Staff Data Scientist salary (October 2026)
The median published US pay for Staff Data Scientist postings is $220K, from 108 postings with a pay range, as of October 24, 2026. That is +17% against the $188K median for Data Scientist postings at all levels (n=558); 19% of Data Scientist postings with pay are at this level. Among the 5 roles with enough staff / lead pay data, it ranks 4th, and sits -6% against the $235K median for every data & AI posting at this level. The step up from senior ($188K) is +17%.
Data Scientist pay by level
| Level (from title) | Median pay (US) | n with pay | vs this page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid (II) | — | 12 | — |
| Senior | $188K | 189 | -15% |
| Staff / lead | $220K | 108 | — |
| Principal | — | 23 | — |
| Director+ | — | 18 | — |
| Level not stated | $168K | 188 | -24% |
Based on 538 postings with pay. A dash means fewer than 30 list pay.
Staff / lead pay across data & AI roles
| # | Role | Median pay (US) | n with pay | vs this page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Machine Learning Engineer | $264K | 195 | +20% |
| 2 | AI Research Scientist | $246K | 40 | +12% |
| 3 | AI Engineer | $237K | 238 | +8% |
| 4 | Data Scientist | $220K | 108 | — |
| 5 | Data Engineer | $190K | 75 | -14% |
| — | Data Analyst | — | 26 | — |
| — | Analytics Engineer | — | 16 | — |
| — | Data Governance & Quality | — | 14 | — |
Based on 712 postings with pay. A dash means fewer than 30 list pay.
How it is measured: median of the published pay range midpoint, US postings in USD, annualized (hourly × 2,080). Level comes from title words only. Medians are shown when n ≥ 30; “—” means fewer than 30 postings with pay. Data: CSV · JSON. See the methodology. Back to Data Scientist or all roles.