Salaries/Data Scientist vs Data Engineer

Data Scientist vs Data Engineer Salary

Side-by-side 2026 salary comparison across entry-level, mid-level, and senior pay for Data Scientist and Data Engineer roles in the US.

Bottom line (mid-level, US median)

Data Engineers earn $3,000 (2% more) than Data Scientists on average.

Data Scientist vs Data Engineer by City

LocationData Scientist (Mid)Data Engineer (Mid)Difference
New York$173K$177K$-4K
Los Angeles$155K$159K$-4K
Chicago$142K$145K$-3K
Dallas$135K$138K$-3K
Houston$134K$137K$-3K
Washington D.C.$162K$166K$-4K
Philadelphia$138K$141K$-3K
Atlanta$135K$138K$-3K

Data & AI

Data Scientist

Analyze complex datasets, build ML models, and derive business insights.

See Data Scientist salaries in all cities →

Data & AI

Data Engineer

Build and maintain data pipelines, warehouses, and ETL processes for analytics and ML systems.

See Data Engineer salaries in all cities →
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