Functional discipline.
AI Research Roles.
Where AI meets the frontier.
Source.
Research is where the next model capability gets discovered. Applied research, ML research, alignment, interpretability, multimodal, reinforcement learning. The work happens at the boundary of what models can do today, and the candidates who get hired into it are the ones who can both do the math and ship the implementation. Frontier labs pay above the rest of the AI market because the talent pool is shallow and the upside is uncapped. Roles below are sorted by base salary.
Roles in ai research roles.
Top cities.
Median ai research roles salary across the top U.S. metros for AI compensation. Multiplier reflects local cost of living relative to the national median.
San Francisco, CA
$190K
+35% vs. national
New York, NY
$180K
+28% vs. national
Seattle, WA
$175K
+24% vs. national
Boston, MA
$172K
+22% vs. national
Austin, TX
$145K
+3% vs. national
Denver, CO
$152K
+8% vs. national
Los Angeles, CA
$166K
+18% vs. national
Chicago, IL
$151K
+7% vs. national
Atlanta, GA
$144K
+2% vs. national
Washington DC, DC
$176K
+25% vs. national
Common questions.
Related AI hubs.
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Where AI meets medicine.
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Where AI meets capital.
AI Legal & Policy Roles
Where AI meets law and policy.
AI Security Roles
Where AI meets adversaries.
AI Industrial Roles
Where AI meets the physical world.
AI Consumer & Commerce Roles
Where AI meets the consumer.
AI Creative Roles
Where AI meets craft.
AI Executive Roles
Where AI meets the C-suite.
AI Product Roles
Where AI meets the roadmap.
AI Design Roles
Where AI meets the interface.
AI Operations Roles
Where AI meets production.
AI Engineering Roles
Where AI meets the codebase.
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