# Research scientist salary: $192,000–$304,750 a year

Every number below comes from 262 tracked live postings whose title matches "research scientist". No surveys, no self-reports. Listed salaries only, in US dollars.

Measured November 2026 · n=152 US postings with salary.

## Findings

- The median research scientist posting offers $192,000–$304,750 a year (n=152).
- 23.3% of the 262 live postings matching "research scientist" are remote.
- Builds AI (AI Level 4) research scientists list $192,000–$304,750, vs $119,564–$169,500 at Little AI (AI Level 1).

## Median salary by seniority (USD / year)

| Segment | US postings with salary | Median min–max / year |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Intern | 1 | $170,598–$170,602 |
| Junior | 4 | $126,000–$423,000 |
| Mid-level | 16 | $136,000–$184,000 |
| Senior | 78 | $192,000–$304,750 |
| Lead | 15 | $249,120–$350,000 |

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

| Segment | US postings with salary | Median min–max / year |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Remote | 23 | $213,000–$315,360 |
| On-site / hybrid | 129 | $176,000–$304,750 |

## Companies hiring research scientists

- [NVIDIA](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/nvidia) (36)
- [Amazon](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/amazon) (16)
- [OpenAI](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/openai) (14)
- [Anthropic](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/anthropic) (13)
- [Luma AI](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/luma-ai) (11)
- [IFM](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/ifm) (10)
- [Anduril Industries](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/anduril-industries) (9)
- [Scale AI](https://jobsbylevel.com/companies/scale-ai) (8)

## Method

US-dollar postings whose title contains "research scientist", with both salary bounds listed. This page exists because 152 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 Do not cite as a national average.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.

## Research scientist salary questions, answered from the data

**What is the median research scientist salary?**

Across 152 live US postings for research scientists with a listed USD salary, measured November 2026, the median offer is $192,000–$304,750 a year. This is the tracked catalog, not the whole labor market.

**How many research scientists jobs are remote?**

23.3% of the 152 live postings are marked remote by the employer, measured November 2026.

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

In this sample, 222 postings build AI and 28 involve little AI. See the level breakdown below for the median at each level. Measured November 2026.

Source: https://jobsbylevel.com/salaries/role/research-scientist

## Cite this page

Level. https://jobsbylevel.com/salaries/role/research-scientist. Measured November 2026.

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