Side-by-side distribution
Data Scientist
$190,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 42.4%
- Live roles
- 1,661
Software Engineer
$191,125
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 44.1%
- Live roles
- 15,329
Highest-paying jobs
Data Scientist
Senior Data Scientist (Credit)
Senior Data Scientist (Credit)
Senior Data Scientist (Credit)
Data Scientist, Identity
Applied Scientist, Experimentation
Data Scientist
Data Scientist, Supply
Data Scientist, Developer Productivity
Machine Learning Scientist
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Software Engineer, Growth
Intermediate Backend Software Engineer
Staff Software Engineer (Backend)
Lead Software Engineer (Backend)
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning (Audio)
Software Engineer - Compliance
Software Engineer - EVM
Software Engineer - Solana
Software Engineer - Stellar
Senior Staff+ Software Engineer, Node Infra
Launch Potato
Lyft
Pinterest
Reddit
Roku
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Anduril Industries
|
$222,000 | 298 |
|
OpenAI
|
$309,000 | 113 |
Speechify
|
$170,000 | 103 |
Databricks
|
$214,700 | 98 |
Roblox
|
$269,270 | 83 |
Applied Intuition
|
$180,000 | 83 |
Palantir
|
$167,500 | 74 |
SpaceX
|
$137,500 | 66 |
Data Scientist salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $211,819 | 161 |
| New York | $190,000 | 138 |
| Seattle | $188,750 | 46 |
| Austin | $187,500 | 9 |
| Denver | $187,500 | 6 |
| Los Angeles | $183,750 | 16 |
| Boston | $181,250 | 30 |
| London | $160,895 | 21 |
| Toronto | $153,600 | 28 |
| Chicago | $153,300 | 21 |
Software Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $225,000 | 1,400 |
| Sydney | $224,060 | 8 |
| New York | $213,300 | 1,160 |
| Seattle | $212,500 | 419 |
| Austin | $197,000 | 137 |
| Boston | $186,050 | 227 |
| Los Angeles | $182,500 | 164 |
| Bangalore | $181,219 | 4 |
| Chicago | $179,250 | 138 |
| Atlanta | $173,875 | 58 |
Data Scientist vs Software Engineer: which pays more?
The median for Data Scientist is $190,000 per year (typically $150,000–$229,900), versus $191,125 for Software Engineer ($152,900–$225,000). That puts Software Engineer about 1% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Data Scientist and Software 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.