Quoted Experts
Sheldon Logan Ph.D.,
Sheldon Logan Ph.D.
Average computer scientist salary
$103,238
$49.63 hourly rate
Entry-level computer scientist salary
$74,000 yearly salary
Updated June 25, 2024
How much does a computer scientist make?
The average computer scientist salary in the United States is $103,238. Computer scientist salaries typically range between $74,000 and $144,000 yearly. The average hourly rate for computer scientists is $49.63 per hour. Computer scientist salary is impacted by location, education, and experience. Computer scientists earn the highest average salary in California.
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Computer scientist salary by:
- State
- City
- Company
- Trends
Where can a Computer Scientist earn more?
Compare salary by location
Vs
166k
146k
126k
106k
86k
66k
46k
California$139,569
Bellevue, NE$76,438
Compare salary by company
Vs
172k
152k
132k
112k
92k
Meta$146,798
Populus Group$122,067
Computer Scientist salary estimates from across the web
Based on the latest salary information compiled by Zippia, Salary.com, Indeed, Glassdoor, Ziprecruiter, SalaryExpert, Comparably and Payscale, the average salary for a computer scientist typically falls between $85,468 and $142,158.
Average computer scientist salary by state
The highest-paying states for computer scientists are California, Washington, and Oregon. The lowest average computer scientist salary states are Mississippi, Iowa, and Wyoming.
- State View
- County View
Average Salary:
Highest paying states for computer scientists
| Rank | State | Avg. Salary | Hourly Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Washington | $117,530 | $56.50 |
| 2 | California | $126,688 | $60.91 |
| 3 | Oregon | $115,892 | $55.72 |
| 4 | Idaho | $100,313 | $48.23 |
| 5 | Delaware | $95,894 | $46.10 |
| 6 | Alaska | $97,171 | $46.72 |
| 7 | Nevada | $97,892 | $47.06 |
| 8 | New Mexico | $90,672 | $43.59 |
| 9 | New York | $97,041 | $46.65 |
| 10 | Texas | $94,864 | $45.61 |
| 11 | Tennessee | $95,341 | $45.84 |
| 12 | Pennsylvania | $91,683 | $44.08 |
| 13 | Virginia | $92,168 | $44.31 |
| 14 | Minnesota | $93,019 | $44.72 |
| 15 | Maryland | $92,733 | $44.58 |
| 16 | District of Columbia | $93,782 | $45.09 |
| 17 | Arizona | $92,097 | $44.28 |
| 18 | Illinois | $91,262 | $43.88 |
| 19 | Utah | $89,733 | $43.14 |
| 20 | Ohio | $91,018 | $43.76 |
| 21 | New Jersey | $91,906 | $44.19 |
| 22 | Massachusetts | $91,708 | $44.09 |
| 23 | South Dakota | $84,116 | $40.44 |
| 24 | Connecticut | $90,003 | $43.27 |
| 25 | North Carolina | $87,156 | $41.90 |
| 26 | Rhode Island | $87,045 | $41.85 |
| 27 | Kentucky | $89,222 | $42.90 |
| 28 | West Virginia | $87,742 | $42.18 |
| 29 | Georgia | $88,225 | $42.42 |
| 30 | New Hampshire | $84,793 | $40.77 |
| 31 | Indiana | $86,102 | $41.40 |
| 32 | Hawaii | $84,988 | $40.86 |
| 33 | Michigan | $83,952 | $40.36 |
| 34 | Wisconsin | $82,327 | $39.58 |
| 35 | Vermont | $82,372 | $39.60 |
| 36 | Colorado | $85,500 | $41.11 |
| 37 | Louisiana | $84,650 | $40.70 |
| 38 | Arkansas | $83,306 | $40.05 |
| 39 | South Carolina | $82,287 | $39.56 |
| 40 | Wyoming | $77,327 | $37.18 |
| 41 | Florida | $83,850 | $40.31 |
| 42 | Montana | $79,780 | $38.36 |
| 43 | Alabama | $80,841 | $38.87 |
| 44 | North Dakota | $77,084 | $37.06 |
| 45 | Missouri | $81,787 | $39.32 |
| 46 | Oklahoma | $81,965 | $39.41 |
| 47 | Maine | $80,039 | $38.48 |
| 48 | Kansas | $76,888 | $36.97 |
| 49 | Iowa | $77,410 | $37.22 |
| 50 | Mississippi | $79,115 | $38.04 |
| 51 | Nebraska | $76,344 | $36.70 |
Top computer scientist jobs near you
Highest paying cities for computer scientists
The highest-paying cities for computer scientists are San Francisco, CA, Seattle, WA, and New York, NY.
