Side-by-side distribution
Data Engineer
$170,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 34.5%
- Live roles
- 3,152
Data Scientist
$190,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 42.4%
- Live roles
- 1,661
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Data Engineer
Senior Data Engineer
Senior Data Engineer
Data Engineer
Staff / Principal Data Engineer
Senior Data Engineer
Senior Data Engineer
Data Center Design Engineer, Electrical - Industrial Compute
Software Engineer, Frontier Data Products
Data Engineer
Highest-paying jobs
Data Scientist
Senior Data Scientist (Credit)
Senior Data Scientist (Credit)
Senior Data Scientist (Credit)
Data Scientist, Identity
Data Scientist
Applied Scientist
Data Scientist, Supply
Data Scientist, Developer Productivity
Machine Learning Scientist
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Speechify
|
$170,000 | 103 |
Mindrift
|
$76,960 | 57 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$153,850 | 22 |
Esri
|
$134,264 | 16 |
Olsson
|
$122,500 | 14 |
Anduril Industries
|
$174,500 | 13 |
|
OpenAI
|
$312,000 | 12 |
Air Apps
|
$70,422 | 10 |
Launch Potato
Lyft
Pinterest
Roblox
Reddit
Roku
Data Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $216,000 | 165 |
| New York | $200,000 | 159 |
| Seattle | $185,750 | 45 |
| Austin | $177,500 | 25 |
| Chicago | $170,000 | 39 |
| Boston | $170,000 | 32 |
| Atlanta | $170,000 | 11 |
| Los Angeles | $160,000 | 19 |
| Denver | $159,370 | 25 |
| Toronto | $150,000 | 27 |
Data Scientist salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $212,160 | 160 |
| New York | $190,000 | 138 |
| Seattle | $188,750 | 46 |
| Austin | $187,500 | 9 |
| Denver | $187,500 | 6 |
| Los Angeles | $183,750 | 16 |
| Boston | $182,500 | 29 |
| London | $160,895 | 21 |
| Toronto | $156,000 | 27 |
| Chicago | $153,300 | 21 |
Data Engineer vs Data Scientist: which pays more?
The median for Data Engineer is $170,000 per year (typically $140,938–$207,500), versus $190,000 for Data Scientist ($150,000–$229,900). That puts Data Scientist about 12% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Data Engineer and Data Scientist 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.