Real salary data
What Computer and Information Research Scientists actually earn in 2026.
The median for Computer and Information Research Scientist is $179,000 across 6451 real salary records (H-1B visa filings and tech job postings), updated Aug 10, 2026.
01 / By source
Real salary bands, by source.
Bands come from 6451 real records. Each source has a different bias, disclosed below.
Density curve fitted to the observed quartiles (log-normal). $151,226–$206,000 contains the middle 50% of records in the best-represented source; the shape between them is an approximation.
| Source | Records | 25th pct | Median | 75th pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H-1B visa filings | 6,451 | $151,226 | $179,000 | $206,000 |
- H-1B visa filings (DOL) — over-represents visa-eligible roles (typically high-skill, high-wage)
Salary data updated Aug 10, 2026. Bands are percentiles, not averages; n is the number of underlying records.
02 / By city
What Computer and Information Research Scientists earn, by city.
Real records; cities with at least 10 observations.
| City | Records | Range (p25–p75) | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York, NY | 711 | $166,800 – $209,720 | $183,800 |
| Seattle, WA | 685 | $159,935 – $193,200 | $175,000 |
| Bellevue, WA | 380 | $167,000 – $203,350 | $176,936 |
| Menlo Park, CA | 346 | $182,000 – $217,504 | $192,339 |
| San Francisco, CA | 313 | $190,000 – $309,400 | $225,000 |
| Mountain View, CA | 305 | $184,000 – $225,000 | $196,000 |
| Santa Clara, CA | 252 | $164,909 – $211,474 | $191,588 |
| Sunnyvale, CA | 239 | $181,107 – $218,250 | $194,883 |
| San Jose, CA | 235 | $193,891 – $239,259 | $209,229 |
| Palo Alto, CA | 197 | $191,922 – $240,786 | $210,540 |
| Austin, TX | 120 | $129,500 – $168,500 | $148,415 |
| Boston, MA | 114 | $154,300 – $185,753 | $168,573 |
03 / By state
What Computer and Information Research Scientists earn, by state.
| State | Records | Range (p25–p75) | Median |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA | 2,491 | $178,360 – $224,682 | $195,000 |
| WA | 1,189 | $161,000 – $199,870 | $176,571 |
| NY | 885 | $155,958 – $209,720 | $182,000 |
| MA | 311 | $153,600 – $190,001 | $167,600 |
| TX | 276 | $115,586 – $172,625 | $139,800 |
| IL | 172 | $95,526 – $162,809 | $121,225 |
| NJ | 140 | $130,125 – $190,181 | $160,000 |
| VA | 106 | $130,608 – $171,603 | $152,700 |
| PA | 94 | $130,000 – $184,000 | $158,100 |
| GA | 89 | $100,000 – $158,776 | $129,000 |
| TN | 84 | $91,428 – $151,674 | $125,892 |
| OR | 80 | $129,990 – $160,680 | $130,603 |
04 / Context
How Computer and Information Research Scientists pay compares with similar roles.
| Profession | Risk | Median | Outlook |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architectural and Engineering Manager | Medium | $175,000 | +3.8% (2024–34) |
| Computer Network Architect | Critical | $134,000 | +11.9% (2024–34) |
| Computer Systems Analyst | Critical | $104,416 | +8.7% (2024–34) |
| Data Analyst | High | $120,000 | +33.5% (2024–34) |
| Data Engineer | High | $136,011 | +8.7% (2024–34) |
05 / Next step
How to move up the pay band.
The skills below appear most often in higher-paid roles:
- udemyUnderstanding Computer Science and Information TechnologyIntermediate
- udemyComputer and information technology in science and industryIntermediate
- udemyGoogle Professional Machine Learning EngineerAdvanced
- udemy[NEW] Professional Machine Learning EngineerAdvanced
- udemyThe AI Research Scientist Interview NavigatorAdvanced
- udemy1400 AI Research Scientist Interview Questions Practice TestAdvanced
- udemyCertified Data ScientistIntermediate
- udemyCertified Professional Soil ScientistAdvanced
06 / FAQ
Salary questions, answered.
01Why are the bands different from the BLS median?
The BLS median covers all Computer and Information Research Scientist in the US. These bands come from real records with known biases — H-1B filings skew to visa-eligible (high-skill) roles and tech postings skew to tech employers — so they sit above the national median. We disclose the source of every band.
02How often is this data updated?
The dataset refreshes weekly from live job postings and quarterly from new H-1B disclosures.