Salaries

Apple Salaries.

AI and ML roles.

Last updated August 2026.

14 roles tracked
Close the job.

Highest Paying Role

$224,000

AI Chip Designer

Avg Top-of-Band

$175,000

across 14 roles

Entry Point

$125,000

Data Analyst

Ranges reflect estimated compensation bands for this employer, modeled by Orbyt from role-level premiums applied over national medians. They are estimates, not reported offers. The salary figures on this page are computed estimates, not observed wages. Each one is a national role baseline scaled by a Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parity cost-of-living multiplier (2025 index) and rounded to the nearest $1,000. No published wage percentile is consulted and no wage survey response enters the calculation, so an Orbyt estimate must not be cited as a Bureau of Labor Statistics figure or as measured pay. The published wage data Orbyt holds is Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, and Department of Labor H-1B Labor Condition Application filings, which record a filed minimum visa base wage rather than market pay. Where BLS publishes a wage for the occupation a role maps to, it is shown on that role's page as a separate benchmark, labelled with its occupation code, metro area and the number of employed workers it covers. Last updated August 2026.

Apple pays across 14 tracked AI and ML roles in 2026. The highest-paying position is AI Chip Designer, with estimated compensation ranging from $185,000 to $224,000. The entry point is Data Analyst, starting at $125,000. These figures are Orbyt-modeled employer premiums over national medians, estimates rather than reported offers.

AI/ML roles at Apple

#RoleHighRange
1AI Chip Designer$224,000$185,000 to $224,000
2AI Hardware Engineer$220,000$183,000 to $220,000
3Autonomous Vehicle Engineer$185,000$155,000 to $185,000
4Machine Learning Engineer$174,000$151,000 to $174,000
5Computer Vision Engineer$174,000$151,000 to $174,000
6Software Engineer$174,000$151,000 to $174,000
7Data Engineer$174,000$152,000 to $174,000
8ML Engineer$170,000$149,000 to $170,000
9Frontend Developer$170,000$149,000 to $170,000
10Backend Developer$170,000$149,000 to $170,000
11AI Content Safety Engineer$167,000$147,000 to $167,000
12Robotics Engineer$154,000$134,000 to $154,000
13Data Scientist$148,000$128,000 to $148,000
14Data Analyst$141,000$125,000 to $141,000

What BLS publishes for occupations at Apple.

Published national medians from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics May 2025 release and May 2024 release, for the occupations Orbyt tracks at Apple. BLS publishes per occupation, never per employer, so these are occupation-level benchmarks, not Apple pay.

OccupationSOCMay 2025 releaseMay 2024 release
Computer Hardware EngineersOrbyt roles: AI Chip Designer, AI Hardware Engineer17-2061$161,740$155,020
Database ArchitectsOrbyt roles: Data Engineer15-1243$139,500$135,980
Software DevelopersOrbyt roles: AI Content Safety Engineer, Autonomous Vehicle Engineer, Backend Developer, Computer Vision Engineer, Frontend Developer, Machine Learning Engineer, ML Engineer, NLP Engineer, Software Engineer15-1252$135,980$133,080
Engineers, All OtherOrbyt roles: Robotics Engineer17-2199$122,930$117,750
Data ScientistsOrbyt roles: Data Analyst, Data Scientist15-2051$120,230$112,590

Two releases are shown as published cells. BLS advises against reading OEWS releases as a time series, so no growth rate is computed between them. Full dataset: the Orbyt Company Salary Index, CC BY 4.0.

Other companies

GoogleAmazonMetaOpenAIAnthropicMicrosoftGoogle DeepMindNetflixNVIDIAMeta AITesla AutopilotARC

Fortune 500 employers

WalmartUnitedHealth GroupBerkshire HathawayCVS HealthExxonMobilJPMorgan ChaseBank of AmericaCostco WholesaleChevronThe Cigna GroupFord Motor CompanyGeneral MotorsAll Fortune 500 coverage

Apple leveling framework

4-year, annual vesting (25% per year). Annual refresh grants. Annual vesting in equal chunks. Refreshers awarded annually based on performance.

LevelTitleExperienceBaseEquity/yrTotal Comp
ICT2Software Engineer0-3 yrs$145,000$35,000$195,000
ICT3Software Engineer3-6 yrs$180,000$65,000$267,000
ICT4Senior Software Engineer6-12 yrs$225,000$110,000$369,000
ICT5Staff Software Engineer10-18 yrs$275,000$180,000$505,000
ICT6Principal Engineer15+ yrs$330,000$300,000$696,000

Common questions about Apple pay.

Estimated bands modeled over national medians, not reported offers.

What does Apple pay a AI Chip Designer?

Estimated Apple AI Chip Designer compensation ranges from $185,000 to $224,000 in 2026. That band is modeled from the $155,000 national median for the role plus an employer premium, not a reported offer, so treat it as a starting point and confirm against the specific team and level.

How much does Apple pay AI and ML engineers?

Apple pays across 14 tracked AI and ML roles in 2026. The top of band reaches an estimated $224,000 for AI Chip Designer, and the average top-of-band across tracked roles is $175,000. The entry point is Data Analyst, with an estimated $125,000. These are modeled bands over national medians, not reported salaries.

What is the highest-paying AI role at Apple?

The highest-paying tracked AI role at Apple is AI Chip Designer, with an estimated $185,000 to $224,000 in 2026. The estimate reflects an employer premium over the $155,000 national median for the role.

Is Apple a good-paying company for AI roles?

On these estimates, yes. Modeled bands at Apple sit above national medians across 14 tracked roles, with the top role reaching an estimated $224,000. Because these are modeled bands rather than reported offers, verify against your own leveling and the wider market before you judge a specific offer.

Work at Apple?

Share your real compensation anonymously. Your data helps everyone negotiate better offers. Never individually exposed.

Submit your salary

Related

All RolesInterview PrepResume ScoreJob Search Guide

You have the data.

Now own the conversation.

Close the job.