Research engineer salary in 2026

Where the number comes from

Each figure comes from the Labor Condition Applications employers file with the US Department of Labor for a worker on an H-1B, H-1B1 or E-3 visa. A filing names the job title, the worksite and the salary the company commits to pay. We count certified, full-time filings with a yearly salary, decided from July 2025 to June 2026, and use the middle of the range where a range is filed. These are the same filings and title rules as the Zelcast Pay Index, where the method is set out in full.

The title rule takes research engineer and its common variants, such as AI research engineer and machine learning research engineer, and leaves out senior, staff, lead and manager titles. It also leaves out universities and hospitals, which use the title for lab staff on academic pay scales.

The numbers

• All research engineers. Median $204,000, middle half $168,382 to $240,000, across 391 filings, from 116 employers.
• California. Median $229,846, middle half $193,762 to $250,000, across 247 filings.
• New York. Median $202,500, middle half $177,500 to $246,250, across 36 filings.
• San Francisco. Median $240,000, middle half $235,000 to $279,541, across 53 filings.

Who files the most

Google and Meta filed the most: Google (70, median $222,000) and Meta (67, median $211,584). Among the other frequent filers are AI and robotics startups such as Resolve AI (22, median $240,000), Luma AI (12, median $272,500), Matic Robots (12, median $189,000), Skild AI (7, median $240,000) and 1X (7, median $240,000).

Most AI labs file their research engineers as Members of Technical Staff, so their pay shows up under that title. Anthropic is the exception in a small way, with 8 research engineer filings at a median of $336,882. What AI labs pay a Member of Technical Staff covers the labs.

Filings for the title grew from 306 to 391 in a year.

What companies advertise

Separately, we collected the salary ranges on job postings open on October 20, 2026, from about 1,700 company job boards on Greenhouse, Ashby and Lever, found from Zelcast’s lists of companies, and from YC’s company jobs pages. Across the 40 companies posting research engineer roles with a range, the median company put the middle of its range at $245,000, from 81 postings. Postings show what companies were asking for on that day, at a different set of employers from the filings, so the two figures are reported apart.

What the data can and can’t tell you

These are base salaries only, so they leave out equity, bonuses and benefits. They cover workers on these visas, who are a large share of engineers at many US tech companies but not all of them. A filing states what an employer commits to pay for a role when it files, and it does not record a hire. Pay can change after it.

How to use it

If you’re hiring in California, $229,846 is the median employers there committed to for the title. If you’re weighing an offer, ask whether the role publishes, who sets the research agenda, and how much of the work ships into a product, because the title covers all three kinds of job.