| Rank | City | Avg. Salary | Hourly Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Francisco, CA | $139,569 | $67.10 |
| 2 | Seattle, WA | $118,932 | $57.18 |
| 3 | New York, NY | $97,193 | $46.73 |
| 4 | Oak Ridge, TN | $95,647 | $45.98 |
| 5 | San Antonio, TX | $95,224 | $45.78 |
| 6 | Washington, DC | $93,848 | $45.12 |
| 7 | Arlington, VA | $92,933 | $44.68 |
| 8 | Annapolis, MD | $92,784 | $44.61 |
| 9 | Phoenix, AZ | $92,314 | $44.38 |
| 10 | Holyoke, MA | $92,191 | $44.32 |
| 11 | Jersey City, NJ | $92,021 | $44.24 |
| 12 | Chicago, IL | $91,569 | $44.02 |
| 13 | Pittsburgh, PA | $90,071 | $43.30 |
| 14 | Farmington, CT | $89,894 | $43.22 |
| 15 | Lehi, UT | $89,529 | $43.04 |
| 16 | Atlanta, GA | $88,166 | $42.39 |
| 17 | Tampa, FL | $84,444 | $40.60 |
| 18 | Oklahoma City, OK | $82,224 | $39.53 |
| 19 | Saint Louis, MO | $82,073 | $39.46 |
| 20 | Bellevue, NE | $76,438 | $36.75 |
Computer Scientist salary details
A computer scientist's salary ranges from $74,000 a year at the 10th percentile to $144,000 at the 90th percentile.
What is a computer scientist's salary?
| Percentile | Annual Salary | Monthly Salary | Hourly Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90th Percentile | $144,000 | $12,000 | $69 |
| 75th Percentile | $123,000 | $10,250 | $59 |
| Average | $103,238 | $8,603 | $50 |
| 25th Percentile | $86,000 | $7,167 | $41 |
| 10th Percentile | $74,000 | $6,167 | $36 |
Highest paying computer scientist jobs
The highest paying types of computer scientists are senior computer scientist, senior data scientist, and geospatial scientist.
| Job Title | Annual Salary | Monthly Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software Systems Engineer | $107,102 | $8,925 | $51.49 | 370,518 |
| Research And Development Internship | $38,489 | $3,207 | $18.50 | 154,854 |
| Computer Systems Analyst | $82,655 | $6,888 | $39.74 | 118,439 |
| Computer Engineer | $96,805 | $8,067 | $46.54 | 126,709 |
| Scientist | $97,344 | $8,112 | $46.80 | 62,467 |
| Information Scientist | $92,789 | $7,732 | $44.61 | 101,692 |
How would you rate the starting salaries for Computer Scientists, as well as the prospects for salary advancement?
Sheldon Logan Ph.D.
Salaries are tricky since there is a vast range of starting salaries in the industries and their composition. In the tech field, wages are compromised of stock, bonus, and base salary. At the larger companies (e.g., Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc.), the combination of those three might be up to 200k for a new grad, but it might be significantly less for smaller companies. These figures can grow into the half a million to the millions range as graduates advance in their careers as a larger portion of your salary becomes stocks. This is the situation now, and it's hard to predict where the industry will be 5 to 10 years in the future, especially as the field becomes saturated. As the supply of computer science/engineer grads increases (every school seems to have bigger and bigger classes each year), and efficiencies increase due to economies of scale (more companies moving to cloud-based solutions), with machine learning/AI improvements, etc., salaries might start trending down. Still, they might also trend up with a smaller cohort, etc.
