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Research engineer salary
Average research engineer salary
$96,945
Understanding Research Engineer Salaries
The average salary for a Research Engineer in the United States is approximately $96,945 per year. This figure varies significantly based on factors such as experience level, industry, and geographic location. For instance, entry-level positions typically start around $70,000, while seasoned professionals can earn upwards of $120,000.
Salary by State
Research Engineers can find higher salaries in states like California, Massachusetts, and Washington, driven by demand in technology and research sectors. The cost of living in these regions is also a consideration, as it impacts overall earnings.
Opportunities for Advancement
Continuous learning and specialization in emerging fields can enhance earning potential. Pursuing advanced degrees or certifications often leads to higher compensation and more job opportunities. Understanding the salary trends in your area can help you negotiate better salaries and make informed career decisions.
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Where can a Research Engineer earn more?
Research engineer salaries by experience level
Research engineer salary estimates from across the web
Average research engineer salary by state
The average research engineer salary in California, Washington, and New York are the highest in the U.S. The lowest average research engineer salary states are Florida, Missouri, and South Dakota.
- State view
- County view
Highest paying states for research engineers
| Rank | State | Avg. salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | $125,386 | $60.28 |
| 2 | District of Columbia | $117,490 | $56.49 |
| 3 | Washington | $116,380 | $55.95 |
| 4 | Delaware | $102,584 | $49.32 |
| 5 | Oregon | $95,052 | $45.70 |
| 6 | Connecticut | $98,082 | $47.15 |
| 7 | Pennsylvania | $92,950 | $44.69 |
| 8 | Massachusetts | $96,349 | $46.32 |
| 9 | Idaho | $90,314 | $43.42 |
| 10 | New York | $103,687 | $49.85 |
| 11 | Virginia | $86,654 | $41.66 |
| 12 | Michigan | $83,627 | $40.21 |
| 13 | Arizona | $83,868 | $40.32 |
| 14 | Rhode Island | $82,413 | $39.62 |
| 15 | West Virginia | $92,773 | $44.60 |
| 16 | Maryland | $93,950 | $45.17 |
| 17 | Maine | $89,621 | $43.09 |
| 18 | New Jersey | $89,549 | $43.05 |
| 19 | Texas | $79,259 | $38.11 |
| 20 | New Hampshire | $78,668 | $37.82 |
| 21 | New Mexico | $79,273 | $38.11 |
| 22 | Vermont | $77,873 | $37.44 |
| 23 | Minnesota | $78,891 | $37.93 |
| 24 | Illinois | $80,017 | $38.47 |
| 25 | Utah | $76,070 | $36.57 |
| 26 | Ohio | $76,380 | $36.72 |
| 27 | Iowa | $80,446 | $38.68 |
| 28 | Nevada | $80,109 | $38.51 |
| 29 | Colorado | $75,194 | $36.15 |
| 30 | Hawaii | $82,949 | $39.88 |
| 31 | Wisconsin | $76,356 | $36.71 |
| 32 | Indiana | $75,343 | $36.22 |
| 33 | Tennessee | $74,776 | $35.95 |
| 34 | Montana | $74,573 | $35.85 |
| 35 | Alaska | $82,790 | $39.80 |
| 36 | North Dakota | $73,676 | $35.42 |
| 37 | Nebraska | $73,597 | $35.38 |
| 38 | North Carolina | $70,332 | $33.81 |
| 39 | Wyoming | $67,959 | $32.67 |
| 40 | Georgia | $71,573 | $34.41 |
| 41 | Louisiana | $73,734 | $35.45 |
| 42 | South Carolina | $70,976 | $34.12 |
| 43 | Alabama | $68,552 | $32.96 |
| 44 | Florida | $65,583 | $31.53 |
| 45 | Missouri | $65,566 | $31.52 |
| 46 | South Dakota | $65,155 | $31.32 |
| 47 | Kentucky | $66,886 | $32.16 |
| 48 | Oklahoma | $66,802 | $32.12 |
| 49 | Arkansas | $62,611 | $30.10 |
| 50 | Kansas | $60,475 | $29.07 |
| 51 | Mississippi | $61,897 | $29.76 |
Highest paying cities for research engineers
The highest-paying cities for research engineers are Menlo Park, CA, Seattle, WA, and New York, NY.
| Rank | City | Avg. salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Menlo Park, CA | $133,556 | $64.21 |
| 2 | Seattle, WA | $117,302 | $56.40 |
| 3 | New York, NY | $104,058 | $50.03 |
| 4 | Boston, MA | $96,168 | $46.23 |
| 5 | Portland, OR | $95,314 | $45.82 |
| 6 | Silver Spring, MD | $93,702 | $45.05 |
| 7 | Pittsburgh, PA | $89,699 | $43.12 |
| 8 | McLean, VA | $88,070 | $42.34 |
| 9 | Dearborn, MI | $83,932 | $40.35 |
| 10 | Chandler, AZ | $83,653 | $40.22 |
| 11 | San Antonio, TX | $83,148 | $39.98 |
| 12 | Chicago, IL | $80,506 | $38.70 |
| 13 | East Chicago, IN | $76,817 | $36.93 |
| 14 | Madison, WI | $75,944 | $36.51 |
| 15 | Columbus, OH | $75,870 | $36.48 |
| 16 | Atlanta, GA | $71,763 | $34.50 |
| 17 | Greenville, SC | $71,126 | $34.20 |
| 18 | Wichita, KS | $59,743 | $28.72 |
Research engineer salary details
A research engineer's salary ranges from $67,000 a year at the 10th percentile to $138,000 at the 90th percentile.
