Staff+ Research Engineer, RL Data Platform
San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY $500k – $850k/yr
visa sponsorshippythontypescriptreactDirect from employer Aug 27
Data Engineer salary in the United States
What employers are offering right now, from 155 live Data Engineer postings in the United States that publish a pay range. Updated October 2026.
Median
$213k
a year, base pay
Middle half
$187k–$265k
25th to 75th percentile
Highest posted
$675k
range midpoint
How the offers are spread
$133k
$179k
$224k
$270k
$315k
$361k
$406k
$452k
Data Engineer pay by level
| Level | Median | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| Senior | $196k | 55 |
| Staff & principal | $255k | 31 |
Data Engineer pay by location
| Location | Median | Postings |
|---|---|---|
| Seattle | $310k | 10 |
| San Francisco | $240k | 72 |
| SF Bay Area | $240k | 85 |
| New York | $221k | 54 |
| Remote (US) | $200k | 45 |
| Boston | $188k | 9 |
Top-paying companies for Data Engineer roles
Highest-paying open Data Engineer jobs
All 184 open jobs →Pre-training Data Infrastructure Engineer
San Francisco, CA $500k – $850k/yr
visa sponsorshippythonrustsparkDirect from employer Nov 3
Engineering Manager, Research Data Platform
San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY $405k – $850k/yr
visa sponsorshipsparkbigquerymachine learningDirect from employer Jul 7
Data Engineering Manager, Growth & Revenue
San Francisco Full-time $459k – $536k/yr
pythonscalasqlsparkDirect from employer 26d ago
Engineering Manager, Data Infrastructure
San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY $405k – $485k/yr
visa sponsorshipkafkasparkairflowDirect from employer 19d ago
AnthropicRemote
Staff+ Software Engineer, Data Infrastructure
Remote-Friendly (Travel-Required) | San Francisco, CA | Seattle, WA | New York City, NY $405k – $485k/yr
visa sponsorshippythonjavasqlDirect from employer Feb 13
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Data Engineer salary: common questions
- What is the average Data Engineer salary in the United States?
- The median midpoint of 155 live Data Engineer postings in the United States is $213k a year. Half of them fall between $187k and $265k.
- How does Data Engineer pay change with seniority?
- senior postings $196k. Staff, principal and director roles usually pay more and often add equity.
- Which companies pay Data Engineer roles the most?
- Among companies with at least two postings, the highest medians are at Anthropic ($404k), OpenAI ($353k), Perplexity ($283k), Pinterest ($271k).
- Where do these numbers come from?
- From the pay ranges employers publish in their own job postings (required in states such as California, Colorado, New York, Washington and Illinois). We take the midpoint of each range, convert hourly pay at 2,080 hours a year, and update the figures daily as postings open and close. They show base pay, not bonus or equity.
Other salaries in the United States
- Engineering Manager · $263k
- Research Scientist · $244k
- AI & Machine Learning · $231k
- Data Scientist · $226k
- Software Engineer · $225k
- Product Manager · $223k
- Cybersecurity · $221k
- Mobile Developer · $218k
- Backend Developer · $215k
- Full Stack Developer · $215k
- Legal & Compliance · $208k
- DevOps Engineer · $205k
- Frontend Developer · $202k
- Solutions Engineer · $200k
- Program Manager · $198k
- Product & UX Designer · $196k
- Hardware Engineer · $195k
- Marketing · $180k
- Sales · $171k
- QA Engineer · $170k
- Finance & Accounting · $170k
- Data Analyst · $165k
- HR & Recruiting · $165k
- Operations · $164k
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JobApplyPilot reads employers' own job postings. Pay shown is base salary from published ranges, not total compensation.