Data Scientist Salary San Francisco 2026: Bay Area Tech Rates

San Francisco remains the highest-paying market for data scientists in the world. The combination of FAANG, a new generation of AI labs, and a dense ecosystem of well-funded startups means that a senior data scientist with the right skills can negotiate total compensation packages that no other city can match on an absolute basis.

But the headline numbers require context. California's 13.3% top marginal income tax rate and San Francisco's cost of living — median one-bedroom rent around $3,200/month — significantly erode take-home pay. This guide breaks down what SF data scientists actually earn by level and employer, what the AI/ML premium looks like in practice, and how the numbers compare to Seattle, NYC, and remote roles.

See current San Francisco data scientist salary data →

SF Data Scientist Salary by Experience Level

Median total compensation: ~$195,000/year

The gap between base salary and total compensation widens dramatically at senior levels, driven by RSU grants at FAANG and equity grants at AI labs. A staff data scientist at Google or Meta may receive $400K+ in total annual compensation when RSU vesting is annualized — with base salary representing less than half of that figure.

Top SF Employers and What They Pay Data Scientists

Google (DeepMind, Google Brain, Search, Ads)

Google is the anchor employer for SF data scientists, particularly those targeting research-oriented roles. Google Brain and DeepMind's Bay Area presence means genuine cutting-edge ML research positions exist alongside applied data science roles in Search, Ads, and Maps.

L4 (Mid-level): $200,000–$265,000 total comp

L5 (Senior): $265,000–$370,000 total comp

L6 (Staff): $370,000–$520,000+ total comp

Google's RSUs vest quarterly after a one-year cliff on a 4-year schedule — among the most predictable structures at FAANG.

Meta (AI Research, Ads, Integrity)

Meta's Bay Area offices concentrate heavily on AI infrastructure, ads optimization, and integrity (content moderation ML). The Meta AI Research (FAIR) team in Menlo Park runs some of the world's top foundational model research.

IC3–IC4 (Junior-Mid): $175,000–$240,000 total comp

IC5 (Senior): $260,000–$360,000 total comp

IC6 (Staff): $360,000–$500,000+ total comp

Meta refreshes RSU grants annually based on performance, and strong performers receive above-target refresh grants that substantially increase effective total compensation.

OpenAI

OpenAI is the defining employer of the 2025–2026 AI talent market. Data scientists and ML researchers at OpenAI work on pre-training data pipelines, RLHF, evaluation frameworks, and deployment infrastructure for GPT models.

Senior Data Scientist / Research Scientist: $230,000–$320,000 base, $300,000–$500,000+ total comp with equity

Staff / Principal: $280,000–$380,000 base, $450,000–$700,000+ with equity

OpenAI equity is pre-IPO. Tender offers have provided partial liquidity, but the full value depends on IPO timing and valuation. The equity upside potential is significant but uncertain.

Anthropic

Anthropic has rapidly become one of the most sought-after employers for data scientists who want to work on frontier AI safety and capability research. The team is smaller and more research-focused than OpenAI, with high selectivity.

Research Scientist / Data Scientist: $200,000–$300,000 base, $280,000–$480,000+ total comp

Staff Research Scientist: $280,000–$400,000 base, $450,000–$650,000+ with equity

Like OpenAI, Anthropic equity is pre-IPO with periodic tender offers.

Airbnb

Airbnb's data science team is one of the most respected in the industry — the company pioneered experimentation platforms and causal inference methodologies that have become industry standards. Senior DS roles focus on pricing, search ranking, and trust.

Mid-level: $185,000–$235,000 total comp

Senior: $235,000–$310,000 total comp

Staff: $300,000–$400,000 total comp

Stripe

Stripe's data science organization spans fraud detection, revenue optimization, and financial ML — complex, high-stakes problems with direct business impact. Stripe is post-IPO-ready and pays competitively.

Mid-level: $190,000–$240,000 total comp

Senior: $240,000–$320,000 total comp

Staff: $310,000–$420,000 total comp

Lyft, Waymo, Databricks, Scale AI

These companies round out the SF data science market at different compensation tiers:

Lyft: Senior DS earns $200,000–$270,000 total comp. Marketplace pricing, ETAs, and driver incentives are the core DS domains.

Waymo: Senior DS/ML Research earns $240,000–$340,000. Autonomous vehicle perception and planning data is among the most complex DS work in the industry.

Databricks: Senior DS earns $220,000–$300,000. Strong equity story as a high-growth data infrastructure company.

Scale AI: Senior DS earns $200,000–$280,000. Data quality, RLHF pipelines, and model evaluation are the primary focus areas.

AI/ML Focus Premium in 2026

The generative AI wave has created a two-tier data science market in San Francisco. Traditional data scientists — focused on analytics, A/B testing, SQL-heavy dashboards, and classical ML — earn the base ranges above. Data scientists with LLM, generative AI, or MLOps expertise command significant premiums:

The LLM premium is driven by acute supply shortage. Data scientists who can train, evaluate, and deploy large language models are effectively competing in the ML engineer and AI research scientist talent pool — and being compensated accordingly.

SF vs NYC vs Seattle vs Remote

San Francisco pays more — but Seattle data scientists often keep more after taxes. See our Data Scientist Salary Seattle 2026 guide for the full Pacific Northwest breakdown.

Total Comp: FAANG vs AI Labs vs Series B Startups

The AI lab premium is real, but so is the illiquidity risk. A $400K total comp package at Anthropic vs $320K at Google looks compelling — but the Anthropic equity won't be spendable until an IPO or secondary sale. FAANG RSUs are money you can count in real time.

For the full breakdown of what ML engineers earn in the same market, see the ML Engineer Salary Guide 2026.

California Income Tax Reality Check

California's income tax is the highest in the United States. For SF data scientists, this is not a minor factor:

At $300,000 total comp, you keep roughly 56 cents of every dollar. That's the math that drives many senior SF engineers to consider Seattle relocation, remote-first roles, or Nevada/Texas residency strategies once they hit Staff level.

The CA top rate of 13.3% kicks in at $1M+ income. But the 12.3% bracket starts at ~$625K for single filers, and 10.3% starts around $107K — meaning most senior SF data scientists are already in a bracket that costs them $15,000–$25,000 more per year than Seattle equivalents.

For the broader SF tech compensation picture, see Tech Salaries San Francisco 2026.

Is San Francisco Worth It in 2026?

For most data scientists, the answer depends on career stage and specialization:

SF is clearly worth it if:

You're targeting frontier AI research at OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, or Meta FAIR

You're early-career and want the network density and career acceleration that SF provides

You have LLM/generative AI skills and want to maximize short-term comp while the premium is highest

You're pursuing Staff+ roles where the absolute dollar difference vs other cities is largest

SF becomes questionable if:

You're mid-career with a family and $3,200+/month rent is compressing your savings rate

Your role is analytics-heavy rather than ML-research-heavy — the premium doesn't fully offset the tax

Remote options at your target employer pay market rate without location adjustment

The data science market in San Francisco remains the global benchmark. The full data science salary picture across markets is in our Data Scientist Salary Guide 2026.

Benchmark your salary against the SF market now: data scientist salary data →