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SQL jobs: demand and pay (October 2026)
5,446 open data & AI postings at 1,953 companies mention SQL, or 41.4% of all data & AI postings we track (as of October 18, 2026).
41.4%share of data & AI postings
1,953companies hiring
$175Kmedian pay, US (n=1782)
—week over week (needs more history)
SQL pay by level
| Level (from title) | Median pay | Postings with pay (n) |
|---|---|---|
| Intern | $123K | 11 |
| Entry / junior | $87K | 10 |
| Mid (II) | $136K | 38 |
| Senior | $178K | 589 |
| Staff / lead | $210K | 271 |
| Principal | $212K | 51 |
| Manager | $172K | 123 |
| Director+ | $218K | 84 |
| Level not stated | $150K | 605 |
Median of the published range midpoint, US postings in USD, annualized. Shown only when n ≥ 10; “—” means fewer.
Roles that ask for SQL
| Role | Postings | % of that role |
|---|---|---|
| Data Engineer | 1,325 | 74.5% |
| Data Scientist | 1,018 | 66.2% |
| Data Analyst | 918 | 81.3% |
| AI Engineer | 553 | 14.6% |
| Data & AI leadership | 365 | 34.3% |
| Analytics Engineer | 344 | 93.0% |
| Machine Learning Engineer | 313 | 15.8% |
| Database Engineer / DBA | 227 | 74.7% |
| Data Architect | 141 | 35.5% |
| BI Developer / Analyst | 127 | 84.7% |
| Data Governance & Quality | 84 | 38.0% |
| AI Research Scientist | 31 | 7.1% |
The weekly Data Skills Index
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How it's measured: a posting counts if its title or description matches the SQL patterns in our taxonomy. Postings by the vendor itself are excluded. See the methodology.