What is a research engineer's salary?
| Percentile | Annual salary | Monthly salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90th Percentile | $138,000 | $11,500 | $66 |
| 75th Percentile | $116,000 | $9,667 | $56 |
| Average | $96,945 | $8,079 | $47 |
| 25th Percentile | $80,000 | $6,667 | $38 |
| 10th Percentile | $67,000 | $5,583 | $32 |
Highest paying research engineer jobs
The highest paying types of research engineers are principal engineer, senior engineer, and staff engineer.
| Job title | Annual salary | Monthly salary | Hourly rate | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product Development Engineer | $86,075 | $7,173 | $41.38 | 202,155 |
| Mechanical Design Engineer | $75,821 | $6,318 | $36.45 | 120,258 |
| Design Engineer Internship | $55,346 | $4,612 | $26.61 | 139,842 |
| Product Design Engineer | $94,827 | $7,902 | $45.59 | 170,485 |
| Equipment Engineer | $97,539 | $8,128 | $46.89 | 108,449 |
| Principal Engineer | $130,213 | $10,851 | $62.60 | 312,683 |
How would you rate the starting salaries for research engineers, as well as the prospects for salary advancement?
Daisy Huang
Assistant Professor, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Top companies hiring research engineers now:
Which companies pay research engineers the most?
Research engineer salaries at The Citadel and Meta are the highest-paying according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, the average research engineer salary at companies like ByteDance and Google are highly competitive.
| Rank | Company | Average salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Citadel | $169,510 | $81.50 |
| 2 | Meta | $154,091 | $74.08 |
| 3 | ByteDance | $152,450 | $73.29 |
| 4 | $144,689 | $69.56 | |
| 5 | Apple | $144,645 | $69.54 |
| 6 | Houzz | $143,428 | $68.96 |
| 7 | Zoox | $141,291 | $67.93 |
| 8 | Waymo | $140,521 | $67.56 |
| 9 | Microsoft | $138,588 | $66.63 |
| 10 | StumbleUpon | $138,437 | $66.56 |
| 11 | PayPal | $138,050 | $66.37 |
| 12 | Amazon | $137,023 | $65.88 |
| 13 | eBay | $136,678 | $65.71 |
| 14 | Cornerstone Research | $135,882 | $65.33 |
| 15 | Neuralink IT Solutions | $134,959 | $64.88 |
| 16 | Didi Chuxing | $133,974 | $64.41 |
| 17 | Fitbit | $133,939 | $64.39 |
| 18 | Palo Alto Networks | $133,933 | $64.39 |
| 19 | Cloudflare | $133,797 | $64.33 |
| 20 | Gracenote | $131,816 | $63.37 |
Wage gap by gender, race and education
Research Engineer salary by industry
The average research engineer salary varies across industries:
- The average research engineer salary in the start-up industry is $141,240, the highest of any industry.
- The average research engineer salary in the finance industry is $110,558.
- Research engineers in the education industry earn an average salary of $83,448, the lowest of any industry.
Highest paying industries for research engineers
| Rank | Industry | Average salary | Hourly rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Start-up | $141,240 | $67.90 |
| 2 | Technology | $110,558 | $53.15 |
| 3 | Professional | $105,656 | $50.80 |
| 4 | Automotive | $96,080 | $46.19 |
| 5 | Hospitality | $95,011 | $45.68 |
| 6 | Manufacturing | $88,566 | $42.58 |
| 7 | Education | $83,448 | $40.12 |
High paying research engineer jobs
Research engineer salary trends
The average research engineer salary has risen by $11,753 over the last ten years. In 2014, the average research engineer earned $85,192 annually, but today, they earn $96,945 a year. That works out to a 7% change in pay for research engineers over the last decade.
Compare research engineer salaries for cities or states with the national average over time.
Average research engineer salary over time
Compare research engineer salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.
Research engineer salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $96,900 | $46.61 | +1.9% |
| 2024 | $95,100 | $45.71 | +1.2% |
| 2023 | $93,900 | $45.17 | +1.7% |
| 2022 | $92,300 | $44.40 | +2.0% |
| 2021 | $90,500 | $43.52 | +0.7% |
Recently added research engineer salaries
| Company | Job | Location | Date added | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stevens Institute of Technology | Research Engineer | Hoboken, NJ | 06/30/2025 | $41,740 |
| Nrel | Researcher III-Systems Engineering | Golden, CO | 06/30/2025 | $116,346 |
| Perspecta | Mobile Cybersecurity Research Engineer | Silver Spring, MD | 06/29/2025 | $112,000 |
| Scale Ai Inc. | ML Research Engineer, ML Systems | New York, NY | 06/29/2025 | $200,800 |
| Anthropic | Research Engineer/Scientist, Alignment Science | San Francisco, CA | 06/29/2025 | $280,000 |
| Together Ai | Systems Research Engineer, GPU Programming | San Francisco, CA | 06/29/2025 | $160,000 |
| Meta | Research Engineer, ML, AI & Computer Vision | Redmond, WA | 06/28/2025 | $208,000 |
| Parsons | Vulnerability Researcher Engineer | West Melbourne, FL | 06/28/2025 | $62,300 |
| Dignity Health | Research Engineer | Phoenix, AZ | 06/27/2025 | $41,177 |
| Tenable | Staff Research Engineer-Decision Science Operations | Columbia, MD | 06/27/2025 | $129,000 |
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