Across 208 live US postings for data engineers with a listed USD salary, measured November 2026, the median offer is $146,758–$198,700 a year. This is the tracked catalog, not the whole labor market.
Measured November 2026 · n=208 US postings with salary
Data engineer salary: $146,758–$198,700 a year, measured from live postings.
Every number below comes from 1,013 tracked live postings whose title matches "data engineer". No surveys, no self-reports. Listed salaries only, in US dollars.
- The median data engineer posting offers $146,758–$198,700 a year (n=208).
- 22.6% of the 1,013 live postings matching "data engineer" are remote.
- Builds AI data engineers list $146,400–$229,100, vs $146,151–$196,600 at Little AI.
Median salary by seniority (USD / year)
Seniority as tagged on the posting. Both salary bounds required.
| Segment | US postings with salary | Median min–max / year |
|---|---|---|
| Intern | 2 | $178,295–$178,295 |
| Junior | 4 | $101,300–$160,000 |
| Mid-level | 71 | $132,100–$178,800 |
| Senior | 92 | $162,236–$220,000 |
| Lead | 31 | $188,251–$248,900 |
Remote vs on-site (USD / year)
| Segment | US postings with salary | Median min–max / year |
|---|---|---|
| Remote | 56 | $175,000–$232,542 |
| On-site / hybrid | 152 | $137,176–$190,000 |
Companies hiring data engineers
Method
US-dollar postings whose title contains "data engineer", with both salary bounds listed. This page exists because 208 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 Do not cite as a national average.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.
Source: O*NET OnLine (U.S. Dept. of Labor): Database Administrators (SOC 15-1242.00).
How many data engineers jobs are remote?
22.6% of the 208 live postings are marked remote by the employer, measured November 2026.
Does the AI level of the job change the pay?
In this sample, 26 postings build AI and 654 involve little AI. See the level breakdown below for the median at each level. Measured November 2026.