Where you work dramatically affects your pay. US cities, remote, and international compensation data for 2026.
| City | Base Salary |
|---|---|
San Francisco / Bay Area | $195,000 – $230,000 |
New York City | $170,000 – $205,000 |
Seattle | $165,000 – $200,000 |
Los Angeles | $155,000 – $185,000 |
Boston / Cambridge | $150,000 – $180,000 |
Austin | $140,000 – $168,000 |
Chicago | $135,000 – $162,000 |
Denver / Boulder | $130,000 – $155,000 |
Atlanta | $125,000 – $150,000 |
Raleigh / Durham | $120,000 – $145,000 |
San Francisco/Bay Area pays the highest ML engineer salaries, with base pay of $195K-$230K and total comp often exceeding $400K at top companies. The concentration of FAANG, AI startups (OpenAI, Anthropic, Scale AI), and venture capital creates exceptional compensation.
On a pure purchasing-power basis, San Francisco ML engineer salaries are roughly 30-40% higher than equivalently adjusted salaries in cities like Austin or Denver. The key factor is equity: a $300K FAANG package in SF can generate far more wealth than $160K in Austin over 4 years.