Side-by-side distribution
Physicist
$168,450
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 25.6%
- Live roles
- 39
Researcher
$175,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 36.6%
- Live roles
- 1,075
Highest-paying jobs
Staff Quantum Sensor Physicist
Staff Quantum Physicist
Quantum Physicist (Quantum Computing)
Computational Physicist
Divertor Plasma Physicist (Scientist/Sr. Scientist/Manager)
PhD Physicist
Optical Physicist
Senior Physicist, Quantum Memory R&D
Quantum Physicist, Integrated Photonics
Computational Plasma Physicist – Transport Modeling
Highest-paying jobs
Researcher, Training
Researcher, Training - London
Researcher, Alignment CoT Monitorability
Researcher, Alignment Interpretability
Researcher, Multimodal Safety
Researcher, Robustness & Safety Training
Researcher, Agent Safety, Oversight and System Mitigations
Researcher, Agent Safety, Training and Evaluations
Researcher, Safety Oversight
Researcher, Recursive Self-Improvement Safety
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Infleqtion
|
$211,000 | 3 |
|
Thea Energy
|
$138,750 | 2 |
|
Fuse
|
$175,000 | 1 |
|
Atomcomputing
|
$172,500 | 1 |
|
micro1
|
$166,400 | 1 |
|
Dodmg
|
$158,325 | 1 |
|
IonQ
|
$154,418 | 1 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
OpenAI
|
$440,000 | 15 |
Arc Institute
|
$80,000 | 13 |
Two Six Technologies
|
$233,043 | 10 |
GiveWell
|
$308,000 | 9 |
Stevens Capital Management LP
|
$225,000 | 9 |
Point72
|
$162,500 | 9 |
IMC
|
$275,000 | 8 |
Distyl AI
|
$200,000 | 7 |
Physicist salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago | $211,000 | 3 |
Researcher salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| London | $250,000 | 23 |
| Singapore | $250,000 | 7 |
| San Francisco | $210,500 | 70 |
| New York | $200,000 | 104 |
| Chicago | $200,000 | 36 |
| Austin | $190,000 | 5 |
| Seattle | $139,500 | 5 |
| Boston | $135,000 | 11 |
| Los Angeles | $131,500 | 5 |
| Toronto | $41,504 | 5 |
Physicist vs Researcher: which pays more?
The median for Physicist is $168,450 per year (typically $157,706–$174,375), versus $175,000 for Researcher ($102,500–$225,000). That puts Researcher about 4% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Physicist and Researcher 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.