AI/ML & Data Jobs Salary Benchmark: The 3 biggest take aways

AI/ML salaries beat data salaries (at median): Both at the junior and senior level (as well as overall), AI/ML research scientists earn the highest median income, with Machine Learning Engineers coming in second, and AI engineers coming in third.
The highest reported salary in the sample is that of a senior data engineer: $4.83m (although data engineers have the lowest median salary of all senior data and AI/ML professionals). Keep in mind: the AI/ML professions haven’t been around for very long. Right now, there aren’t (m)any senior professionals with decades of experience under their belt. As this will changes over the next couple of years, the maximum individual salaries of AI/ML research scientists and AI and ML engineers are likely to catch up.
Higher median compensation = higher variance in compensation. A lot of AI/ML jobs are either at Big Tech companies or universities. While Big Tech offers very generous salaries, university positions are often less lucrative. Thus, salaries for AI/ML jobs tend to vary more (with one exception: the income of data engineers varies the most at the senior level).

Salaries in the US (2025)

KDE of the 5 most important data professions (total comp, count=1,763)

The median gross income for data and AI/ML professionals in the U.S. is $200k (mean income: around $250k). Data engineers make around $144k at median, data scientists around $160k. AI engineers come in at $178k and Machine Learning engineers at $242k. At $292k, AI/ML research scientists have the highest median salary of the group.

Entry-level jobs in data and ML/AI pay $169k at median. As is the case with the overall distribution, median entry-level salaries are the highest for AI/ML research scientists ($250k) and ML engineers ($217k). Junior AI engineers make $150k, junior data scientists $147k, and junior data engineers take home $125k.
AI/ML research scientists also lead the field for highest reported entry-level salary at $900k, followed by data scientists ($816k) and ML engineers ($795k). The highest income reported by a junior AI engineer is $660k, while junior data engineers peak at $408k.
Overall, entry-level salaries vary more for higher paying professions: the income of AI/ML research scientists varies the most, followed by ML engineers. Junior data scientists and junior AI engineers exhibit comparatively moderate variation in renumeration, while the salaries of junior data engineers vary the least.

Senior data and AI/ML professionals earn $275k at median, more than $100k up from the median salary for entry-level employees. Comparing median compensation across the five occupations, the story repeats: senior data engineers make $200k and data scientists $230k. Senior AI engineers earn $233k, while senior Machine Learning engineers are paid $368k at median. Again, AI/ML research scientists come in first, at a median income of $399k for senior positions.
The maximum individual earnings reported by senior data and AI/ML professionals are a considerable step up from those at the junior-level: $615k for senior data scientists, $670k for AI Engineers, and $1.32m for ML engineers. The highest salary among senior AI/ML research scientists is $4.21m, and $4.83m among senior data engineers
For senior positions, the income of data engineers and AI/ML research scientists varies the most, followed by ML engineers. The salaries of senior AI engineers and data scientists vary less.