Top companies hiring computer scientists now:
- Brookhaven National Laboratory Jobs (39)
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Jobs (57)
- Amazon Jobs (31)
- Adobe Jobs (420)
- General Electric Jobs (33)
Which companies pay computer scientists the most?
Computer scientist salaries at Meta and Apple are the highest-paying according to our most recent salary estimates. In addition, the average computer scientist salary at companies like PayPal and PARC are highly competitive.
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Meta | $146,798 | $70.58 |
| 2 | Apple | $146,553 | $70.46 |
| 3 | PayPal | $144,879 | $69.65 |
| 4 | PARC | $138,085 | $66.39 |
| 5 | ICE Mortgage Technology | $138,011 | $66.35 |
| 6 | Bloomberg | $137,813 | $66.26 |
| 7 | $135,961 | $65.37 | |
| 8 | eBay | $131,463 | $63.20 |
| 9 | Intuitive Surgical | $131,306 | $63.13 |
| 10 | LendingClub | $128,959 | $62.00 |
| 11 | BP America Inc | $126,558 | $60.85 |
| 12 | Brocade Services Corporation | $125,672 | $60.42 |
| 13 | Applied Materials | $124,881 | $60.04 |
| 14 | Walmart | $123,763 | $59.50 |
| 15 | Citi | $123,488 | $59.37 |
| 16 | Dolby Laboratories | $123,176 | $59.22 |
| 17 | Lifesize | $123,155 | $59.21 |
| 18 | Boston Consulting Group | $122,164 | $58.73 |
| 19 | Tesla | $122,122 | $58.71 |
| 20 | Populus Group | $122,067 | $58.69 |
Wage gap by gender, race and education
$106,000$104,800$103,600$102,400$101,200$100,000
MaleFemale
Computer Scientist salary trends
The average computer scientist salary has risen by $19,914 over the last ten years. In 2014, the average computer scientist earned $83,324 annually, but today, they earn $103,238 a year. That works out to a 12% change in pay for computer scientists over the last decade.
Compare computer scientist salaries for cities or states with the national average over time.
Average computer scientist salary over time
Compare computer scientist salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.
Computer Scientist salary by year
| Year | Avg. Salary | Hourly Rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $103,000 | $49.63 | +3.3% |
| 2023 | $99,800 | $48.00 | +2.3% |
| 2022 | $97,600 | $46.91 | +3.3% |
| 2021 | $94,400 | $45.39 | +2.3% |
| 2020 | $92,200 | $44.32 | +1.1% |
Show more
Recently added computer scientist salaries
| Company | Job | Location | Date Added | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Inc. | Computer Scientist, Document AI Experience | San Francisco, CA | 12/01/2023 | $138,000 |
| The University of Chicago | Computational Scientist-Machine Learning | Chicago, IL | 11/01/2023 | $90,000 |
| Ut-Battelle, LLC (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) | Computational Scientist, Large-Scale Simulations | Oak Ridge, TN | 11/01/2023 | $122,080 |
| Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. | Computational Scientist I | Rockville, MD | 09/03/2023 | $135,013 |
| Battelle Memorial Institute | Computer Scientist | Bellingham, WA | 08/02/2023 | $136,312 |
| ISO New England, Inc. | Lead Computer Scientist | Holyoke, MA | 07/03/2023 | $145,000 |
| Department of Defense | Interdisciplinary Computer Scientist/Computer Engineer | Arlington, VA | 07/01/2023 | $132,368 |
| Brightseed | Scientist, Computational Chemistry | South San Francisco, CA | 07/01/2023 | $136,000 |
| Department of Defense | Computer Scientist | Pope, MS | 07/01/2023 | $82,830 |
| Department of Defense | Computer Scientist | Albany, GA | 07/01/2023 | $82,830 |
Show more
Computer Scientist salary FAQs
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Updated June 25, 2024
