Side-by-side distribution
AI Engineer
$185,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 33%
- Live roles
- 9,509
Data Analyst
$103,972
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 30.4%
- Live roles
- 3,084
Highest-paying jobs
Senior/Staff Backend Engineer, Applied AI
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning (Audio)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Software Engineer - AI
Machine Learning Engineer ($400k - $600k salary)
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning
Highest-paying jobs
PGIM Credit | Senior Analyst, Sustainable Investment Reporting & Strategy
Staff Analyst, Product Analytics
Senior Data Scientist / Analyst, Growth
Senior Data Scientist / Analyst, Product
Senior Data Scientist / Analyst, Institutional
Senior Data Scientist / Analyst, Finance
Senior Data Scientist / Analyst, Markets
Senior Data Scientist / Analyst, Fraud & Risk
Senior Quantitative Analyst, Market Analytics
Quantitative AI and Data Analyst - Executive Director
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Mindrift
|
$76,960 | 96 |
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$162,000 | 76 |
OpenAI
|
$307,500 | 39 |
SpaceX
|
$145,000 | 35 |
General Motors
|
$203,125 | 34 |
Thomson Reuters
|
$204,200 | 30 |
CACI
|
$148,825 | 30 |
|
Anthropic
|
$362,500 | 29 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$126,750 | 22 |
PNC
|
$129,125 | 20 |
|
CACI
|
$121,950 | 11 |
Bank of America
|
$116,800 | 11 |
Northrop Grumman
|
$114,700 | 11 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$112,900 | 10 |
KeyBank
|
$98,000 | 10 |
Air Apps
|
$63,314 | 10 |
AI Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $229,800 | 519 |
| New York | $212,500 | 484 |
| Seattle | $204,000 | 187 |
| Los Angeles | $203,625 | 64 |
| Boston | $196,000 | 137 |
| Singapore | $187,200 | 9 |
| Denver | $185,500 | 64 |
| Austin | $180,350 | 99 |
| Atlanta | $174,828 | 70 |
| London | $165,686 | 55 |
Data Analyst salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Austin | $144,550 | 10 |
| San Francisco | $140,000 | 32 |
| Denver | $130,591 | 16 |
| Los Angeles | $128,400 | 12 |
| New York | $118,058 | 133 |
| Seattle | $115,500 | 12 |
| Boston | $115,500 | 26 |
| Chicago | $110,000 | 63 |
| Atlanta | $102,500 | 19 |
| Singapore | $94,640 | 7 |
AI Engineer vs Data Analyst: which pays more?
The median for AI Engineer is $185,000 per year (typically $145,000–$228,900), versus $103,972 for Data Analyst ($80,200–$130,763). That puts AI Engineer about 78% 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.