Across 641 roles that publish a figure at 50 AI companies, the middle of the posted range is $231k a year. Half of all roles sit between $195k and $278k. The lowest floor we read was $50k and the highest ceiling $490k.

How wide is a typical published salary range?

$68k. That is the median distance between the floor and the ceiling of a single posting, so a range on an advert narrows the answer far less than it appears to — two candidates hired against the same posting can be $68k apart and both be inside what was advertised.

What is the difference between senior and staff pay in AI?

$246k against $199k at the midpoint — a step of about $47k. Both are read from the level word in the title, so a role whose title states no level is counted separately rather than guessed at.

How was this measured?

Every open role on 50 AI companies' public applicant tracking systems was fetched and its stated pay range read. Only annual ranges quoted in US dollars are counted, because a median mixing an hourly rate and three currencies is a figure nobody quoted; 18 postings were excluded on that rule. Seniority is read from the level word in the title and never inferred.

Are these figures estimates?

No. Every one is a number the employer published on its own job posting. Nothing here is modelled, extrapolated or self-reported, which is what separates it from a salary survey.

Research

We read 641 AI salary ranges. The typical one is $68k wide.

Read off 50 companies’ own job boards on 26 August 2026, not off an aggregator and not from a survey. Every figure is one an employer published about a role it was actually trying to fill. Engineers, managers and other roles are counted alike, so read this as what AI jobs pay rather than an AI engineer salary alone.

median midpoint: $231k
the middle half: $195k–$278k
median range width: $68k

The number on the advert is a range, and the range is enormous

The median posted range runs $68k from floor to ceiling. Two people hired against the same advert can be that far apart and both be inside what was published — so a range answers considerably less of the question than it looks like it does.

It is still worth vastly more than nothing, which is what most AI postings publish. But “the salary is disclosed” and “you know what the job pays” are not the same statement, and the gap between them is $68k wide.

Across the whole set the floors and ceilings run from $50k to $490k. That is not a spread of seniority alone — it is the same handful of job families, priced very differently by different employers.

What each level says it pays

Seniority is read from the level word in the title and never inferred: a posting either says “Staff” or it does not. Management titles are separated out because they are a different axis — letting “Senior Engineering Manager” sit in the senior band would put people-leader pay into an engineer’s figure. Bands under 20 postings are counted in the totals above but not shown here.

Posted pay by seniority band. Quartiles of the posted midpoint, then the median.
Level	Postings	Middle half	Median
No level stated	315 postings	$195k – $274k	$232k
Senior	80 postings	$163k – $210k	$199k
Staff	80 postings	$226k – $303k	$246k
Management	158 postings	$200k – $285k	$234k

Two things in the table worth stopping on

The step from senior to staff is $47k. Staff-titled roles sit at $246k against $199k for senior, on 80 and 80 postings. That is one title word, and it is worth more than the entire spread of most individual bands.

A title with no level word is not a junior role. The 315 postings stating no level at all pay a median of $232k — above senior and near staff. At the labs this is deliberate: a flat title like “Member of Technical Staff” covers a wide seniority range, and the pay band covers it too, which is why that group carries one of the widest spreads in the set at $70k.

Questions

What do AI jobs pay?: Across 641 roles that publish a figure at 50 AI companies, the middle of the posted range is $231k a year. Half of all roles sit between $195k and $278k. The lowest floor we read was $50k and the highest ceiling $490k.
How wide is a typical published salary range?: $68k. That is the median distance between the floor and the ceiling of a single posting, so a range on an advert narrows the answer far less than it appears to — two candidates hired against the same posting can be $68k apart and both be inside what was advertised.
What is the difference between senior and staff pay in AI?: $246k against $199k at the midpoint — a step of about $47k. Both are read from the level word in the title, so a role whose title states no level is counted separately rather than guessed at.
How was this measured?: Every open role on 50 AI companies' public applicant tracking systems was fetched and its stated pay range read. Only annual ranges quoted in US dollars are counted, because a median mixing an hourly rate and three currencies is a figure nobody quoted; 18 postings were excluded on that rule. Seniority is read from the level word in the title and never inferred.
Are these figures estimates?: No. Every one is a number the employer published on its own job posting. Nothing here is modelled, extrapolated or self-reported, which is what separates it from a salary survey.

Scanned on 26 August 2026, from 641 annual US-dollar ranges; 18 postings quoting another currency or an hourly rate were left out rather than converted. The snapshot moves only when the harvest is re-run. Quote it freely — a link back lets a reader check how old it is.

See what is open right now Who publishes pay at all Check a salary against these figures

Not shown above, for having fewer than 20 postings: Junior (1), Principal (7). They are counted in the totals. A median over 1 posting is a fact about 1 posting, not about a seniority band.