Side-by-side distribution
Physicist
$138,747
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 34.3%
- Live roles
- 35
Researcher
$159,360
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 35.8%
- Live roles
- 1,100
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
Researcher, Training - London
UX Researcher
Member of Technical Staff (AI Researcher)
World Model / Action Policy Researcher
Researcher, Recursive Self-Improvement Safety
Researcher, Frontier Biological and Chemical Risks
Researcher, Alignment Training
Researcher, Automated Red Teaming
Researcher, Safety & Privacy
Researcher, Frontier Cybersecurity Risks
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 |
|---|---|---|
|
OpenAI
|
$370,000 | 20 |
Egon Zehnder
|
$90,000 | 13 |
Two Six Technologies
|
$175,649 | 11 |
American Institutes for Research
|
$140,000 | 10 |
GiveWell
|
$308,000 | 9 |
Stevens Capital Management LP
|
$225,000 | 9 |
STR
|
$194,500 | 9 |
Arc Institute
|
$80,000 | 8 |
Physicist vs Researcher: which pays more?
The median for Physicist is $138,747 per year (typically $130,000–$153,875), versus $159,360 for Researcher ($100,875–$216,250). That puts Researcher about 15% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Physicist and Researcher 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.