How Much Do Data Science Jobs Pay in the USA? (September 2026)
As of September 2026, the median data science salary in the USA is $187,500 a year. Most roles pay between $107,500 and $279,190 (the 10th–90th percentile), drawn from 4199 live salaried listings across 916 companies. All figures are converted to annual US dollars so different sources compare like-for-like.
How pay has moved
Median base salary by month, from our monthly salary snapshots.
Highest-paying employers
- Data Scientist - Fraud RiskFinancial Crimes & Risk Data AnalystSenior Product Data AnalystMachine Learning Engineer - Fraud RiskAll Rain roles →
- All Polymarket roles →
- Engineering Manager, GPU (ML Accelerator)Research Engineer, Chip Design RL (Reinforcement Learning)Research Engineer, Code RL (Reinforcement Learning)Research Engineer, Computer UseResearch Engineer, Machine Learning (RL Velocity)All Anthropic roles →
- Director, Machine Learning, Alzheimer's Disease InitiativeDirector, Machine Learning, Virtual Cell InitiativeAll Arc Institute roles →
- Research Engineer, PrivacyData Engineering Manager, Growth & RevenueApplied Data Science & Insights Leader - GTM Intelligence Solutions and Technical SuccessResearch Engineer, AI for Chip DesignResearch Engineer, CodexAll OpenAI roles →
Employers ranked by median advertised base among those with at least two salaried listings in the USA; each one’s best-paying open roles are listed beneath it.
Methodology: data science listings in the USA 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.