# Data engineer salary: $145,544–$196,600 a year

Every number below comes from 1,006 tracked live postings whose title matches "data engineer". No surveys, no self-reports. Listed salaries only, in US dollars.

Measured November 2026 · n=206 US postings with salary.

## Findings

- The median data engineer posting offers $145,544–$196,600 a year (n=206).
- 22.3% of the 1,006 live postings matching "data engineer" are remote.
- Builds AI (AI Level 4) data engineers list $146,400–$229,100, vs $145,300–$196,600 at Little AI (AI Level 1).

## Median salary by seniority (USD / year)

| Segment | US postings with salary | Median min–max / year |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Intern | 2 | $178,295–$178,295 |
| Junior | 3 | $101,300–$160,000 |
| Mid-level | 73 | $132,100–$178,800 |
| Senior | 91 | $160,000–$214,000 |
| Lead | 31 | $186,900–$248,900 |

## Remote vs on-site (USD / year)

| Segment | US postings with salary | Median min–max / year |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Remote | 54 | $175,000–$230,042 |
| On-site / hybrid | 152 | $135,000–$185,900 |

## Companies hiring data engineers

- [Amazon](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/amazon) (117)
- [Capital One](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/capital-one) (52)
- [Sopra Steria](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/sopra-steria) (52)
- [PwC](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/pwc) (47)
- [Tietoevry](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/tietoevry) (32)
- [Mastercard](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/mastercard) (29)
- [Capco](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/capco) (23)
- [Procter & Gamble](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/procter-gamble) (18)

## Method

US-dollar postings whose title contains "data engineer", with both salary bounds listed. This page exists because 206 such postings clear the 50-posting floor Level requires before publishing a dedicated salary page. Below that, the median moves too much between ingestion cycles to be a citable number.

Sample: postings at tech companies tracked by Level. Not the whole labor market. Do not cite as a national average.

Refreshed automatically; this edition is measured November 2026. Small-n slices move a lot. Read the n column first.

## Data engineer salary questions, answered from the data

**What is the median data engineer salary?**

Across 206 live US postings for data engineers with a listed USD salary, measured November 2026, the median offer is $145,544–$196,600 a year. This is the tracked catalog, not the whole labor market.

**How many data engineers jobs are remote?**

22.3% of the 206 live postings are marked remote by the employer, measured November 2026.

**Does the AI level of the job change the pay?**

In this sample, 24 postings build AI and 643 involve little AI. See the level breakdown below for the median at each level. Measured November 2026.

Source: https://jobsbylevel.com/salaries/role/data-engineer

## Cite this page

Level. https://jobsbylevel.com/salaries/role/data-engineer. Measured November 2026.

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