Data Scientist salary guide 2026
Real salary data for data scientists — base pay, total compensation, equity benchmarks, and how to negotiate your next offer.
Median Base Salary
$130,000
Median Total Comp
$155,000
Data Scientist salary by level
| Level | Experience | Base Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Junior DS / L3 | 0–2 years | $90,000 – $120,000 |
| DS / L4 | 2–5 years | $120,000 – $155,000 |
| Senior DS / L5 | 5–9 years | $150,000 – $185,000 |
| Staff DS / L6 | 9+ years | $180,000 – $220,000 |
Equity notes and total comp details below each level.
Entry-level RSUs at big tech; modest equity at startups
RSUs ~$20K–45K/yr; production ML experience unlocks higher bands
MLOps/production ML seniors approach SWE L5 compensation
Research Scientists / Staff DSs at AI labs can far exceed this range
Top paying cities for data scientists
- 1.San Francisco Bay Area
- 2.Seattle
- 3.New York City
- 4.Boston
- 5.San Diego
What determines your data scientist salary
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Research vs applied split: AI/research scientists at top labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, DeepMind) earn dramatically more than applied DS at typical companies
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Production ML premium: DSs with MLOps and deployment experience earn 15–25% more than pure notebook scientists
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Domain specialty: NLP, computer vision, and reinforcement learning specialists command premium rates
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PhD premium: 5–15% in research-leaning roles; minimal in applied/startup settings
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Industry vertical: finance (quant/data science hybrids), healthcare AI, and adtech pay highest outside pure AI labs
Negotiation script that works
Use this exact script when you receive a data scientist offer. Most hiring managers expect negotiation and have 5–15% room above the first offer.
Replace [$X] with your target number. Research Levels.fyi, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn Salary before the conversation.
Data aggregated from Levels.fyi, Glassdoor, LinkedIn Salary, Kaggle annual survey (2025–2026). AI lab compensation varies significantly and may exceed ranges shown.
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