Side-by-side distribution
Research Scientist
$170,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 51.6%
- Live roles
- 819
Statistician
$127,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 38.4%
- Live roles
- 159
Highest-paying jobs
Staff+ Research Scientist, Multi-Agent
Research Engineer / Research Scientist, RL Frontiers
Research Scientist, Interpretability
Research Scientist / Research Engineer - Foundations, Search
Research Engineer/Research Scientist, Pre-training
[Expression of Interest] Research Engineer / Scientist, Alignment - London
Research Engineer/Research Scientist- Personal AGI, Model Experience
Research Engineer/Research Scientist - Personal AGI, North Stars
Research Engineer / Research Scientist - Personal AGI, Personalization
Research Engineer / Research Scientist, Tokens
Highest-paying jobs
Senior Principal Statistician, Early Development (Director Level)
FSP Principal Biostatistician, Medical Affairs
Principal Biostatistician FSP, RWE
FSP Principal Biostatistician, Phase 2 and 3
Member of Technical Staff, Principal Biostatistician
Principal Biostatistician (Associate Director Level)
Principal Biostatistician
Staff Biostatistician (Clinical Validation)
Statistician and Mathematician
Senior Principal Statistician, Biometrics
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
The University of Texas at Austin
|
$48,000 | 19 |
|
Anthropic
|
$425,000 | 13 |
|
OpenAI
|
$440,000 | 12 |
Astera Institute
|
$177,500 | 11 |
Anduril Industries
|
$221,000 | 10 |
UL Research Institutes
|
$128,747 | 10 |
MSD
|
$329,250 | 9 |
| SA Scale AI | $243,000 | 8 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
IQVIA
|
$202,700 | 5 |
|
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
|
$165,200 | 3 |
Edwards Lifesciences
|
$159,000 | 3 |
Advocate Health
|
$106,860 | 3 |
Costello Medical
|
$77,500 | 3 |
|
Roche
|
$232,050 | 2 |
|
Natera
|
$193,725 | 2 |
| WC Worldwide Clinical Trials | $137,250 | 2 |
Research Scientist salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| London | $275,000 | 9 |
| San Francisco | $267,500 | 85 |
| New York | $243,000 | 55 |
| Seattle | $213,800 | 22 |
| Toronto | $212,000 | 8 |
| Boston | $192,500 | 25 |
| Los Angeles | $187,500 | 3 |
| Chicago | $147,566 | 4 |
| Austin | $49,864 | 10 |
Statistician salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $219,000 | 3 |
| New York | $156,056 | 4 |
| Boston | $137,113 | 9 |
| Chicago | $93,174 | 3 |
Research Scientist vs Statistician: which pays more?
The median for Research Scientist is $170,000 per year (typically $115,000–$242,745), versus $127,000 for Statistician ($97,143–$171,353). That puts Research Scientist about 34% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Research Scientist and Statistician 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.