Across 136 live US postings for data scientists with a listed USD salary, measured September 2026, the median offer is $190,800–$260,000 a year. This is the tracked catalog, not the whole labor market.
Measured September 2026 · n=136 US postings with salary
Data scientist salary: $190,800–$260,000 a year, measured from live postings.
Every number below comes from 294 tracked live postings whose title matches "data scientist". No surveys, no self-reports — listed salaries only, in US dollars.
- The median data scientist posting offers $190,800–$260,000 a year (n=136).
- 55.1% of the 294 live postings matching "data scientist" are remote.
- Level 4 data scientists (building AI systems) list $190,500–$238,200, vs $190,800–$262,800 at Level 1.
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 | 0 | not enough data |
| Junior | 1 | $120,000–$240,000 |
| Mid-level | 17 | $140,000–$226,800 |
| Senior | 81 | $190,800–$260,000 |
| Lead | 26 | $212,500–$301,950 |
Remote vs on-site (USD / year)
| Segment | US postings with salary | Median min–max / year |
|---|---|---|
| Remote | 66 | $190,400–$260,000 |
| On-site / hybrid | 70 | $192,000–$260,000 |
Companies hiring data scientists
Method
US-dollar postings whose title contains "data scientist", with both salary bounds listed. This page exists because 136 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 Not the whole labor market — do not cite as a national average.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 September 2026. Small-n slices move a lot — read the n column first.
Source: O*NET OnLine (U.S. Dept. of Labor) — Data Scientists (SOC 15-2051.00).
How many data scientists jobs are remote?
55.1% of the 136 live postings are marked remote by the employer, measured September 2026.
Does the AI level of the job change the pay?
In this sample, 107 postings are Level 4 (building AI systems) and 109 are Level 1 (AI is not the work). See the AI level breakdown below for the median in each band. Measured September 2026.