AI engineer salary in San Jose, CA
Employers in the San Jose metro offered AI engineers a median of $200,000 a year on approved H-1B applications. That is 41.0% above the US median for AI engineers, and 4.5% above offers to software engineers in San Jose.
Median offer
$200,000
US median offer: $141,866
The middle half
$169,010 – $250,332
25th to 75th percentile
After cost of living
$181,120
San Jose prices: 10.4% above US average
Open AI engineer jobs
64
In San Jose, from 24 companies
Pay range
The top 10% of AI engineer offers in San Jose were above $310,000 a year. The bottom 10% were below $149,365.
10th percentile $149,365, 25th $169,010, 75th $250,332, 90th $310,000.
10th percentile $91,416, 25th $111,578, 75th $185,000, 90th $226,138.
10th percentile $138,420, 25th $173,650, 75th $226,080, 90th $289,150.
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 Jose
Prices in San Jose are 10.4% above the US average, which makes the median offer worth $181,120 in US-average dollars. Housing costs 111.9% more than the US average.
Black line: US average = 100. Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2024.
AI engineers and other engineering jobs in San Jose
Median salary offered on approved H-1B applications in the San Jose metro, for every engineering job type with at least 30 applications.
| Job | Applications | Median offer |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering managers | 880 | $236,630 |
| AI engineers | 182 | $200,000 |
| Machine learning engineers | 924 | $200,000 |
| Frontend engineers | 83 | $198,000 |
| All software engineers | 13,918 | $191,450 |
| Cloud engineers | 134 | $187,741 |
| Infrastructure engineers | 296 | $187,741 |
| Site reliability engineers | 174 | $184,692 |
| iOS engineers | 40 | $177,500 |
| Android engineers | 51 | $175,000 |
| Data engineers | 341 | $174,304 |
| DevOps engineers | 89 | $169,262 |
| Support engineers | 92 | $135,000 |
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 182 H-1B applications for AI engineers in the San Jose metro, from 99 employers. Level II offers were the most common.
Applications
182
Employers
99
Most experienced (Level IV)
22.0%
Applications by wage level
- Level I (entry): 39
- Level II: 50
- Level III: 25
- Level IV (most experienced): 40
- Not stated: 28
These are salaries offered on approved applications, not salaries paid. Each application lists only its main work site.
64 open AI engineer jobs in San Jose right now
From 24 companies. 4 were posted in the past week.
AI engineer jobs nearby: Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara
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 San Benito or Santa Clara county.
- Software engineer pay: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (published May 15, 2026), San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metro.
- Cost of living: US Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024.
- Open jobs: counted on hiredaemon as this page loads.