Side-by-side distribution
Postdoc
$95,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 55.3%
- Live roles
- 38
Research Scientist
$220,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 55%
- Live roles
- 411
Highest-paying jobs
Physics Expert (PhD / Postdoc)
Physics Expert (Postdoc / Junior professor)
Postdoctoral Researcher, Real-Time Generative AI for Automotive XR
Quantum Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow - QEC
Quantum Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow - Quantum Applications
Postdoctoral Researcher - Multifunctional Materials Development
Postdoctoral Fellow - Applied Machine Learning in Quantum Systems
Industrial Postdoc - Molecular Biology (mNGS Project)
Postdoctoral Fellow, MARA (Modeling, Abstraction and Reasoning Agents)
Postdoctoral Fellow, Open Call
Highest-paying jobs
Research Scientist, Takeoff Intel
Research Engineer/Research Scientist, Pre-training
Research Scientist, Interpretability
Principal Research Scientist, Robot Foundation Model
[Expression of Interest] Research Engineer / Scientist, Alignment - London
Staff / Principal Research Scientist - USA
Research Engineer / Research Scientist - Personal AGI, Personalization
Research Scientist, APEX Benchmarks
Research Engineer / Research Scientist - Personal AGI, Memory
Research Scientist
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Arc Institute
|
$80,000 | 6 |
|
QuEra Computing, Inc.
|
$115,000 | 3 |
Calico
|
$95,000 | 3 |
|
micro1
|
$275,600 | 2 |
| BR Basis Research Institute | $100,000 | 2 |
|
Tri
|
$185,250 | 1 |
|
Clear Labs
|
$94,619 | 1 |
|
Elve Inc
|
$92,500 | 1 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
OpenAI
|
$440,000 | 14 |
| SA Scale AI | $244,350 | 12 |
Anduril Industries
|
$221,000 | 12 |
|
Anthropic
|
$425,000 | 11 |
Astera Institute
|
$173,750 | 10 |
| LS Lila Sciences | $240,000 | 6 |
Waabi
|
$212,750 | 6 |
Applied Intuition
|
$274,500 | 5 |
Postdoc salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Boston | $115,000 | 3 |
| San Francisco | $95,000 | 3 |
Postdoc vs Research Scientist: which pays more?
The median for Postdoc is $95,000 per year (typically $80,000–$115,000), versus $220,000 for Research Scientist ($169,350–$282,618). That puts Research Scientist about 132% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Postdoc and Research Scientist 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.