Side-by-side distribution
Postdoc
$93,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 62.5%
- Live roles
- 40
Research Scientist
$219,375
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 53.1%
- Live roles
- 382
Highest-paying jobs
Postdoctoral Researcher, Real-Time Generative AI for Automotive XR
Postdoctoral Research Fellow Clinical Research & Impact
ML Postdoc Researcher - Healthcare AI Innovation
ML Postdoc Researcher - LLMs & Generative AI
Postdoctoral Researcher - Multifunctional Materials Development
Quantum Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow - Quantum Applications
Postdoctoral Fellow - Applied Machine Learning in Quantum Systems
Quantum Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow - QEC
Industrial Postdoc - Molecular Biology (mNGS Project)
Quantum Physics Postdoctoral Researcher
Highest-paying jobs
Research Engineer/Research Scientist, Pre-training
Research Scientist, Interpretability
Research Engineer / Research Scientist - Personal AGI, Personality and Model Behavior
Research Engineer / Research Scientist -Personal AGI, Proactivity
Research Engineer/Research Scientist - Personal AGI, North Stars
Research Engineer / Research Scientist- Personal AGI (Post Training)
Staff / Principal Research Scientist - USA
Research Engineer / Research Scientist, Tokens
Research Engineer / Scientist, Alignment
[Expression of Interest] Research Engineer / Scientist, Alignment - London
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Arc Institute
|
$80,000 | 5 |
Biohub
|
$88,575 | 4 |
|
QuEra Computing, Inc.
|
$115,000 | 3 |
Calico
|
$95,000 | 3 |
|
Truveta
|
$114,400 | 2 |
|
Tri
|
$185,250 | 1 |
|
SimplePractice
|
$135,000 | 1 |
|
Technergetics
|
$95,500 | 1 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Anthropic
|
$402,500 | 11 |
Anduril Industries
|
$221,000 | 8 |
Astera Institute
|
$225,000 | 7 |
Waabi
|
$212,750 | 6 |
|
OpenAI
|
$425,000 | 5 |
| SA Scale AI | $243,000 | 5 |
Nuro
|
$229,900 | 5 |
World Labs
|
$300,000 | 4 |
Postdoc salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Boston | $115,000 | 3 |
| San Francisco | $95,000 | 3 |
Research Scientist salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Boston | $275,000 | 8 |
| San Francisco | $265,000 | 66 |
| Seattle | $252,725 | 10 |
| New York | $243,000 | 37 |
| Toronto | $212,000 | 8 |
| London | $203,341 | 10 |
| Los Angeles | $125,000 | 4 |
Postdoc vs Research Scientist: which pays more?
The median for Postdoc is $93,000 per year (typically $84,150–$114,400), versus $219,375 for Research Scientist ($177,088–$275,000). That puts Research Scientist about 136% 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.