Salaries in Arlington.
522 roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 1.22x national average. Last updated April 2026.
522 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$386,000
Distinguished Engineer
Median of All Roles
$179,000
AI Semiconductor Test 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 Distinguished Engineer at $386,000, while the median across all 522 roles is $179,000. 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 | Distinguished Engineer | $386,000 | $293,000 – $492,000 |
| 2 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $374,000 | $279,000 – $488,000 |
| 3 | VP of AI | $364,000 | $276,000 – $478,000 |
| 4 | Chief AI Officer | $363,000 | $269,000 – $468,000 |
| 5 | Chief Algorithm Officer | $352,000 | $264,000 – $459,000 |
| 6 | SVP of AI Innovation | $351,000 | $265,000 – $462,000 |
| 7 | Chief Technology Officer | $350,000 | $260,000 – $459,000 |
| 8 | Chief Revenue Officer | $335,000 | $251,000 – $442,000 |
| 9 | Chief Product Officer | $333,000 | $246,000 – $437,000 |
| 10 | CEO | $332,000 | $242,000 – $459,000 |
| 11 | Chief Marketing Officer | $330,000 | $247,000 – $431,000 |
| 12 | Head of AI | $329,000 | $244,000 – $427,000 |
| 13 | Head of AI Research | $329,000 | $244,000 – $433,000 |
| 14 | CFO | $324,000 | $243,000 – $429,000 |
| 15 | VP of AI Engineering | $320,000 | $242,000 – $417,000 |
| 16 | VP of AI Product | $317,000 | $236,000 – $411,000 |
| 17 | Principal Engineer | $317,000 | $244,000 – $415,000 |
| 18 | Head of AI Platform | $312,000 | $232,000 – $408,000 |
| 19 | VP of Engineering | $311,000 | $233,000 – $407,000 |
| 20 | Chief Data Officer | $305,000 | $228,000 – $398,000 |
| 21 | Chief Operating Officer | $299,000 | $223,000 – $398,000 |
| 22 | Head of Applied AI | $299,000 | $223,000 – $392,000 |
| 23 | VP of Product Design | $298,000 | $222,000 – $387,000 |
| 24 | Chief Human Resources Officer | $293,000 | $221,000 – $380,000 |
| 25 | VP of Product | $290,000 | $219,000 – $373,000 |
| 26 | Head of AI Partnerships | $287,000 | $214,000 – $378,000 |
| 27 | VP of Sales | $281,000 | $211,000 – $375,000 |
| 28 | AI Transformation Officer | $281,000 | $211,000 – $369,000 |
| 29 | VP of Marketing | $278,000 | $207,000 – $367,000 |
| 30 | AI Program Director | $272,000 | $205,000 – $356,000 |
| 31 | Director of Generative AI | $272,000 | $205,000 – $357,000 |
| 32 | CTO, AI Startup | $272,000 | $213,000 – $355,000 |
| 33 | Director of AI Strategy | $271,000 | $205,000 – $355,000 |
| 34 | Foundation Model Engineer | $270,000 | $201,000 – $352,000 |
| 35 | AI Financial Engineer | $264,000 | $195,000 – $339,000 |
| 36 | Director of Data Science | $262,000 | $201,000 – $342,000 |
| 37 | Multi-Agent Systems Architect | $261,000 | $193,000 – $346,000 |
| 38 | AI Cloud Architect | $260,000 | $197,000 – $330,000 |
| 39 | Director of Engineering | $258,000 | $199,000 – $334,000 |
| 40 | Staff Engineer | $258,000 | $205,000 – $328,000 |
| 41 | Multimodal AI Researcher | $256,000 | $190,000 – $340,000 |
| 42 | AI Agent Architect | $255,000 | $193,000 – $330,000 |
| 43 | AI Compiler Engineer | $251,000 | $188,000 – $329,000 |
| 44 | AI Business Development Manager | $249,000 | $171,000 – $336,000 |
| 45 | Director of Product | $249,000 | $193,000 – $324,000 |
| 46 | AI Hardware/Chip Design Engineer | $249,000 | $185,000 – $329,000 |
| 47 | AI Systems Architect | $248,000 | $187,000 – $324,000 |
| 48 | Director of Product Design | $247,000 | $190,000 – $317,000 |
| 49 | AI Interpretability Researcher | $247,000 | $184,000 – $327,000 |
| 50 | AI Memory Systems Engineer | $247,000 | $184,000 – $327,000 |
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
A security clearance is your strongest asset. Cleared professionals in Arlington earn 20 to 30% premiums over non-cleared equivalents.
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