Updated 27 March 2026
ML Engineer Salary by State
California leads at $198K average but Texas offers the best purchasing power. Remote ML roles are narrowing the geographic gap.
Highest Raw Salary
1. California$198K
2. Washington$188K
3. New York$178K
4. Massachusetts$170K
5. Colorado$158K
Best After Cost of Living
1. Washington$163K adj.
2. Texas$153K adj.
3. Illinois$151K adj.
4. Virginia$150K adj.
5. Colorado$150K adj.
| State | Average | COL | Adjusted | Market |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $198,000 | 142 | $139,437 | Bay Area FAANG dominates. Google, Meta, Apple ML teams. |
| Washington | $188,000 | 115 | $163,478 | Amazon, Microsoft, Apple ML offices in Seattle. |
| New York | $178,000 | 136 | $130,882 | NYC fintech + AI startups. Two Sigma, Citadel ML teams. |
| Massachusetts | $170,000 | 131 | $129,771 | MIT/Harvard corridor. Biotech ML. iRobot, HubSpot. |
| Colorado | $158,000 | 105 | $150,476 | Boulder/Denver AI scene. Palantir, Arrow. |
| Virginia | $155,000 | 103 | $150,485 | DC metro. Defense ML, Amazon HQ2. |
| Illinois | $148,000 | 98 | $151,020 | Chicago. Citadel, Grubhub, enterprise ML. |
| Texas | $142,000 | 93 | $152,688 | Austin tech boom. Tesla, Oracle, Samsung ML. |
| Georgia | $138,000 | 93 | $148,387 | Atlanta. Cox Automotive, NCR, fintech ML. |
| Oregon | $152,000 | 112 | $135,714 | Portland. Intel, Nike advanced analytics. |
Remote ML roles are changing the map.
About 40% of ML engineer job postings in 2026 are remote-eligible. Many companies offer location-adjusted pay: 80-90% of Bay Area rate for remote workers in lower-cost states. An ML engineer earning $170K remotely from Austin (COL 93) has more purchasing power than $198K in San Francisco (COL 142).