Side-by-side distribution
AI Engineer
$183,350
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 31.2%
- Live roles
- 10,472
ML Engineer
$200,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 34%
- Live roles
- 2,956
Highest-paying jobs
Senior/Staff Full Stack Engineer, Applied AI
Senior/Staff Backend Engineer, Applied AI
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Machine Learning Engineer ($400k - $600k salary)
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning
Machine Learning Engineer, Monetization AI/ML
Principal Engineer, Agentic AI Systems
Highest-paying jobs
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)
Research Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning)
Machine Learning Engineer ($400k - $600k salary)
Senior Software Engineer, Machine Learning
Machine Learning Engineer, Monetization AI/ML
Staff Backline Engineer – ML/AI
Machine Learning Engineer, Implicit Signals
Training: ML Framework Engineer
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Speechify
|
$170,000 | 144 |
Mindrift
|
$76,960 | 96 |
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$162,000 | 64 |
SpaceX
|
$145,000 | 38 |
|
OpenAI
|
$301,750 | 36 |
Accenture
|
$167,650 | 35 |
General Motors
|
$204,460 | 33 |
Thomson Reuters
|
$185,900 | 33 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
General Motors
|
$204,460 | 27 |
|
Booz Allen Hamilton
|
$162,000 | 22 |
Reddit
|
$276,000 | 19 |
CACI
|
$152,650 | 19 |
Pinterest
|
$260,867 | 18 |
DoorDash USA
|
$251,400 | 15 |
Nuro
|
$242,540 | 14 |
Torc Robotics
|
$195,050 | 14 |
AI Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $230,000 | 527 |
| New York | $211,500 | 497 |
| Los Angeles | $205,000 | 67 |
| Seattle | $205,000 | 185 |
| Boston | $197,500 | 143 |
| Austin | $181,000 | 109 |
| Denver | $180,350 | 67 |
| London | $178,250 | 44 |
| Atlanta | $175,000 | 78 |
| Chicago | $165,500 | 119 |
ML Engineer salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | $251,400 | 23 |
| San Francisco | $239,000 | 198 |
| New York | $225,000 | 141 |
| Boston | $214,050 | 31 |
| Seattle | $212,872 | 66 |
| London | $208,740 | 15 |
| Austin | $205,980 | 32 |
| Atlanta | $189,038 | 10 |
| Denver | $187,050 | 20 |
| Chicago | $175,000 | 25 |
AI Engineer vs ML Engineer: which pays more?
The median for AI Engineer is $183,350 per year (typically $146,300–$225,000), versus $200,000 for ML Engineer ($159,500–$242,540). That puts ML Engineer about 9% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so AI Engineer and ML Engineer 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.