Side-by-side distribution
Chemist
$84,606
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 29.5%
- Live roles
- 241
Postdoc
$72,754
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 58.8%
- Live roles
- 393
Highest-paying jobs
Clinical Chemist/Clinical Pathologist - Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Clinical Chemist
Medicinal Chemist
Synthetic Chemist
Computational Medicinal Chemist
Senior / Principal Chemist, AI Safety
Process Chemist
DARPA SETA Physical Chemist/Materials Scientist SME
Clinical Chemist
Computational Chemist - GPU Acceleration
Highest-paying jobs
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Physics Expert (PhD / Postdoc)
Postdoctoral Researcher, Human Aware Interaction Learning
Clinical Sciences FY27 Postdoctoral Fellow – Open Pool
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Soil Security for Cotton Farming Systems
Postdoctoral Research Fellow/Research Fellow - Health Policy
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Postdoctoral Researcher in Microwave and Antenna Engineering for CubeSat Applications
PostDoc – Machine Learning
Postdoctoral Researcher – Superconducting Detector Development and CMB Instrumentation
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Entegris
|
$91,500 | 6 |
Republic Services
|
$72,020 | 6 |
Abbott
|
$59,488 | 6 |
| IT ITW | $102,040 | 3 |
Cardinal Health
|
$78,260 | 3 |
|
Inductive Bio
|
$230,000 | 2 |
|
Agilent Technologies
|
$117,042 | 2 |
Mariana Minerals
|
$106,250 | 2 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| NU Northeastern University | $72,754 | 39 |
The University of Texas at Austin
|
$65,000 | 27 |
| CS Colorado State University | $65,500 | 16 |
University of British Columbia
|
$58,750 | 14 |
Cleveland Clinic
|
$63,480 | 12 |
| BI Beth Israel Lahey Health | $60,000 | 12 |
| MG Mass General Brigham | $76,465 | 11 |
| UO University of Queensland | $99,516 | 10 |
Chemist salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Boston | $185,000 | 4 |
| San Francisco | $149,000 | 4 |
| Austin | $83,250 | 3 |
Postdoc salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $103,250 | 10 |
| New York | $78,000 | 12 |
| Boston | $72,754 | 48 |
| Austin | $62,131 | 8 |
Chemist vs Postdoc: which pays more?
The median for Chemist is $84,606 per year (typically $66,101–$119,215), versus $72,754 for Postdoc ($64,000–$82,600). That puts Chemist about 16% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Chemist and Postdoc 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.