Side-by-side distribution
AI Engineer
$200,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 39.1%
- Live roles
- 5,349
Data Analyst
$106,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 31.1%
- Live roles
- 1,347
Highest-paying jobs
Lead Software Engineer, Generative AI
Senior Software Engineer, Generative AI
Senior/Staff Backend Engineer, Applied AI
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Backend Engineer, AI
Machine Learning Engineer - Fraud Risk
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Highest-paying jobs
Financial Crimes & Risk Data Analyst
Senior Product Data Analyst
Senior Data Analyst
Senior Data Analyst
Software Engineer, Macro Quant Analytics Technology
Data Analyst (12 month FTC)
Data Analyst II
Data Analyst II
Data Analyst
Spatial Data Analyst - AI Trainer
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Mindrift
|
$72,800 | 47 |
OpenAI
|
$247,000 | 36 |
Unity Technologies
|
$198,550 | 34 |
Pinterest
|
$260,867 | 22 |
Motional
|
$200,500 | 22 |
| SE Sezzle | $70,499 | 22 |
|
Handshake
|
$252,500 | 20 |
Databricks
|
$221,553 | 20 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Burson
|
$55,000 | 24 |
Air Apps
|
$65,766 | 10 |
Anduril Industries
|
$130,500 | 7 |
Launch Potato
|
$135,000 | 6 |
Klaviyo
|
$155,000 | 5 |
SMX
|
$150,700 | 5 |
Metropolis
|
$125,000 | 5 |
Affirm
|
$175,000 | 4 |
Data Analyst salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $132,500 | 31 |
| Seattle | $132,000 | 11 |
| Chicago | $127,000 | 18 |
| Boston | $120,544 | 17 |
| New York | $111,375 | 97 |
| Denver | $105,750 | 16 |
| Los Angeles | $103,000 | 15 |
| Toronto | $93,750 | 22 |
| Berlin | $81,696 | 4 |
| Austin | $72,500 | 7 |
AI Engineer vs Data Analyst: which pays more?
The median for AI Engineer is $200,000 per year (typically $162,000–$237,500), versus $106,000 for Data Analyst ($82,894–$135,000). That puts AI Engineer about 89% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so AI Engineer and Data Analyst 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.