Research Scientist salary
What a research scientist actually earns, from 682 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 2026-07-23.
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 109,065 dollars, with the typical middle running from 77,102 dollars to 164,227 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 97,287 dollars to 149,462 dollars. Demand is rated high, and 3% of postings are fully remote. The nearest adjacent move on our skill graph is biomedical engineer, at 25 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.
- Principal ScientistParsons Corporation · United States$88k–$155kRemoteJul 23
- Senior Applied AI/ML Scientist - Retailer GrowthFaire · Kitchener-Waterloo, ON; Toronto, ON$171k–$236kJul 23
- People Research Scientist, RecruitingAnthropic · San Francisco, CA | New York City, NY | Seattle, WA$285kJul 22
- Research Engineer/Research Scientist, Personal AGI-Model ExperienceOpenAI · San Francisco$295k–$555kJul 22
- Senior Scientist (m/w/d) Messtechnik Sensorsysteme Pharma in Mannheim (1708)BRÜGGEN ENGINEERING GmbH · MannheimJul 22
- Senior Product Scientist, Agentic Growth & MarketingHeadspace · USARemoteJul 22
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$77,102 – $164,227 · median $109,065
- United Kingdom$58,278 – $83,188 · median $69,294
Top-paying US states
OEWS median by state, highest first.
- Californiamedian $131,430
- Massachusettsmedian $129,230
- Connecticutmedian $128,140
- New Jerseymedian $127,210
- District of Columbiamedian $110,830
- Mainemedian $107,950
Is your offer fair?
Run a specific number through FairElephant, which weighs it against this data, your location, and remote market rates.
Related salaries
- Biomedical Engineer salary$96,794 median
- Data Annotator salary$47,961 median
- Aerospace Engineer salary$130,007 median
Quick answers
How much does a research scientist make?
The blended US median is about 109,065 dollars, with a typical range from 77,102 dollars to 164,227 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 3% 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 biomedical engineer, at 25 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 682 observations, 2026-07-23. Definitions in the glossary.