Federated Learning Engineer.
Fargo.
$115,000
median salary, 14% below the national average
$86,000 to $151,000. Last updated August 2026.
Get the job.
Data points to own the conversation.
If you are evaluating a Federated Learning Engineer offer in Fargo, ND, here is the reality: $86,000 to $151,000, with $115,000 as the midpoint. 14% below the national average. This privacy-preserving AI specialization commands premiums driven by regulatory demand and technical complexity. 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 Federated Learning Engineer in Fargo, 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 $105,980 for Software Developers (SOC 15-1252) in the Fargo, ND-MN metropolitan area, based on 860 employed workers (May 2025 release).
10th percentile
$60,300
25th percentile
$78,870
Median
$105,980
75th percentile
$127,960
90th percentile
$160,480
Workers surveyed
860
BLS publishes wages by occupation code, not by job title, so this figure covers every role mapped to Software Developers (SOC 15-1252) rather than Federated Learning Engineer specifically. The Fargo 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 15-1252Salary by experience.
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $103,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$75,000
to $92,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$98,000
to $121,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$127,000
to $150,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$144,000
to $178,000
Total compensation.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $34,000 to the total package.
Base
$115,000
Equity
$20,000
Bonus
$12,000
Signing
$2,000
Estimated total: $149,000
How Fargo compares.
Fargo, ND
$115,000
Cost of living: 15% below average
National Average
$133,000
Fargo is $18,000 below
Federated Learning Engineer salary by city.
Salary by role in Fargo.
What you should know.
Here is what the Federated Learning Engineer market actually looks like in Fargo. Fargo has a surprisingly strong technology sector, home to companies like Microsoft's campus and a growing startup ecosystem tied to North Dakota State University. The city's extremely low cost of living and emerging tech scene make it an increasingly attractive option for professionals seeking affordability. This privacy-preserving AI specialization commands premiums driven by regulatory demand and technical complexity. Engineers with production federated learning deployments across healthcare, finance, or telecommunications earn 15 to 22% more than general ML engineers. Expertise in secure aggregation protocols, differential privacy mechanisms, and communication-efficient training across distributed nodes significantly increases market value.
ML engineers or privacy engineers earning $115,000 to $155,000 specialize into federated learning at $140,000 to $248,000. Senior federated learning engineers earn $195,000 to $270,000 before advancing to Principal Privacy ML Engineer or Head of Privacy-Preserving AI at $230,000 to $300,000. In Fargo, your dollars stretch further. Cost of living runs 15% below the national average, which means even a median salary buys a stronger lifestyle.
Base salary is not the full picture. Total packages range from $220,000 to $420,000 with equity, privacy compliance bonuses, and research incentives of 12 to 22% of base. Healthcare and financial services companies offer the strongest total compensation due to strict data privacy requirements driving federated learning adoption. And on the tax side: north Dakota has a very low income tax with a top rate of just 2.5%. Fargo has no city income tax. The minimal tax burden combined with low living costs creates excellent take home pay. When someone quotes you $115,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Highlight willingness to work on site. Fargo tech employers struggle to recruit talent to the region and reward candidates who commit to living locally. The range for Federated Learning Engineers in Fargo runs from $86,000 to $151,000. 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 Agent Architect in Fargo earns $114,000 (1% less)
- The highest-paying role in Fargo is CTO at $258,000
- See all ai research roles tracked in Orbyt Intelligence
Common questions.
Federated Learning Engineer salary in other cities.
Other salaries in Fargo.
Related salary pages
Jump to nearby roles and cities most relevant to Federated Learning Engineers in Fargo.
Related tools.
Do you work as a federated learning engineer in Fargo?
Your individual figure is never published. Submissions appear only as aggregate percentiles, and nothing is shown for a role and city until at least five people have reported. It is stored against your account, which is what keeps the dataset clean.
Cite this data
Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
"Federated Learning Engineer Salary in Fargo, ND." Orbyt Salary Explorer, August 2026. https://www.orbytlabs.ai/orbyt-jobs/salaries/federated-learning-engineer/fargo
Want this data on your site? Embed the salary widget. One script tag, free forever.
Related tools