Side-by-side distribution
Data Scientist
$190,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 42.8%
- Live roles
- 1,661
Platform Engineer
$195,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 44.2%
- Live roles
- 4,052
Highest-paying jobs
Data Scientist
Senior Data Scientist (Credit)
Senior Data Scientist (Credit)
Senior Data Scientist (Credit)
Data Scientist, Identity
Data Scientist
Applied Scientist, Experimentation
Data Scientist, Supply
Data Scientist, Developer Productivity
Machine Learning Scientist
Highest-paying jobs
Platform Engineer
Senior Staff+ Software Engineer, Kubernetes Platform
Staff+ Infrastructure Engineer, Cluster Infrastructure
Software Engineer, Research Infrastructure
Senior Security Platform Engineer I
Staff+ Software Engineer, Safeguards Infrastructure
Infrastructure Engineer
Software Engineer, Platform
SOC Emulation Engineer - Hardware Emulation Infrastructure
Infrastructure and Platform Development Engineer
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Launch Potato
|
$187,500 | 24 |
| GR GRVTY | $170,000 | 17 |
Lyft
|
$153,200 | 15 |
Pinterest
|
$213,757 | 13 |
Roblox
|
$293,245 | 11 |
Reddit
|
$260,450 | 10 |
Accenture Federal Services
|
$157,675 | 10 |
|
OpenAI
|
$309,000 | 9 |
Speechify
Nuro
Palantir
Databricks
Coinbase
Data Scientist salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $212,500 | 161 |
| Seattle | $191,500 | 46 |
| New York | $190,000 | 139 |
| Los Angeles | $187,500 | 17 |
| Austin | $187,500 | 9 |
| Denver | $187,500 | 6 |
| Boston | $181,250 | 30 |
| London | $160,895 | 21 |
| Chicago | $153,300 | 21 |
| Toronto | $151,200 | 29 |
Platform Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $228,500 | 411 |
| Seattle | $212,500 | 108 |
| New York | $211,000 | 318 |
| Austin | $198,900 | 39 |
| Los Angeles | $187,500 | 32 |
| Boston | $187,500 | 64 |
| Toronto | $185,000 | 61 |
| Denver | $175,000 | 31 |
| Chicago | $174,250 | 24 |
| Atlanta | $170,000 | 11 |
Data Scientist vs Platform Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Data Scientist is $190,000 per year (typically $149,750–$230,000), versus $195,000 for Platform Engineer ($166,525–$230,000). That puts Platform Engineer about 3% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Data Scientist and Platform 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.