How much can you make in research and development?

The average research and development position in academia averages $79,651 a year, with a range between $65,839 and $92,751 a year.

Conversely, research and development positions in the industry, such as developing 3D spatial computing devices or biomedical engineering of medical equipment, can earn an average of $98,000 a year, with a range between $89,000 to $160,000 a year.

Top paying cities for research and development positions:

• San Mateo, CA, averages $94,519 a year ($45.44 an hour)

• Berkeley, CA, averages $91,214 a year ($43.85 an hour)

• Daly City, CA, averages $90,958 a year ($43.73 an hour)

• Richmond, CA, averages $88,786 a year ($42.69 an hour)

• Irvine, CA, averages $88,245 a year ($42.43 an hour)

• Odessa, TX, averages $86,869 a year ($41.76 an hour)

• Stamford, CT, averages $86,454 a year ($41.56 an hour)

• Bellevue, WA, averages $86,209 a year ($41.45 an hour)

• Orange, CA, averages $86,208 a year ($41.45 an hour)

• San Francisco, CA, averages $86,040 a year ($41.37 an hour)

Type of research and development position and salary:

• Security Research Engineer averages $136,049 a year ($65.41 an hour)

• Researcher Developer averages $124,723 a year ($59.96 an hour)

• Security Research averages $113,781 a year ($54.70 an hour)

• Research Software Engineer averages $111,508 a year ($53.61 an hour)

• Research Analytics averages $110,778 a year ($53.26 an hour)