Research Scientist salary
What a research scientist actually earns, from 385 live job postings blended with the official US OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) wage anchor. Pick a market for its median and range, then read the seniority split, the trend, and the country comparison below. Updated 2026-09-06.
Switch the market above to see research scientist pay in the 2 countries our sources cover, each with its own cost of living. The trend, seniority, and state detail below are United States data, where the official record runs deepest.
What the number means
A research scientist earns a blended US median near 154,306 dollars, with the typical middle running from 101,497 dollars to 201,738 dollars. The official OEWS median is 100,590 dollars, under the posted figure, because the advertised roles skew senior or well-funded. The official trend has moved up about 13 percent since 2019. By seniority, posted pay runs from roughly 96,476 dollars to 173,542 dollars. Demand is rated high, and 6% of postings are fully remote. The nearest adjacent move on our skill graph is data annotator, at 41 percent coverage; the instrument maps the rest.
Open research scientist roles
Live openings tagged to this occupation, from company career pages and remote boards. Apply at the source.
Research Scientist/Engineer (Agentic Systems) at WhitecircleParisTodayApply- Research Scientist (AI Behaviours) at WhitecircleParisTodayApply
Research Associate at Health Advocate Solutions, Inc.United States · Remote1d agoApply- Wissenschaftliche/-r Mitarbeiter/-in Zulassungsstelle Pflanzenschutzmittel at Bundesamt für Lebensmittelsicherheit und Veterinärwesen BLVBern, Bern, Switzerland1d agoApply
Postdoctoral Scientist - Vascularized Kidney Organoids (at the Institute of Human Biology (IHB)) at RocheBasel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland1d agoApply
Postdoc position on redox-targeted flow batteries at EmpaDübendorf, Zürich, Switzerland1d agoApply
By seniority
Posted-median pay by seniority signal in the title, from our corpus. Noisy at the edges where sample sizes are small.
By country
- United States$101,497$154,306$201,738
- United Kingdom$56,204$68,411$125,815
Switzerland · official wage bands
median CHF 8'730/month
Swiss postings do not state pay, so these are not posted salaries: they are the federal wage survey (Lohnstrukturerhebung 2024) for the ISCO group 21 Naturwissenschaftler, Mathematiker und Ingenieure: standardized gross monthly, full-time, 13th salary included pro rata. The band covers the whole occupation group, which is coarser than this occupation alone.
Annual ≈ CHF 104'760 at the median. Source: Bundesamt für Statistik, LSE 2024.
Top-paying US states
OEWS median by state, highest first.
- California$131,430
- New York$126,290
- District of Columbia$110,830
- Rhode Island$104,330
- Maryland$103,500
- Washington$101,140
Roles that pay more, that these skills already reach
Median pay from each destination’s own postings, with the readiness a research scientist profile already covers.
- 600 open solutions architect roles$162,988 median · +$8,682 · 32% readiness
Every measured move out of this role, ranked by readiness: alternative careers for a research scientist.
Is your offer fair?
Run a specific number through FairElephant, which weighs it against this data, your location, and remote market rates.
Related salaries
- Solutions Architect salary$162,988 median
- Professor / Lecturer salary$80,751 median
- Aerospace Engineer salary$129,497 median
Quick answers
How much does a research scientist make?
The blended US median is about 154,306 dollars, with a typical range from 101,497 dollars to 201,738 dollars, against an official OEWS median of 100,590 dollars.
Is research scientist a good career in 2026?
Demand for the role is rated high in our July 2026 corpus, with 6% of postings fully remote. The pay is shown above by seniority and by country.
What can a research scientist move into?
The nearest adjacent role on our skill graph is data annotator, at 41 percent skill coverage. Run the instrument for the full set of reachable moves.
Method: bands are the 25th, 50th, and 75th percentiles of live US postings with stated pay, shrunk toward the official OEWS anchor by sample size (the “blended” figure). Trend is the OEWS annual median for SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) code 19-1042. Live corpus 385 observations, 2026-09-06. Definitions in the glossary.