What is a typical AI engineer salary? This free explorer puts two kinds of numbers side by side: official US pay from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and the salary ranges AI companies are posting right now on their own job boards. Pick a role, your experience level and a city.
It covers AI engineers, machine learning engineers, AI research scientists, data scientists, data engineers, AI solutions engineers, AI security engineers, AI product managers, prompt engineers, sales roles and hourly AI trainers.
Free salary explorer
What do AI jobs really pay?
Pick a role to compare official US pay from the Bureau of Labor Statistics with the salary ranges AI companies are posting right now. Narrow it by experience and city.
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Sources: official pay is from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metro estimates, read through the BLS Public Data API) and outlook from BLS Employment Projections 2025 to 2035, checked October 18, 2026. Posted pay comes from employers' own job boards through our AI jobs board, refreshed hourly and read live when you open this page. Education only, not financial or career advice.
How to use it
- Pick a role. The chart shows BLS pay for the closest official occupation and the live posted range.
- Choose your experience level to see the BLS band we use for it, and filter the postings by job title level.
- Pick a city to compare its BLS median with the national one.
- Search any job title, such as “forward deployed” or “recruiter”, to see posted pay for roles we do not list.
Where the numbers come from
- Official pay (BLS, May 2025). The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey asks employers across the country what they pay, so it shows what is typical for an occupation, not just at tech companies. BLS has no separate “AI engineer” or “prompt engineer” occupation, so each role is matched to the closest one, and the tool explains the match.
- Posted pay (live). Ranges come from employers’ own job boards through our AI jobs board, refreshed hourly. They show what AI companies offer today. They usually describe base pay, so bonus, equity and commission can add more.
- Experience levels. We treat the BLS 10th to 25th percentile as early career, 25th to 75th as mid-career and 75th to 90th as senior. That is our rough guide, not a BLS definition.
AI engineer salary by role: official BLS pay
National annual wages for the occupations closest to AI jobs, from BLS’s May 2025 survey, with the BLS job outlook for 2025 to 2035. Across all jobs, BLS projects 3.5% growth.
| BLS occupation (closest AI roles) | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile | 90th percentile | Outlook 2025 to 2035 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computer and information research scientists (AI research, ML) | $103,570 | $140,300 | $188,700 | $230,630 | +22% |
| Software developers (AI engineers) | $105,210 | $135,980 | $171,980 | $214,670 | +10% |
| Data scientists | $85,660 | $120,230 | $158,880 | $199,130 | +35% |
| Information security analysts (AI security) | $97,810 | $129,180 | $163,500 | $199,850 | +21% |
| Database architects (data engineers) | $109,370 | $139,500 | $169,290 | $204,000 | +9% |
| Sales engineers (AI solutions engineers) | $92,890 | $124,900 | $161,230 | $195,270 | +3% |
| Computer and information systems managers | $138,060 | $175,140 | $220,730 | $297,510 | +16% |
AI engineer salary by city
Location moves pay a lot. Among the 13 metro areas in the tool, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara has the highest BLS median for both software developers and computer and information research scientists.
| Metro area (BLS, May 2025 median) | Software developers | Computer and information research scientists |
|---|---|---|
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | $213,110 | $218,420 |
| San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | $186,640 | $171,440 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | $167,280 | $211,270 |
| New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ | $166,830 | $170,890 |
| Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX | $134,120 | $127,360 |
| United States | $135,980 | $140,300 |
Why posted pay at AI companies runs higher
The live ranges in the tool often sit well above the BLS median. That is expected: BLS surveys employers of every kind across the country, from banks to hospitals, while the postings come from AI companies such as large model labs and data platforms, many of them hiring in high-cost cities and competing for scarce skills. Use BLS to see what is typical, and the postings to see what the top of the market is paying this month.
Do certifications raise AI pay?
Skills and shipped projects matter most, but a certification can help you get interviews when you are switching into AI. We looked at the evidence in do AI certifications increase your salary? and compared the options in AI engineer certifications.
Related on HOW TO // AI
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- AI companies hiring now: who is hiring, and for what.
- AI training jobs: hourly AI training work, platform by platform.
- Job scam checker: check an offer that looks too good to be true.
Checked against BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025, via the BLS Public Data API) and BLS Employment Projections 2025 to 2035 on October 18, 2026. Posted ranges in the tool update hourly.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an AI engineer make?
BLS does not track AI engineers separately. The closest occupations had May 2025 national medians of $135,980 (software developers) and $140,300 (computer and information research scientists). Posted ranges at AI companies are often higher, and the explorer shows them live.
How much do prompt engineers make?
There is no BLS prompt engineer occupation, and few job boards use the title. Prompt work usually sits inside AI engineer, AI trainer or content roles, so compare those roles in the explorer instead.
Which city pays AI engineers the most?
Among the 13 metro areas in the tool, San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara has the highest BLS median for software developers ($213,110) and for computer and information research scientists ($218,420), as of May 2025.
Are AI jobs in demand?
BLS projects data scientist jobs to grow 35% and computer and information research scientist jobs 22% from 2025 to 2035, compared with 3.5% for all occupations.
Do posted salary ranges include bonus and equity?
Usually not. Most posted ranges describe base pay, so bonus, equity or sales commission can add to it. Check each posting for details.