Machine learning engineer salary in San Jose, CA
Employers in the San Jose metro offered machine learning engineers a median of $200,000 a year on approved H-1B applications. That is 12.1% above the US median for machine learning engineers, and 4.5% above offers to software engineers in San Jose.
Median offer
$200,000
US median offer: $178,350
The middle half
$174,304 – $250,000
25th to 75th percentile
After cost of living
$181,120
San Jose prices: 10.4% above US average
Open machine learning engineer jobs
43
In San Jose, from 11 companies
Pay range
The top 10% of machine learning engineer offers in San Jose were above $290,000 a year. The bottom 10% were below $150,000.
10th percentile $150,000, 25th $174,304, 75th $250,000, 90th $290,000.
10th percentile $113,000, 25th $142,105, 75th $220,000, 90th $264,514.
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. Machine learning 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.
Machine learning 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 924 H-1B applications for machine learning engineers in the San Jose metro, from 159 employers. Level II offers were the most common.
Applications
924
Employers
159
Most experienced (Level IV)
12.4%
Applications by wage level
- Level I (entry): 121
- Level II: 257
- Level III: 151
- Level IV (most experienced): 115
- Not stated: 280
These are salaries offered on approved applications, not salaries paid. Each application lists only its main work site.
43 open machine learning engineer jobs in San Jose right now
From 11 companies. 2 were posted in the past week.
Machine learning engineer jobs nearby: Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Santa Clara
What counts as a machine learning engineer
The BLS has no machine learning engineer category, so these figures come from job titles. An H-1B application or a job on hiredaemon counts as a machine learning engineer job when its title names machine learning work, such as "Machine Learning Engineer", "ML Engineer" or "MLOps Engineer". AI engineers are counted separately.
Sources and notes
- Machine learning 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 machine learning 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.