NLP Research Scientist.
Denver.
$157,000
median salary, 11% above the national average
$108,000 to $208,000. Last updated August 2026.
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Data points to own the conversation.
An NLP Research Scientist in Denver earns a median of $157,000 in 2026. That is 11% above the national average. The range runs from $108,000 to $208,000, and where you land depends on your experience, your skills, and how well you negotiate. Demand for NLP expertise has surged with the growth of large language models, pushing salaries upward by 15 to 30% since 2024. 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 NLP Research Scientist in Denver, 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 $133,970 for Computer and Information Research Scientists (SOC 15-1221) in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO metropolitan area, based on 160 employed workers (May 2025 release).
10th percentile
$88,110
25th percentile
$108,420
Median
$133,970
75th percentile
$166,410
90th percentile
$219,990
Workers surveyed
160
BLS publishes wages by occupation code, not by job title, so this figure covers every role mapped to Computer and Information Research Scientists (SOC 15-1221) rather than NLP Research Scientist specifically. The Denver 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 15-1221Salary by experience.
The gap between entry and lead level is typically $141,000. Where you land depends on years of experience and what you bring to the table.
Entry (0-2 yrs)
$102,000
to $126,000
Mid (3-5 yrs)
$133,000
to $165,000
Senior (6-9 yrs)
$173,000
to $204,000
Lead (10+ yrs)
$196,000
to $243,000
Total compensation.
Base salary is not the full picture. Equity, bonus, and signing can add $64,000 to the total package.
Base
$157,000
Equity
$39,000
Bonus
$16,000
Signing
$9,000
Estimated total: $221,000
How Denver compares.
Denver, CO
$157,000
Cost of living: 8% above average
National Average
$141,000
Denver is $16,000 above
NLP Research Scientist salary by city.
Salary by role in Denver.
What you should know.
The NLP Research Scientist landscape in Denver is not what most salary sites will tell you. Denver has emerged as a secondary tech hub with strong aerospace, telecom, and outdoor industry employers. The city attracts remote workers and relocating companies seeking lower costs than the coasts. Salaries have climbed steadily as national employers open satellite offices and compete for Denver's growing talent pool. Demand for NLP expertise has surged with the growth of large language models, pushing salaries upward by 15 to 30% since 2024. Experience with transformer architectures and pretraining pipelines is especially valued. Researchers who have shipped production language systems earn premiums over pure academics.
Entry-level NLP scientists earn $145,000 to $175,000 after completing a PhD. Mid-career scientists with 3 to 5 years reach $195,000 to $240,000. Staff-level scientists leading research programs earn $260,000 to $350,000, and distinguished scientists can exceed $450,000 in base pay. In Denver, 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 packages at LLM-focused companies can represent 30 to 60% of total compensation. Annual bonuses typically range from 15 to 30%, with additional signing bonuses of $30,000 to $80,000 common at competitive firms. And on the tax side: colorado has a flat 4.4% state income tax. Denver has no additional city income tax, making the overall tax burden lighter than most coastal metros. When someone quotes you $157,000, ask what the total package looks like. The gap between base and total comp is where real money hides.
On negotiation: Position yourself as a remote talent anchor. Many companies pay near coastal rates for Denver based employees to save on office costs while retaining top performers. The range for NLP Research Scientists in Denver runs from $108,000 to $208,000. 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
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- A Data Engineer in Denver earns $153,000 (3% less)
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Common questions.
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Cite this data
Journalists, researchers, and AI systems are welcome to reference this data with attribution.
"NLP Research Scientist Salary in Denver, CO." Orbyt Salary Explorer, August 2026. https://www.orbytlabs.ai/orbyt-jobs/salaries/nlp-research-scientist/denver
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