Salary data · Updated daily
Science and research salaries in the United States
Median $208k a year across 372 live postings that publish pay; the middle half runs from $155k to $275k. 82% of the 454 live postings in this segment publish a band at all.
The middle half: $155k to $275k. The ends are folded into the outer bars.
Bars are the middle half of published bands; the tick is the median.
Highest-paying employers
Thinking Machines Labmedian of 13 published bands$413k
Mercormedian of 5 published bands$375k
OpenAImedian of 18 published bands$370k
RunwayMLmedian of 3 published bands$315k
Datadogmedian of 7 published bands$311k
Anthropicmedian of 13 published bands$310k
Databricksmedian of 3 published bands$305k
Periodic Labsmedian of 10 published bands$294k
Hiring the most right now
Guidehouseopen roles in this segment21
REVOLUTION Medicinesopen roles in this segment21
Waymoopen roles in this segment18
Aliceopen roles in this segment10
By job title
| Title | Median | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| Research Scientist | $184k | 20 |
| Staff Applied Scientist | $258k | 5 |
| Senior Research Scientist | $240k | 4 |
| AI Research Scientist | $183k | 3 |
| Member of Technical Staff - Research | $210k | 3 |
| Senior Safety Scientist II | $210k | 3 |
The best-paid openings in this segment
- Mercor AI Research Fund Grants: BenchmarksMercor · Remote$5000k to $5000k
- Mercor AI Research Fund Grants: Economics of AIMercor · San Francisco, California, United States$5000k to $5000k
- Staff+ Research Scientist, Multi-AgentAnthropic · Remote$500k to $850k
- Research Scientist, InterpretabilityAnthropic · San Francisco, CA$350k to $850k
- Senior Quantitative ResearcherNumerai · San Francisco, California, United States$520k to $600k
- RE/RS, Data Understanding (MM)OpenAI · Remote$350k to $555k
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Other salaries in the United States
Questions this data answers
What is the median salary for science and research roles in the United States?
$208k a year in base pay, across 372 live postings that publish a salary band. The middle half of those bands runs from $155k to $275k.
What do the best-paid science and research roles in the United States offer?
One in ten published bands has a midpoint above $369k, and one in ten sits below $108k.
How many science and research job posts publish a salary?
82% of the 454 live postings in this segment state a pay range. The figures here are drawn only from those.
Do remote science and research roles in the United States pay less?
Remote postings publish a median of $204k against $208k for on-site and hybrid ones, from 60 and 312 postings respectively.
Which companies pay the most for science and research roles in the United States?
Among employers with at least two published bands, the highest medians right now are at Thinking Machines Lab ($413k), Mercor ($375k), OpenAI ($370k).
Where does this data come from?
Base pay only, as employers publish it in their own job posts: the midpoint of each annual range, in the currency most postings use. Equity, bonus and commission are not in it. Updated daily.
Base pay only, as employers publish it in their own job posts: the midpoint of each annual range, in the currency most postings use. Equity, bonus and commission are not in it. Read off the live postings on Refolk's job board, where an employer is only counted while the posting is open. Updated daily.