AI engineer salary in San Francisco, CA
Employers in the San Francisco metro offered AI engineers a median of $195,000 a year on approved H-1B applications. That is 37.5% above the US median for AI engineers, and about the same as offers to software engineers in San Francisco.
Median offer
$195,000
US median offer: $141,866
The middle half
$165,000 – $216,750
25th to 75th percentile
After cost of living
$168,670
San Francisco prices: 15.6% above US average
Open AI engineer jobs
462
In San Francisco, from over 200 companies
Pay range
The top 10% of AI engineer offers in San Francisco were above $265,000 a year. The bottom 10% were below $135,699.
10th percentile $135,699, 25th $165,000, 75th $216,750, 90th $265,000.
10th percentile $91,416, 25th $111,578, 75th $185,000, 90th $226,138.
10th percentile $128,090, 25th $163,500, 75th $219,670, 90th $273,400.
Line: 10th to 90th percentile. Box: the middle half (25th to 75th). Dark mark: the median. AI engineers: salaries offered on H-1B applications. All software engineers: salaries paid, from the BLS.
How far the pay goes in San Francisco
Prices in San Francisco are 15.6% above the US average, which makes the median offer worth $168,670 in US-average dollars. Housing costs 94.7% more than the US average.
Black line: US average = 100. Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2024.
AI engineers and other engineering jobs in San Francisco
Median salary offered on approved H-1B applications in the San Francisco metro, for every engineering job type with at least 30 applications.
| Job | Applications | Median offer |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering managers | 646 | $239,475 |
| Machine learning engineers | 439 | $200,000 |
| Site reliability engineers | 86 | $195,839 |
| AI engineers | 191 | $195,000 |
| All software engineers | 7,966 | $195,000 |
| Android engineers | 48 | $192,000 |
| Infrastructure engineers | 86 | $192,000 |
| iOS engineers | 33 | $187,741 |
| Data engineers | 461 | $187,574 |
| Frontend engineers | 57 | $187,574 |
| Cloud engineers | 45 | $180,000 |
| Forward deployed engineers | 66 | $170,000 |
| DevOps engineers | 49 | $161,637 |
| Support engineers | 103 | $142,200 |
All software engineers: every application filed under the BLS software developer job code, whatever its title. Backend and full-stack engineers: left out, since a plain "Software Engineer" title counts as both.
Experience level of these offers
From October 2025 to June 2026, the Department of Labor approved 191 H-1B applications for AI engineers in the San Francisco metro, from 139 employers. Level II and Level IV offers were the most common.
Applications
191
Employers
139
Most experienced (Level IV)
31.9%
Applications by wage level
- Level I (entry): 23
- Level II: 63
- Level III: 40
- Level IV (most experienced): 61
- Not stated: 4
These are salaries offered on approved applications, not salaries paid. Each application lists only its main work site.
462 open AI engineer jobs in San Francisco right now
From over 200 companies. 23 were posted in the past week.
AI engineer jobs nearby: San Mateo, Foster City, Redwood City, Menlo Park, South San Francisco
What counts as an AI engineer
The BLS has no AI engineer category, so these figures come from job titles. An H-1B application or a job on hiredaemon counts as an AI engineer job when its title names AI work, such as "AI Engineer", "Generative AI Developer" or "LLM Engineer". Machine learning engineers are counted separately.
Sources and notes
- AI engineer offers: US Department of Labor, H-1B application data, October 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026. Approved H-1B applications whose job title names AI work and whose work site is in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco or San Mateo county.
- Software engineer pay: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (published May 15, 2026), San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont metro.
- Cost of living: US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024.
- Open jobs: counted on hiredaemon as this page loads.