# Machine learning engineer salary: $196,250–$271,080 a year

Every number below comes from 761 tracked live postings whose title matches "machine learning engineer". No surveys, no self-reports. Listed salaries only, in US dollars.

Measured November 2026 · n=300 US postings with salary.

## Findings

- The median machine learning engineer posting offers $196,250–$271,080 a year (n=300).
- 37.2% of the 761 live postings matching "machine learning engineer" are remote.
- Builds AI (AI Level 4) machine learning engineers list $196,500–$270,000, vs $184,000–$291,600 at Little AI (AI Level 1).

## Median salary by seniority (USD / year)

| Segment | US postings with salary | Median min–max / year |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Intern | 1 | $200,000–$200,000 |
| Junior | 4 | $127,664–$193,400 |
| Mid-level | 43 | $165,000–$223,600 |
| Senior | 165 | $200,000–$263,000 |
| Lead | 70 | $230,000–$310,000 |

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

| Segment | US postings with salary | Median min–max / year |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Remote | 93 | $207,000–$290,500 |
| On-site / hybrid | 207 | $190,000–$270,000 |

## Companies hiring machine learning engineers

- [Waymo](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/waymo) (45)
- [Capital One](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/capital-one) (32)
- [Faculty](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/faculty) (25)
- [Amazon](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/amazon) (21)
- [Reddit](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/reddit) (21)
- [Pinterest](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/pinterest) (20)
- [Airbnb](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/airbnb) (13)
- [PwC](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/pwc) (11)

## Method

US-dollar postings whose title contains "machine learning engineer", with both salary bounds listed. This page exists because 300 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 Do not cite as a national average.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.

## Machine learning engineer salary questions, answered from the data

**What is the median machine learning engineer salary?**

Across 300 live US postings for machine learning engineers with a listed USD salary, measured November 2026, the median offer is $196,250–$271,080 a year. This is the tracked catalog, not the whole labor market.

**How many machine learning engineers jobs are remote?**

37.2% of the 300 live postings are marked remote by the employer, measured November 2026.

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

In this sample, 716 postings build AI and 39 involve little AI. See the level breakdown below for the median at each level. Measured November 2026.

Source: https://jobsbylevel.com/salaries/role/machine-learning-engineer

## Cite this page

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

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