Side-by-side distribution
Chemist
$95,400
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 53.6%
- Live roles
- 28
Research Scientist
$214,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 52.7%
- Live roles
- 395
Highest-paying jobs
Medicinal Chemist
Senior Materials Chemist
9.2. Senior R&D Chemist
Computational Chemist, Senior Scientist II / Principal Scientist I
Senior Computational Chemist, Drug Discovery (UK)
Analytical Chemist, R&D
Soft Products Formulation Chemist
Soft Products Formulation Chemist
Analytical Chemist
Analytical Chemist
Highest-paying jobs
Research Engineer/Research Scientist, Pre-training
Research Scientist, Interpretability
Research Engineer / Research Scientist- Personal AGI (Post Training)
Research Engineer / Research Scientist -Personal AGI, Proactivity
[Expression of Interest] Research Scientist / Engineer, Honesty
Research Engineer / Scientist, Alignment Science
Staff / Principal Research Scientist - USA
Research Engineer / Research Scientist, Tokens
Research Engineer/Research Scientist, Audio
Research Engineer / Scientist, Alignment Science - London
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
PBI-Gordon Corporation
|
$70,200 | 2 |
|
Inductive Bio
|
$230,000 | 1 |
|
Helion
|
$218,000 | 1 |
|
Phoenix Tailings
|
$150,000 | 1 |
| SC Schrödinger | $142,500 | 1 |
| SA SandboxAQ | $108,235 | 1 |
|
Hims & Hers
|
$97,500 | 1 |
|
Harry's
|
$95,400 | 1 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Anthropic
|
$425,000 | 11 |
Anduril Industries
|
$221,000 | 11 |
| LS Lila Sciences | $240,000 | 8 |
| SA SandboxAQ | $169,114 | 8 |
Astera Institute
|
$225,000 | 6 |
Waabi
|
$212,750 | 6 |
| SA Scale AI | $243,000 | 5 |
Nuro
|
$229,900 | 5 |
Chemist salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $142,500 | 3 |
Research Scientist salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $255,000 | 70 |
| New York | $231,000 | 39 |
| London | $228,341 | 6 |
| Seattle | $213,800 | 11 |
| Toronto | $212,000 | 8 |
| Boston | $197,500 | 7 |
| Los Angeles | $125,000 | 4 |
Chemist vs Research Scientist: which pays more?
The median for Chemist is $95,400 per year (typically $67,125–$133,934), versus $214,000 for Research Scientist ($177,227–$265,150). That puts Research Scientist about 124% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Chemist and Research Scientist 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.