Side-by-side distribution
Physicist
$185,189
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 39.6%
- Live roles
- 235
Researcher
$106,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 36.5%
- Live roles
- 3,527
Highest-paying jobs
Sr. Medical Physicist (Palm Springs, CA)
Senior Medical Physicist Radiation Therapy
Radiation Physicist - Cabarrus Levine Cancer
Medical Physicist Oncology Senior - Levine Cancer Proton & Advanced Radiation Center
Med Physicist Oncology Sr
Physicist - Radiation Oncology
Medical Physicist
Medical Physicist - per diem
Medical Physicist - per diem
Medical Physicist
Highest-paying jobs
Post Doctoral Research Fellow
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Lead, Quant Engineer
Senior Clinical Research Associate - Oncology (US)
Researcher, Training
Researcher, Training - London
Vice President, Quantitative Researcher, Infrastructure & Real Assets
Principal Machine Learning Researcher (Physical AI)
Researcher, Robustness & Safety Training
Researcher, Safety Training, National Security
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Applied Materials
|
$164,000 | 18 |
|
Siemens Healthineers
|
$205,063 | 16 |
|
Advocate Health
|
$252,148 | 6 |
|
Albany Medical Center
|
$256,344 | 3 |
| AD AdventHealth | $231,248 | 3 |
Infleqtion
|
$211,000 | 3 |
IonQ
|
$165,000 | 3 |
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$101,450 | 3 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| NU Northeastern University | $72,754 | 72 |
The University of Texas at Austin
|
$54,250 | 46 |
| WC Worldwide Clinical Trials | $145,000 | 35 |
IQVIA
|
$131,750 | 35 |
ICON plc
|
$124,335 | 27 |
| SJ St. Jude Children's Research Hospital | $72,515 | 22 |
USC
|
$72,196 | 20 |
| MG Mass General Brigham | $70,875 | 20 |
Physicist salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Chicago | $211,000 | 3 |
Physicist vs Researcher: which pays more?
The median for Physicist is $185,189 per year (typically $142,500–$225,426), versus $106,000 for Researcher ($72,754–$162,500). That puts Physicist about 75% 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.