Side-by-side distribution
Physicist
$138,747
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 34.3%
- Live roles
- 35
Postdoc
$93,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 65.9%
- Live roles
- 44
Highest-paying jobs
Quantum Physicist
Experimental Physicist
Health Physicist
Experimental Physicist
Atomic Physicist
Divertor Plasma Physicist
Senior Physicist - Resilience Engineering & Operations
Experimental Physicist (Accelerator)
Accelerator Physicist
Simulation Physicist - Ion Transport and Waveform Design
Highest-paying jobs
Postdoctoral Researcher, Real-Time Generative AI for Automotive XR
Postdoctoral Researcher, CAD Generation Machine Learning
ML Postdoc Researcher - Healthcare AI Innovation
ML Postdoc Researcher - LLMs & Generative AI
Quantum Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow - Quantum Applications
Postdoctoral Fellow - Applied Machine Learning in Quantum Systems
Postdoctoral Researcher - Multifunctional Materials Development
Quantum Innovation Postdoctoral Fellow - QEC
Industrial Postdoc - Molecular Biology (mNGS Project)
Quantum Physics Postdoctoral Researcher
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
|
Thea Energy
|
$130,000 | 3 |
|
Pacific Fusion
|
$161,250 | 2 |
|
Acceleron Fusion
|
$130,000 | 2 |
|
IonQ
|
$129,946 | 2 |
|
Infleqtion
|
$170,500 | 1 |
|
Helion
|
$158,000 | 1 |
| LO Logiqal | $152,500 | 1 |
Top companies hiring
| Company | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
Biohub
|
$93,000 | 7 |
Calico
|
$95,000 | 5 |
Arc Institute
|
$80,000 | 5 |
|
QuEra Computing, Inc.
|
$115,000 | 3 |
|
Tri
|
$185,250 | 2 |
|
Truveta
|
$114,400 | 2 |
|
Technergetics
|
$95,500 | 1 |
|
Clear Labs
|
$94,619 | 1 |
Postdoc salary by location
| Location | Median | Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Boston | $115,000 | 3 |
| San Francisco | $95,000 | 5 |
| New York | $93,000 | 4 |
| Chicago | $84,150 | 3 |
Physicist vs Postdoc: which pays more?
The median for Physicist is $138,747 per year (typically $130,000–$153,875), versus $93,000 for Postdoc ($84,150–$95,500). That puts Physicist about 49% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Physicist and Postdoc 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.