Side-by-side distribution
Postdoc
$93,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 65.9%
- Live roles
- 44
Research Scientist
$214,000
median · per year, annualized USD
- Disclosing
- 52.7%
- Live roles
- 395
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
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 |
|---|---|---|
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
Postdoc vs Research Scientist: which pays more?
The median for Postdoc is $93,000 per year (typically $84,150–$95,500), versus $214,000 for Research Scientist ($177,227–$265,150). That puts Research Scientist about 130% ahead at the median.
Both figures are computed live from active listings on JobsRadar and normalized to annualized USD, so Postdoc 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.