Side-by-side distribution
Postdoc
$95,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 54.1%
- Live roles
- 37
Researcher
$175,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 36.3%
- Live roles
- 1,066
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
Postdoctoral Researcher - Multifunctional Materials Development
Quantum Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow - Quantum Applications
Postdoctoral Fellow - Applied Machine Learning in Quantum Systems
Industrial Postdoc - Molecular Biology (mNGS Project)
Postdoctoral Fellow, Open Call
Postdoctoral Fellow, MARA (Modeling, Abstraction and Reasoning Agents)
Highest-paying jobs
Researcher, Training
Researcher, Training - London
Researcher, Multimodal Safety
Researcher, Alignment Interpretability
Researcher, Recursive Self-Improvement Safety
Researcher, Robustness & Safety Training
Researcher, Agent Safety, Oversight and System Mitigations
Researcher, Agent Safety, Training and Evaluations
Researcher, Safety Oversight
Researcher, Alignment CoT Monitorability
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 | 15 |
|
Arc Institute
|
$80,000 | 13 |
GiveWell
|
$308,000 | 9 |
Two Six Technologies
|
$234,897 | 9 |
Stevens Capital Management LP
|
$225,000 | 9 |
Point72
|
$162,500 | 9 |
IMC
|
$275,000 | 8 |
Distyl AI
|
$200,000 | 7 |
Postdoc salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Boston | $115,000 | 3 |
| San Francisco | $95,000 | 3 |
Researcher salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| London | $250,000 | 23 |
| Singapore | $250,000 | 7 |
| San Francisco | $212,250 | 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 |
Postdoc vs Researcher: which pays more?
The median for Postdoc is $95,000 per year (typically $80,000–$115,000), versus $175,000 for Researcher ($102,500–$225,000). That puts Researcher about 84% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Postdoc 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.