Side-by-side distribution
Data Engineer
$170,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 34.8%
- Live roles
- 3,005
ML Engineer
$212,091
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 43.5%
- Live roles
- 1,675
Highest-paying jobs
Staff+ Research Engineer, RL Data Platform
Data Infrastructure Engineer, Pre-training
Data Engineer
Senior Data Engineer
Staff / Principal Data Engineer
Software Engineer - Data Aquisition (systems)
Software Engineer, Data Acquisition
Senior Staff Backline Engineer - Data & AI
Machine Learning Engineer, Distributed Data Systems - Robotics
Software Engineer, Frontier Data Products
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning (Audio)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Software Engineer, ML Networking
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Machine Learning Engineer, Integrity
Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Ads Delivery
Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Ad Serving
Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Search
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Speechify
|
$170,000 | 102 |
Mindrift
|
$83,200 | 32 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$144,250 | 27 |
Olsson
|
$121,500 | 21 |
|
OpenAI
|
$315,000 | 17 |
Esri
|
$113,360 | 15 |
Anduril Industries
|
$181,500 | 14 |
|
Anthropic
|
$362,500 | 13 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Nuro
|
$242,540 | 16 |
Torc Robotics
|
$195,050 | 16 |
Reddit
|
$276,000 | 14 |
|
Pinterest
|
$260,867 | 13 |
Airbnb
|
$238,500 | 13 |
|
Roku
|
$294,750 | 12 |
DoorDash USA
|
$169,350 | 12 |
Roblox
|
$311,785 | 11 |
Data Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $217,500 | 166 |
| New York | $213,281 | 168 |
| Seattle | $203,750 | 42 |
| Boston | $185,000 | 29 |
| Los Angeles | $175,000 | 21 |
| Chicago | $175,000 | 34 |
| Austin | $168,935 | 17 |
| Denver | $150,000 | 28 |
| Atlanta | $145,163 | 12 |
| London | $144,187 | 11 |
ML Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago | $275,000 | 5 |
| Singapore | $260,000 | 3 |
| San Francisco | $249,410 | 160 |
| Austin | $235,000 | 9 |
| Boston | $233,750 | 20 |
| Los Angeles | $230,000 | 14 |
| New York | $228,000 | 94 |
| Seattle | $220,300 | 47 |
| London | $195,018 | 15 |
| Denver | $188,750 | 6 |
Data Engineer vs ML Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Data Engineer is $170,000 per year (typically $143,125–$215,000), versus $212,091 for ML Engineer ($175,150–$260,000). That puts ML Engineer about 25% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Data Engineer and ML Engineer 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.