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The average salary for a data engineer in the United States is $109,675 per year. This figure reflects the growing demand for data professionals skilled in managing and optimizing data pipelines. The salary can vary significantly depending on several factors, including geographic location, years of experience, and the specific industry.
Entry-level data engineers typically earn around $80,000 annually, while those with more experience can command salaries exceeding $130,000. Industries such as technology and finance often offer higher compensation, reflecting the critical role data engineers play in these sectors.
According to the latest data, states like California, New York, and Washington are among the highest-paying regions for data engineers, with salaries averaging between $120,000 and $140,000. In addition, metropolitan areas such as San Francisco and New York City provide substantial opportunities due to a high concentration of tech companies.
Understanding these figures can help job seekers make informed decisions about pursuing a career as a data engineer.
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The average data engineer salary in California, Washington, and New York are the highest in the U.S. The lowest average data engineer salary states are Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Indiana.
| Rank | State | Avg. salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | $122,671 | $58.98 |
| 2 | Washington | $109,774 | $52.78 |
| 3 | Oregon | $100,261 | $48.20 |
| 4 | Rhode Island | $98,249 | $47.24 |
| 5 | New York | $105,791 | $50.86 |
| 6 | Massachusetts | $99,706 | $47.94 |
| 7 | New Hampshire | $98,765 | $47.48 |
| 8 | Nevada | $97,762 | $47.00 |
| 9 | Connecticut | $98,578 | $47.39 |
| 10 | Montana | $93,730 | $45.06 |
| 11 | Arizona | $94,626 | $45.49 |
| 12 | Pennsylvania | $94,827 | $45.59 |
| 13 | North Carolina | $90,638 | $43.58 |
| 14 | Delaware | $93,187 | $44.80 |
| 15 | New Jersey | $96,169 | $46.24 |
| 16 | Texas | $90,441 | $43.48 |
| 17 | Maryland | $95,070 | $45.71 |
| 18 | District of Columbia | $93,681 | $45.04 |
| 19 | Virginia | $91,870 | $44.17 |
| 20 | West Virginia | $90,518 | $43.52 |
| 21 | Idaho | $89,175 | $42.87 |
| 22 | Maine | $89,316 | $42.94 |
| 23 | Ohio | $89,735 | $43.14 |
| 24 | Alaska | $90,912 | $43.71 |
| 25 | New Mexico | $89,770 | $43.16 |
| 26 | Michigan | $87,670 | $42.15 |
| 27 | Utah | $84,148 | $40.46 |
| 28 | Wisconsin | $88,188 | $42.40 |
| 29 | Georgia | $86,944 | $41.80 |
| 30 | Vermont | $86,072 | $41.38 |
| 31 | North Dakota | $83,995 | $40.38 |
| 32 | Minnesota | $86,507 | $41.59 |
| 33 | Illinois | $86,877 | $41.77 |
| 34 | Colorado | $84,459 | $40.61 |
| 35 | South Carolina | $86,974 | $41.81 |
| 36 | Arkansas | $82,556 | $39.69 |
| 37 | South Dakota | $82,480 | $39.65 |
| 38 | Nebraska | $82,798 | $39.81 |
| 39 | Tennessee | $82,077 | $39.46 |
| 40 | Iowa | $81,786 | $39.32 |
| 41 | Kentucky | $82,219 | $39.53 |
| 42 | Missouri | $83,893 | $40.33 |
| 43 | Wyoming | $80,613 | $38.76 |
| 44 | Florida | $84,297 | $40.53 |
| 45 | Hawaii | $80,240 | $38.58 |
| 46 | Indiana | $80,495 | $38.70 |
| 47 | Louisiana | $82,544 | $39.68 |
| 48 | Mississippi | $81,576 | $39.22 |
| 49 | Oklahoma | $81,181 | $39.03 |
| 50 | Alabama | $79,954 | $38.44 |
| 51 | Kansas | $79,762 | $38.35 |
The highest-paying cities for data engineers are San Francisco, CA, Seattle, WA, and New York, NY.
| Rank | City | Avg. salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco, CA | $132,082 | $63.50 |
| 2 | Seattle, WA | $110,694 | $53.22 |
| 3 | New York, NY | $105,966 | $50.95 |
| 4 | Beaverton, OR | $99,941 | $48.05 |
| 5 | Boston, MA | $99,677 | $47.92 |
| 6 | Hartford, CT | $98,430 | $47.32 |
| 7 | Washington, NJ | $95,778 | $46.05 |
| 8 | Philadelphia, PA | $95,280 | $45.81 |
| 9 | Phoenix, AZ | $94,858 | $45.60 |
| 10 | Washington, DC | $93,798 | $45.10 |
| 11 | Arlington, VA | $92,887 | $44.66 |
| 12 | Raleigh, NC | $91,649 | $44.06 |
| 13 | San Antonio, TX | $91,424 | $43.95 |
| 14 | Portland, ME | $89,796 | $43.17 |
| 15 | Columbus, OH | $88,957 | $42.77 |
| 16 | Detroit, MI | $88,010 | $42.31 |
| 17 | Madison, WI | $87,731 | $42.18 |
| 18 | Chicago, IL | $87,133 | $41.89 |
| 19 | Atlanta, GA | $86,943 | $41.80 |
| 20 | Minneapolis, MN | $86,533 | $41.60 |
Data Engineers are the most in-demand in these five cities:
A data engineer's salary ranges from $80,000 a year at the 10th percentile to $149,000 at the 90th percentile.

