AI Data Engineer.
Salt Lake City.
$137,000
median salary, 1% above the national average
$105,000 to $177,000. Last updated August 2026.
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Data points to own the conversation.
If you are evaluating an AI Data Engineer offer in Salt Lake City, UT, here is the reality: $105,000 to $177,000, with $137,000 as the midpoint. 1% above the national average. AI data engineers who build and maintain ML data pipelines earn premiums based on scale of data handled and complexity of feature engineering systems. Do not accept the first number. 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 Salt Lake City, 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 $127,070 for Database Architects (SOC 15-1243) in the Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT metropolitan area, based on 170 employed workers (May 2025 release).
10th percentile
$86,440
25th percentile
$100,070
Median
$127,070
75th percentile
$157,950
90th percentile
$179,720
Workers surveyed
170
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 Salt Lake City 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 $123,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$89,000
to $110,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$116,000
to $144,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$151,000
to $178,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$171,000
to $212,000
Total compensation.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $56,000 to the total package.
Base
$137,000
Equity
$34,000
Bonus
$14,000
Signing
$8,000
Estimated total: $193,000
How Salt Lake City compares.
Salt Lake City, UT
$137,000
Cost of living: 2% below average
National Average
$136,000
Salt Lake City is $1,000 above
AI Data Engineer salary by city.
Salary by role in Salt Lake City.
What you should know.
The AI Data Engineer landscape in Salt Lake City is not what most salary sites will tell you. Salt Lake City anchors the Silicon Slopes tech corridor, home to companies like Qualtrics, Pluralsight, and Domo. The region has attracted significant venture investment and tech relocations. Utah's business friendly environment, young educated workforce, and outdoor lifestyle make it a rising destination for tech professionals seeking affordability without sacrificing career growth. 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 Salt Lake City, 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: utah has a flat 4.65% state income tax. Salt Lake City imposes no additional city income tax. The moderate rate combined with affordable living costs results in strong net compensation. When someone quotes you $137,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Reference Silicon Slopes growth when negotiating. Local employers are increasingly matching 85 to 95% of Seattle or Bay Area salaries to compete for tech talent. The range for AI Data Engineers in Salt Lake City runs from $105,000 to $177,000. 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 ML Engineer in Salt Lake City earns $136,000 (1% less)
- The highest-paying role in Salt Lake City is CTO at $306,000
- See all ai engineering roles tracked in Orbyt Intelligence
Common questions.
AI Data Engineer salary in other cities.
Other salaries in Salt Lake City.
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Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
"AI Data Engineer Salary in Salt Lake City, UT." Orbyt Salary Explorer, August 2026. https://www.orbytlabs.ai/orbyt-jobs/salaries/ai-data-engineer/salt-lake-city
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