Engineer and Data Analyst are compared on equal terms regardless of the currency each role was originally posted in. Only roles that publish a salary range feed the medians; numbers refresh every few hours as new roles post and older ones close, so this comparison reflects the market right now rather than a fixed survey. Use it as a directional benchmark when weighing one path against the other.