Deep Learning Engineer.
Columbus.
$104,000
median salary, 8% below the national average
$72,000 to $149,000. Last updated August 2026.
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Data points to own the conversation.
The median Deep Learning Engineer salary in Columbus is $104,000, 8% below the national average. Entry level starts near $72,000. Experienced professionals push past $149,000. Columbus is Ohio's largest city and a growing technology and logistics hub, home to companies like Nationwide Insurance and a major Intel semiconductor fab under construction. That spread is your negotiation window. 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 Deep Learning Engineer in Columbus, 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 $107,950 for Data Scientists (SOC 15-2051) in the Columbus, OH metropolitan area, based on 1,480 employed workers (May 2025 release).
10th percentile
$63,530
25th percentile
$83,090
Median
$107,950
75th percentile
$143,450
90th percentile
$169,380
Workers surveyed
1,480
BLS publishes wages by occupation code, not by job title, so this figure covers every role mapped to Data Scientists (SOC 15-2051) rather than Deep Learning Engineer specifically. The Columbus 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 15-2051Salary by experience.
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $93,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$68,000
to $83,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$88,000
to $109,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$114,000
to $135,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$130,000
to $161,000
Total compensation.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $52,000 to the total package.
Base
$104,000
Equity
$32,000
Bonus
$14,000
Signing
$6,000
Estimated total: $156,000
Deep Learning Engineer salary by company.
Total compensation estimates include base, equity, bonus, and signing. Ranges reflect mid to senior level. Derived from public H-1B LCA filings (DOL).
How Columbus compares.
Columbus, OH
$104,000
Cost of living: 7% below average
National Average
$113,000
Columbus is $9,000 below
Deep Learning Engineer salary by city.
Salary by role in Columbus.
What you should know.
If you are interviewing for Deep Learning Engineer roles in Columbus, here is what you are walking into. Columbus is Ohio's largest city and a growing technology and logistics hub, home to companies like Nationwide Insurance and a major Intel semiconductor fab under construction. The city's large university system and low cost of living attract both startups and corporate expansions. Tech salaries have been climbing as national employers establish Midwest offices. Pay hinges on expertise with transformer architectures, large-scale training pipelines, and GPU optimization. Engineers who have shipped production models at scale earn top-band salaries. Publications at NeurIPS or ICML and familiarity with distributed training frameworks like DeepSpeed further boost compensation.
Junior deep learning roles start at $120,000 to $145,000. Mid-level engineers earn $155,000 to $200,000. Senior and staff-level positions reach $220,000 to $300,000 base, with principal engineers at top labs exceeding $400,000 in total compensation. In Columbus, 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. Equity is a major component at AI-focused companies, often representing 30 to 50% of total compensation. Annual bonuses range from 10 to 20% of base, with signing bonuses of $30,000 to $75,000 common for experienced hires. And on the tax side: ohio's income tax tops out around 3.5%, and Columbus adds a city income tax of 2.5%. The combined rate is moderate, but the city tax applies to all who work within city limits. When someone quotes you $104,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Mention Intel's new fab investment when negotiating. The semiconductor megaproject is driving salaries upward across the entire Columbus tech and engineering market. The range for Deep Learning Engineers in Columbus runs from $72,000 to $149,000. 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 Data Scientist in Columbus earns $106,000 (2% more)
- The highest-paying role in Columbus is CTO at $285,000
- See all ai engineering roles tracked in Orbyt Intelligence
Common questions.
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Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
"Deep Learning Engineer Salary in Columbus, OH." Orbyt Salary Explorer, August 2026. https://www.orbytlabs.ai/orbyt-jobs/salaries/deep-learning-engineer/columbus
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