| Percentile | Annual salary | Monthly salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90th Percentile | $149,000 | $12,417 | $72 |
| 75th Percentile | $129,000 | $10,750 | $62 |
| Average | $109,675 | $9,140 | $53 |
| 25th Percentile | $93,000 | $7,750 | $45 |
| 10th Percentile | $80,000 | $6,667 | $38 |
The highest paying types of data engineers are staff software engineer, principal software engineer, and software engineer lead.
| Job title | Annual salary | Monthly salary | Hourly rate | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hadoop Developer | $93,148 | $7,762 | $44.78 | 99,671 |
| Software Engineer-Consultant | $113,987 | $9,499 | $54.80 | 317,033 |
| Data Consultant | $94,945 | $7,912 | $45.65 | 149,791 |
| Data Architect | $113,700 | $9,475 | $54.66 | 152,504 |
| Software Development Engineer | $109,147 | $9,096 | $52.47 | 356,971 |
| Software Design Engineer | $98,799 | $8,233 | $47.50 | 315,080 |
Top companies hiring data engineers now:
Data engineer salaries at The Citadel and Airbnb are the highest-paying according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, the average data engineer salary at companies like Credit Karma and Netflix are highly competitive.
| Rank | Company | Average salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Citadel | $179,101 | $86.11 |
| 2 | Airbnb | $161,980 | $77.88 |
| 3 | Credit Karma | $161,627 | $77.71 |
| 4 | Netflix | $159,797 | $76.83 |
| 5 | Upstart Network | $159,346 | $76.61 |
| 6 | Roku | $158,262 | $76.09 |
| 7 | Meta | $157,227 | $75.59 |
| 8 | Crunchbase | $156,949 | $75.46 |
| 9 | Coinbase | $156,857 | $75.41 |
| 10 | LendUp | $156,790 | $75.38 |
| 11 | Aspiration | $154,864 | $74.45 |
| 12 | ByteDance | $154,555 | $74.31 |
| 13 | Dotdash | $153,939 | $74.01 |
| 14 | Zenefits | $152,801 | $73.46 |
| 15 | Apple | $152,743 | $73.43 |
| 16 | TikTok | $152,271 | $73.21 |
| 17 | Quora | $152,073 | $73.11 |
| 18 | Discovery | $152,028 | $73.09 |
| 19 | The Knot | $151,897 | $73.03 |
| 20 | PitchBook Data | $151,804 | $72.98 |
The average data engineer salary varies across industries:
| Rank | Industry | Average salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Technology | $125,579 | $60.37 |
| 2 | Start-up | $122,531 | $58.91 |
| 3 | Health Care | $108,434 | $52.13 |
| 4 | Finance | $103,520 | $49.77 |
| 5 | Professional | $98,432 | $47.32 |
The average data engineer salary has risen by $20,360 over the last ten years. In 2014, the average data engineer earned $89,315 annually, but today, they earn $109,675 a year. That works out to a 10% change in pay for data engineers over the last decade.
Compare data engineer salaries for cities or states with the national average over time.
Compare data engineer salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $110,000 | $52.73 | +3.3% |
| 2024 | $106,000 | $50.99 | +2.3% |
| 2023 | $104,000 | $49.84 | +1.8% |
| 2022 | $102,000 | $48.96 | +1.7% |
| 2021 | $100,000 | $48.13 | +1.8% |
| Company | Job | Location | Date added | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capital One | Senior Data Engineer (Python/Java) | Plano, TX | 06/30/2025 | $158,600 |
| Capital One | Lead Data Engineer | Cambridge, MA | 06/30/2025 | $193,400 |
| Capital One | Data Engineer-Banktech | Wilmington, DE | 06/30/2025 | $144,200 |
| Capital One | Senior Data Engineer | Richmond, VA | 06/30/2025 | $158,600 |
| Discover Financial Services | Data Engineer (Multiple Openings)-IHM | Houston, TX | 06/30/2025 | $113,547 |
| Discover Financial Services | Data Engineer (Multiple Openings)-IHM | Riverwoods, IL | 06/30/2025 | $93,974 |
| Eversource Energy | IT Data Engineer Engineer (Hybrid) | Westwood, MA | 06/30/2025 | $92,290 |
| First Interstate Bancsystem | Data Warehouse Engineer I | Billings, MT | 06/30/2025 | $58,630 |
| Aristocrat | Associate Compliance Data Engineer | Las Vegas, NV | 06/30/2025 | $47,775 |
| Axos Bank | Data Analytics Engineer | San Diego, CA | 06/30/2025 | $80,000 |
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