AI Data Engineer.
Austin.
$143,000
median salary, 5% above the national average
$109,000 to $184,000. Last updated August 2026.
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Data points to own the conversation.
Austin is 3% more expensive than the national average. For AI Data Engineers, that shakes out to a median of $143,000, with the full range spanning $109,000 to $184,000. AI data engineers who build and maintain ML data pipelines earn premiums based on scale of data handled and complexity of feature engineering systems. Know the range before you walk in. These figures are Orbyt estimates, computed rather than measured, and must not be cited as Bureau of Labor Statistics figures; the published BLS wage for the occupation this role maps to is shown separately on this page.
Salary range.
Where do you fall?
Orbyt estimate for AI Data Engineer in Austin, modelled from national occupation wages adjusted for local cost of living. The published government benchmark for this occupation is below.
Government benchmark for this occupation
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median annual wage of $139,960 for Database Architects (SOC 15-1243) in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX metropolitan area, based on 1,110 employed workers (May 2025 release).
10th percentile
$100,690
25th percentile
$115,480
Median
$139,960
75th percentile
$169,970
90th percentile
$214,250
Workers surveyed
1,110
BLS publishes wages by occupation code, not by job title, so this figure covers every role mapped to Database Architects (SOC 15-1243) rather than AI Data Engineer specifically. The Austin range at the top of this page is Orbyt’s role-level estimate, which is a different thing and is labelled as such.
View the BLS source for SOC 15-1243Salary by experience.
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $129,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$93,000
to $114,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$122,000
to $150,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$157,000
to $186,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$179,000
to $222,000
Total compensation.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $60,000 to the total package.
Base
$143,000
Equity
$36,000
Bonus
$15,000
Signing
$9,000
Estimated total: $203,000
How Austin compares.
Austin, TX
$143,000
Cost of living: 3% above average
National Average
$136,000
Austin is $7,000 above
AI Data Engineer salary by city.
Salary by role in Austin.
What you should know.
Here is what the AI Data Engineer market actually looks like in Austin. Austin has transformed into one of America's fastest growing tech hubs, attracting relocations from Apple, Tesla, Oracle, and Samsung. The city's combination of no state income tax, a vibrant startup scene, and a strong university pipeline makes it highly competitive. Salaries have risen sharply over the past five years, narrowing the gap with coastal cities. AI data engineers who build and maintain ML data pipelines earn premiums based on scale of data handled and complexity of feature engineering systems. Experience with streaming data platforms like Kafka alongside batch processing tools commands 10 to 20% higher pay. Cloud platform expertise in AWS, GCP, or Azure ML infrastructure is a baseline requirement.
Junior AI data engineers earn $118,000 to $140,000. Mid-level engineers with 3 to 5 years managing ML pipelines reach $155,000 to $200,000. Senior engineers and tech leads earn $205,000 to $270,000, while staff engineers and directors of ML infrastructure can command $290,000 to $380,000. In Austin, cost of living sits near the national average, so the numbers you see are roughly what you keep.
Base salary is not the full picture. Tech companies offer equity grants of 15 to 25% of base salary with four-year vesting. Annual bonuses range from 10 to 15%, and on-call compensation for maintaining production ML pipelines adds $5,000 to $15,000 annually at some firms. And on the tax side: texas has no state income tax, which can mean 5 to 10% more take home pay compared to California roles. Property taxes are above average, however, running about 1.8% of home value. When someone quotes you $143,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Use the no income tax advantage as a negotiation lever. Ask employers to match 90% of a Bay Area offer and show that your net pay will actually be higher. The range for AI Data Engineers in Austin runs from $109,000 to $184,000. That is not a narrow window. Where you land inside it depends almost entirely on whether you negotiate and how well you prepare.
Sources: BLS OES, H-1B LCA (DOL). COL: BEA Regional Price Parities (2025). Data verified by Justin Bartak, Founder & Chief AI Officer. Last verified July 1, 2026. Full methodology
Considering a related role?
- An AI Research Scientist in Austin earns $142,000 (1% less)
- The highest-paying role in Austin is CTO at $318,000
- See all ai engineering roles tracked in Orbyt Intelligence
Common questions.
AI Data Engineer salary in other cities.
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Cite this data
Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
"AI Data Engineer Salary in Austin, TX." Orbyt Salary Explorer, August 2026. https://www.orbytlabs.ai/orbyt-jobs/salaries/ai-data-engineer/austin
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