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salary report · updated november 2026

How Much Do Research Scientist Jobs Pay in San Francisco? (November 2026)

As of November 2026, the median Research Scientist salary in San Francisco is $250,750 a year. Most roles pay between $175,000 and $432,500 (the 10th–90th percentile), drawn from 145 live salaried listings across 58 companies. All figures are converted to annual US dollars so different sources compare like-for-like.

Median salary
$250,750
per year · annual USD
Typical range
$175k – $433k
10th–90th percentile
Range seen
$15k – $969k
lowest to highest
Sample
145
salaried listings · 58 companies
AI Engineer payData Scientist payMachine Learning Engineer payData Engineer payData Analyst payAnalytics Engineer pay payMLOps pay

How pay has moved

$145k$300k$455kAug 2026Sep 2026Oct 2026Nov 2026

Median base salary by month, from our monthly salary snapshots.

Highest-paying employers

  1. #1
    O
    OpenAI
    17 salaried listings in San Francisco
    $425,000
    median
    Research Scientist / Research Engineer - Foundations, Search$380k – $850k·San FranciscoResearch Scientist / Research Engineer, Search - Knowledge Graphs$380k – $850k·San FranciscoResearch Scientist / Research Engineer, Search Integrity$380k – $850k·San FranciscoResearch Engineer / Research Scientist, Human Flourishing$380k – $500k·San FranciscoResearch Engineer, AI for Chip Design$380k – $500k·San Francisco
    All OpenAI roles →
  2. #2
    A
    Anthropic
    17 salaried listings in San Francisco
    $352,500
    median
    Research Engineer / Research Scientist, RL Frontiers$500k – $850k·San Francisco, CAResearch Engineer / Scientist, Pre-training$500k – $850k·RemoteResearch Engineer, Chip Design RL$500k – $850k·San Francisco, CAResearch Engineer, Machine Learning (Reinforcement Learning) $500k – $850k·San Francisco, CAResearch Scientist, Multi-Agent$500k – $850k·San Francisco, CA
    All Anthropic roles →
  3. #3
    M
    Mercor
    5 salaried listings in San Francisco
    $340,000
    median
    Research Engineer - Environments, Data and Post-Training$250k – $500k·San FranciscoResearch Scientist, APEX Benchmarks$200k – $500k·San FranciscoResearch Engineer – Benchmarking$180k – $500k·San FranciscoResearch Engineer Intern - Environments, Data and Post-Training$0k – $0k·San FranciscoResearch Engineer, Intern – Benchmarking$0k – $0k·San Francisco
    All Mercor roles →
  4. #4
    A
    AfterQuery
    3 salaried listings in San Francisco
    $330,000
    median
    Research Engineer$210k – $450k·San FranciscoResearch Scientist - Post Training$210k – $450k·San FranciscoResearch Scientist – Frontier Evaluations$210k – $450k·San Francisco
    All AfterQuery roles →
  5. #5
    G
    Generalist
    2 salaried listings in San Francisco
    $295,000
    median
    Research Scientist: Post-Training$240k – $350k·San Francisco Bay Area (San Mateo) or Boston (Somerville)Research Scientist: Pretraining$240k – $350k·San Francisco Bay Area (San Mateo) or Boston (Somerville)
    All Generalist roles →

Employers ranked by median advertised base among those with at least two salaried listings in San Francisco; each one’s best-paying open roles are listed beneath it.

See the open Research Scientist roles in San Francisco →

Research Scientist pay elsewhere

USANew YorkRemoteSeattleBostonCanadaChicagoSunnyvaleSan JoseTorontoMountain ViewLondonUKSan Diego
All salary reports →

Methodology: Research Scientist listings in San Francisco with a published salary, updated daily. Figures come from roles that are open right now. Ranges and single figures are converted to an annual US-dollar midpoint; hourly rates are annualised and out-of-band values dropped. Salary data is self-reported by employers and covers the roles that disclose pay — treat it as a directional guide, not a guarantee.