Median salary
$170,000
per year · annualized USD
Typical range
$115k – $242.7k
25th–75th percentile
Disclosing pay
51.6%
423 of 819 roles
Live roles
819
open right now
Salary trend
median · annualized USDSalary distribution
annualized USD · disclosed rolesHighest-paying jobs
Research Engineer / Research Scientist, RL Frontiers
Research Engineer/Research Scientist, Pre-training
Staff+ Research Scientist, Multi-Agent
Research Scientist, Interpretability
[Expression of Interest] Research Engineer / Scientist, Alignment - London
Research Engineer/Research Scientist - Personal AGI, North Stars
Research Engineer/Research Scientist- Personal AGI, Model Experience
Research Engineer / Research Scientist - Personal AGI, Personalization
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 |
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 |
Salary by employment type
| Employment type | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time | $175,000 | 401 |
| Part-time | $41,750 | 8 |
| Contract | $67.50/hr | 3 |
| Internship | $41.75/hr | 9 |
See every Research Scientist role
Browse the live listings, or save this search and get alerted the moment a new one posts.
How much do Research Scientist roles pay?
The median salary for Research Scientist roles is $170,000 per year. Most pay falls between $115,000 (25th percentile) and $242,745 (75th percentile), with the broader 10th–90th percentile band running from $78,000 to $305,000.
These figures are computed live from 819 active Research Scientist roles on JobsRadar, of which 423 (51.6%) publish a salary range. Pay is normalized to annualized USD so roles can be compared on equal terms; the highest-paying roles listed above show their original posted currency. Numbers refresh every few hours as new roles are posted and older ones close.
Employers currently hiring well-paid Research Scientist roles include Anthropic and OpenAI.
Salary transparency varies by employer and region, so the disclosing share above reflects only roles that publish pay — not every open position. Use it as a directional benchmark rather than an exact offer.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the average Research Scientist salary?
- The median is $170,000 per year, with most pay between $115,000 and $242,745 (25th–75th percentile), based on 423 live listings that disclose pay on JobsRadar.
- What is the Research Scientist salary range?
- Pay ranges from about $78,000 to $305,000 per year (10th–90th percentile) around a median of $170,000. Figures are annualized USD from live listings, refreshed every few hours.