Data Scientist Salary in United States 2026

The average Data Scientist salary in USA is $124,693 (76.5 lakhs) per year or $53.41(₹ 3277) per hour. The market for data scientists kept increasing over the past few years. It is expected to grow 36% by the year 2030, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Finance, Engineering, and Health care are some of the top earning industry sectors in the USA. 

A Data scientist salary in US can vary by region as well as by work experience and company. This article shares updated information about the highest pay received by data scientists in different cities, and states within the United States of America (USA).

How much does a Data Scientist earn? 

Data scientists in the USA make an average salary of $124,693 per year. The average salary range typically falls between $202,762 and $76,772. There will be additional cash compensation around $13,796. Salary ranges can vary depending on crucial factors like education, technical skills, and years of experience in the profession. 

However, other salary suggestion sites specify a different average and median pay for data scientists. Here is a glance at what five other sources say you can expect to earn per year as a data science professional.

Source	Indeed	Payscale	Salary.com	Dataquest	CareerFoundry
Salary Range (per year)	$122,000 - $200,000	$62,000 - $197,000	$112,592 - $142,609	$128,000 - $208,000	$132,873 - $156,717

These figures vary based on factors such as experience, specific role, and location within the U.S. High-demand areas like San Francisco and New York tend to offer salaries on the higher end of the spectrum.

Scope of Data Scientist in US

Companies across the world including the US are highly dependent on data science experts for their smart usage of big data to drive business decisions. Data Scientist professionals are highly in demand in industries like finance, engineering, healthcare, etc. The increasing demand for Data Scientists is creating enticing career opportunities for students and also experienced professionals. Some related job titles for a data scientist are Data Analyst, Data scientist intern, and Quantitative Analyst. A data scientist's salary depends on several factors including work experience, industry, Place of stay/company, Education, Technical skills, etc.

Data Scientists salary in US by experience

Years of experience play an important role in earning high salaries. The latest salary range of a data scientist based on experience in the United States is given below

• Entry-level data scientist salary: For early career professionals, the data scientist's average salary for freshers with less than 1 year of experience is expected to earn $98,650.Data scientists in their early career stage holding 1-3 years of experience can earn on an average of $109,364.
• Mid-level data scientist salary: The average annual salary of a data scientist with 3-5 years of experience earns is $122,421. A mid-career data scientist with 5-7 years of experience earns an average salary of $130,242.
• Experienced Data Scientist Salary: The median salary of 7+ years experienced data scientist can be up to $147,874 on average. However, for manager-level professionals the average salary is expected to be considerably higher around $2,50,000.

Data Scientists Salary by Industry

The industry you work in can play a significant role in attaining your average salary per year. The top paying industries for Data Scientists, according to Glassdoor are as follows:

• Technology (Software Development, AI, Cloud Services): $164,000 - $171,000.
• Banking and Finance:  $115,657 
• Retail and E-Commerce: $100,000
• Healthcare: $100,000
• Information Technology - $128,037
• Retail & Wholesale - $117,664
• Real Estate - $115,165
• Media & Communications - $117,664

Note: Data by Glassdoor represent base salary excluding bonuses and other additional compensation.

Data Scientists Salary by Location

The places in the United States of America that offer very good pay for Data Scientists are California, New York, Washington, Delaware, and New Jersey. The annual salary range for Data scientist professionals in these states is given below

• California- $133,110
• New York- $135,824
• Washington- $133,900
• Delaware- $127,810
• New Jersey- $120,240

All these annual average salary figures are factored on the average number of years of experience. Let’s now look into the metropolitan cities in the US that are offering the highest pay to data scientists.

Highest paying cities for Data scientists in US 

City Name	Average Salary per year ($)
San Francisco, CA	$139,757
New York, NY	$135,824
Palo Alto, CA	$156,923
Seattle, WA	$136,392
Boston, MA	$135,691
Redmond, WA	$135,646
Austin, TX	$119,410
Chicago, IL	$118,499
Irvine, CA	$114,881

Data Scientists Salary by Education 

To qualify for a data scientist job, one must typically hold at least a bachelor’s degree. The remaining percentage has bachelor's degrees, typically in fields such as mathematics, statistics, computer science, business, or engineering.

The salaries of data scientists typically increase with your education level. If you don’t have any degree yet, consider earning either bachelor’s or master’s in the related field. Do you know some higher-paying senior data scientist roles might need a Ph.D? So, consider earning an advanced degree if you want to settle in an advanced role.

Desired skills for a Data Scientist in US

While degrees are one way to boost your salary, expanding your skill set can also lead to higher pay. Proficiency in Cloud Architecture, and DevOps increases 25-30% of your salary. Along with technical skills, having scientific curiosity, strong leadership skills, and linguistic experience have a great impact on Data scientist salaries in the US. The major technical  skills required for a data scientist include,

• Software engineering skills and  Programming languages such as Python, SQL, JAVA, Perl, C/C++
•  Expertise in data analytical tools like SAAS, Hadoop, Spark, Hive, etc. is required.
• Machine learning/deep learning
• Artificial intelligence (AI)
• Risk analysis
• Cloud tools and data analysis platforms
• Statistical analysis
• Data mining and cleaning
• Big data
• Data warehousing and structures
  
  

“Fluency in programming languages like Python, R, SQL, Java and knowledge of Python libraries like Scikit-learn, TensorFlow, and PyTorch convey to the recruiter that you have the competencies to get the job done,” said Sachin Gupta. He is the co-founder and CEO of the developer hiring platform HackerEarth. He also added, “Candidates with ambitions to be high earners should focus on building and expanding their skill sets, and money shall follow.”

Data Scientist Salary vs Other Similar Professions Salary

There are many professions that are similar to or overlap with the role of a data scientist. Positions like data analyst, Big data engineer, Machine learning engineer etc.are closely related to data scientist. Variation with respect to pay is displayed below

 

 The “Data Scientist salary in US” is higher in the regions of California and New York. Along with financial organizations some social networking companies like Google, Facebook also pay premium salaries to data scientists.

Frequently asked questions

1. How much data scientist make in usa?

The average data scientist salary in USA is $124,693 per year or $53.41 per hour. As per the latest update, For entry-level positions, the salary starts around $98,650 per year, while the most experienced can earn up to $147,874 per year on average. 

2. Is data scientist a good career in USA?

With the help of advanced technology, data scientists get insights from the large amount of data they collect which will improve the business growth rate. According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be 35.8% employment growth between 2021 to 2031.

3. What is the highest salary of a data scientist?

As per the latest report of 2025, The average highest salary of a data scientist ranges between $239,722 and $295,629.