Salaries in Albuquerque.
422 roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 0.88x national average. Last updated April 2026.
422 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$273,000
Chief AI Officer
Median of All Roles
$130,000
Industrial Robot AI Programmer
Entry Level
$28,000
Hotel Clerk / Front Desk
Salary data sourced from SEC filings, H-1B Labor Condition Applications (DOL), Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, and aggregated job postings across 50+ platforms. Ranges reflect 25th to 75th percentile for full-time positions. Cost-of-living adjustments use Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities (2025 index). Last updated April 2026.
Albuquerque, NM has a cost-of-living index of 0.88x the national average. The highest-paying role is Chief AI Officer at $273,000, while the median across all 422 roles is $130,000. Albuquerque's economy is driven by Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories, Kirtland Air Force Base, and a growing film production industry.
About the Albuquerque market
Albuquerque's economy is driven by Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories, Kirtland Air Force Base, and a growing film production industry. The city offers affordable living and a strong pipeline of research and engineering jobs tied to national defense and energy programs.
National Labs & ResearchMilitary & DefenseFilm ProductionHealthcareTechnology
Top 50 salaries in Albuquerque
| # | Role | Median | Range |
|---|
| 1 | Chief AI Officer | $273,000 | $202,000 – $352,000 |
| 2 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $265,000 | $197,000 – $346,000 |
| 3 | SVP of AI Innovation | $256,000 | $193,000 – $337,000 |
| 4 | Head of AI Research | $247,000 | $183,000 – $325,000 |
| 5 | Chief Technology Officer | $245,000 | $182,000 – $321,000 |
| 6 | Chief Algorithm Officer | $244,000 | $183,000 – $318,000 |
| 7 | Chief Revenue Officer | $241,000 | $181,000 – $319,000 |
| 8 | VP of AI Engineering | $238,000 | $180,000 – $310,000 |
| 9 | Chief Marketing Officer | $236,000 | $177,000 – $308,000 |
| 10 | Head of AI | $233,000 | $172,000 – $302,000 |
| 11 | VP of AI Product | $233,000 | $174,000 – $302,000 |
| 12 | CEO | $232,000 | $169,000 – $321,000 |
| 13 | Chief Operating Officer | $231,000 | $172,000 – $308,000 |
| 14 | Chief Product Officer | $230,000 | $171,000 – $303,000 |
| 15 | Chief Data Officer | $227,000 | $170,000 – $296,000 |
| 16 | Chief Human Resources Officer | $224,000 | $169,000 – $291,000 |
| 17 | CFO | $224,000 | $168,000 – $298,000 |
| 18 | VP of Engineering | $220,000 | $165,000 – $287,000 |
| 19 | Head of AI Platform | $218,000 | $163,000 – $286,000 |
| 20 | Head of Applied AI | $215,000 | $161,000 – $283,000 |
| 21 | VP of Product | $213,000 | $161,000 – $274,000 |
| 22 | Head of AI Partnerships | $209,000 | $156,000 – $276,000 |
| 23 | AI Transformation Officer | $209,000 | $157,000 – $274,000 |
| 24 | VP of Sales | $205,000 | $154,000 – $273,000 |
| 25 | VP of Marketing | $203,000 | $151,000 – $267,000 |
| 26 | VP of Product Design | $201,000 | $149,000 – $260,000 |
| 27 | AI Program Director | $200,000 | $151,000 – $262,000 |
| 28 | Director of AI Strategy | $200,000 | $151,000 – $261,000 |
| 29 | Director of Generative AI | $198,000 | $149,000 – $260,000 |
| 30 | Director of Engineering | $192,000 | $148,000 – $248,000 |
| 31 | AI Hardware/Chip Design Engineer | $190,000 | $142,000 – $252,000 |
| 32 | AI Agent Architect | $188,000 | $142,000 – $243,000 |
| 33 | AI World Model Engineer | $186,000 | $138,000 – $245,000 |
| 34 | Transformer Architecture Engineer | $185,000 | $138,000 – $242,000 |
| 35 | Director of Data Science | $184,000 | $141,000 – $239,000 |
| 36 | Foundation Model Engineer | $182,000 | $135,000 – $237,000 |
| 37 | AI Financial Engineer | $181,000 | $134,000 – $233,000 |
| 38 | Multimodal AI Researcher | $181,000 | $135,000 – $241,000 |
| 39 | Quantum ML Researcher | $181,000 | $134,000 – $240,000 |
| 40 | AI Infrastructure Manager | $181,000 | $137,000 – $236,000 |
| 41 | Multi-Agent Systems Architect | $181,000 | $134,000 – $240,000 |
| 42 | AI Reasoning Specialist | $180,000 | $133,000 – $238,000 |
| 43 | Privacy / Data Counsel | $179,000 | $138,000 – $234,000 |
| 44 | AI Research Scientist | $178,000 | $133,000 – $231,000 |
| 45 | Neurosymbolic AI Researcher | $178,000 | $133,000 – $236,000 |
| 46 | AI Interpretability Researcher | $177,000 | $131,000 – $234,000 |
| 47 | AI Memory Systems Engineer | $177,000 | $131,000 – $234,000 |
| 48 | Deep Learning Engineer | $176,000 | $136,000 – $224,000 |
| 49 | AI Safety Researcher | $175,000 | $130,000 – $229,000 |
| 50 | AI Cloud Architect | $175,000 | $132,000 – $222,000 |
Tax considerations
New Mexico's top income tax rate is 5.9%. Albuquerque has no city income tax. The moderate state rate and affordable housing create reasonable net compensation.
Negotiating in Albuquerque
Highlight security clearance or national lab experience. Sandia and Los Alamos pay nationally competitive salaries with excellent federal benefits packages.
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