Salaries in Arlington.
3,500+ roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 1.22x national average. Last updated April 2026.
3445 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$423,000
Principal Quantitative Researcher
Median of All Roles
$190,000
Aerospace Backend Engineer
Entry Level
$39,000
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.
Arlington, VA has a cost-of-living index of 1.22x the national average. The highest-paying role is Principal Quantitative Researcher at $423,000, while the median across all 3445 roles is $190,000. Arlington is the heart of the DC defense and intelligence corridor, home to the Pentagon, DARPA, and hundreds of government contractors.
About the Arlington market
Arlington is the heart of the DC defense and intelligence corridor, home to the Pentagon, DARPA, and hundreds of government contractors. The concentration of cleared tech jobs makes it one of the highest-paying metros for cybersecurity and cloud engineering. Amazon's HQ2 has brought a wave of commercial tech hiring.
Defense & IntelligenceTechnologyGovernmentCybersecurityConsulting
Top 50 salaries in Arlington
| # | Role | Median | Range |
|---|
| 1 | Principal Quantitative Researcher | $423,000 | $330,000 – $550,000 |
| 2 | Technical Fellow | $418,000 | $326,000 – $544,000 |
| 3 | Senior VP of Product | $418,000 | $327,000 – $544,000 |
| 4 | Principal AI Research Scientist | $414,000 | $323,000 – $538,000 |
| 5 | Principal AI Safety Engineer | $411,000 | $321,000 – $534,000 |
| 6 | SVP of Engineering | $390,000 | $304,000 – $506,000 |
| 7 | Senior VP of Security | $390,000 | $305,000 – $507,000 |
| 8 | Chief Science Officer | $390,000 | $304,000 – $506,000 |
| 9 | Principal Quantitative Developer | $388,000 | $303,000 – $505,000 |
| 10 | Distinguished Engineer | $386,000 | $293,000 – $492,000 |
| 11 | Staff Quantitative Researcher | $386,000 | $301,000 – $501,000 |
| 12 | Chief Security Officer | $386,000 | $301,000 – $502,000 |
| 13 | Staff AI Research Scientist | $382,000 | $298,000 – $497,000 |
| 14 | Principal Applied Scientist | $381,000 | $297,000 – $495,000 |
| 15 | Chief Legal Officer | $381,000 | $297,000 – $495,000 |
| 16 | SVP of Sales | $381,000 | $297,000 – $495,000 |
| 17 | Principal Deep Learning Engineer | $380,000 | $297,000 – $495,000 |
| 18 | Principal AI Agent Architect | $379,000 | $296,000 – $493,000 |
| 19 | Principal Computer Vision Engineer | $378,000 | $294,000 – $491,000 |
| 20 | Principal Cryptographer | $377,000 | $294,000 – $490,000 |
| 21 | SVP of Technology | $377,000 | $294,000 – $490,000 |
| 22 | Senior VP of Design | $375,000 | $293,000 – $487,000 |
| 23 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $374,000 | $279,000 – $488,000 |
| 24 | Principal LLM Engineer | $371,000 | $289,000 – $482,000 |
| 25 | Senior Head of Security | $371,000 | $290,000 – $482,000 |
| 26 | Chief Design Officer | $371,000 | $289,000 – $483,000 |
| 27 | SVP of Product | $371,000 | $289,000 – $482,000 |
| 28 | L7 Software Engineer | $371,000 | $289,000 – $482,000 |
| 29 | SVP of Strategy | $370,000 | $288,000 – $481,000 |
| 30 | Principal AI Compiler Engineer | $369,000 | $288,000 – $480,000 |
| 31 | Principal AI Infrastructure Engineer | $367,000 | $285,000 – $476,000 |
| 32 | Principal Distributed Systems Engineer | $367,000 | $285,000 – $476,000 |
| 33 | SVP of Data | $367,000 | $286,000 – $478,000 |
| 34 | Chief Machine Learning Officer | $366,000 | $285,000 – $476,000 |
| 35 | CTO | $366,000 | $285,000 – $476,000 |
| 36 | VP of AI | $364,000 | $276,000 – $478,000 |
| 37 | Principal Kernel Engineer | $364,000 | $283,000 – $472,000 |
| 38 | Chief AI Officer | $363,000 | $269,000 – $468,000 |
| 39 | Principal Compiler Engineer | $363,000 | $283,000 – $471,000 |
| 40 | Chief Strategy Officer | $363,000 | $283,000 – $472,000 |
| 41 | Principal AI Agent Engineer | $362,000 | $283,000 – $471,000 |
| 42 | Staff AI Agent Architect | $361,000 | $281,000 – $469,000 |
| 43 | Chief Risk Officer | $361,000 | $281,000 – $469,000 |
| 44 | Chief Architect | $359,000 | $280,000 – $466,000 |
| 45 | Chief Cloud Officer | $358,000 | $279,000 – $466,000 |
| 46 | Staff AI Safety Engineer | $357,000 | $279,000 – $464,000 |
| 47 | Lead High-Frequency Trading Engineer | $355,000 | $277,000 – $462,000 |
| 48 | Chief Innovation Officer | $355,000 | $277,000 – $462,000 |
| 49 | SVP of Business Development | $355,000 | $276,000 – $462,000 |
| 50 | Principal AI Engineer | $353,000 | $275,000 – $458,000 |
Tax considerations
Virginia's top income tax rate is 5.75%. Arlington has no additional city income tax. Proximity to DC means many residents compare against DC and Maryland tax rates.
Negotiating in Arlington
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