Salaries in Charlotte.
422 roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 0.97x national average. Last updated April 2026.
422 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$295,000
Chief AI Officer
Median of All Roles
$144,000
Data Engineer
Entry Level
$31,000
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.
Charlotte, NC has a cost-of-living index of 0.97x the national average. The highest-paying role is Chief AI Officer at $295,000, while the median across all 422 roles is $144,000. Charlotte is the second largest banking center in the U.
About the Charlotte market
Charlotte is the second largest banking center in the U.S. after New York, with Bank of America and Truist headquartered here. The city's financial services dominance creates strong demand for finance, tech, and operations professionals. Rapid population growth has expanded the tech sector, with fintech and enterprise software companies establishing offices.
Banking & Financial ServicesEnergyTechnologyHealthcareMotorsports
Top 50 salaries in Charlotte
| # | Role | Median | Range |
|---|
| 1 | Chief AI Officer | $295,000 | $219,000 – $380,000 |
| 2 | Chief Technology Officer | $287,000 | $213,000 – $376,000 |
| 3 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $280,000 | $209,000 – $366,000 |
| 4 | Chief Algorithm Officer | $280,000 | $210,000 – $365,000 |
| 5 | SVP of AI Innovation | $276,000 | $209,000 – $364,000 |
| 6 | Chief Revenue Officer | $272,000 | $204,000 – $359,000 |
| 7 | Head of AI | $267,000 | $198,000 – $346,000 |
| 8 | CEO | $267,000 | $194,000 – $369,000 |
| 9 | Chief Product Officer | $267,000 | $198,000 – $351,000 |
| 10 | Head of AI Research | $267,000 | $198,000 – $351,000 |
| 11 | Chief Marketing Officer | $260,000 | $195,000 – $340,000 |
| 12 | VP of Engineering | $257,000 | $193,000 – $336,000 |
| 13 | VP of AI Engineering | $254,000 | $192,000 – $331,000 |
| 14 | Chief Data Officer | $252,000 | $189,000 – $330,000 |
| 15 | CFO | $247,000 | $185,000 – $328,000 |
| 16 | Chief Operating Officer | $247,000 | $184,000 – $330,000 |
| 17 | Head of Applied AI | $247,000 | $184,000 – $325,000 |
| 18 | VP of AI Product | $245,000 | $182,000 – $317,000 |
| 19 | VP of Product | $242,000 | $183,000 – $312,000 |
| 20 | VP of Sales | $240,000 | $180,000 – $320,000 |
| 21 | Head of AI Platform | $238,000 | $178,000 – $312,000 |
| 22 | Director of Generative AI | $234,000 | $177,000 – $308,000 |
| 23 | Chief Human Resources Officer | $233,000 | $176,000 – $302,000 |
| 24 | AI Transformation Officer | $233,000 | $175,000 – $306,000 |
| 25 | Head of AI Partnerships | $221,000 | $165,000 – $292,000 |
| 26 | VP of Product Design | $219,000 | $163,000 – $284,000 |
| 27 | VP of Marketing | $219,000 | $163,000 – $289,000 |
| 28 | AI Program Director | $216,000 | $163,000 – $283,000 |
| 29 | Director of AI Strategy | $211,000 | $160,000 – $276,000 |
| 30 | Transformer Architecture Engineer | $210,000 | $156,000 – $274,000 |
| 31 | AI Agent Architect | $205,000 | $155,000 – $265,000 |
| 32 | Director of Engineering | $205,000 | $158,000 – $265,000 |
| 33 | AI World Model Engineer | $205,000 | $152,000 – $270,000 |
| 34 | AI Financial Engineer | $204,000 | $150,000 – $262,000 |
| 35 | Director of Data Science | $204,000 | $157,000 – $266,000 |
| 36 | Foundation Model Engineer | $204,000 | $152,000 – $266,000 |
| 37 | Deep Learning Engineer | $202,000 | $156,000 – $257,000 |
| 38 | Multimodal AI Engineer | $202,000 | $151,000 – $262,000 |
| 39 | AI Hardware/Chip Design Engineer | $202,000 | $150,000 – $267,000 |
| 40 | Agentic Orchestrator | $200,000 | $150,000 – $260,000 |
| 41 | Reinforcement Learning Engineer | $200,000 | $150,000 – $260,000 |
| 42 | AI Research Scientist | $198,000 | $148,000 – $257,000 |
| 43 | AI Alignment Researcher | $197,000 | $146,000 – $261,000 |
| 44 | AI Systems Architect | $197,000 | $149,000 – $257,000 |
| 45 | Multi-Agent Systems Architect | $196,000 | $144,000 – $259,000 |
| 46 | AI Safety Researcher | $195,000 | $145,000 – $255,000 |
| 47 | Embodied AI Engineer | $194,000 | $143,000 – $254,000 |
| 48 | AI Cloud Architect | $193,000 | $146,000 – $245,000 |
| 49 | Director of Product Design | $193,000 | $148,000 – $247,000 |
| 50 | AI Infrastructure Engineer | $192,000 | $146,000 – $247,000 |
Tax considerations
North Carolina has a flat 4.5% state income tax. Charlotte has no city income tax. The moderate rate combined with low living costs makes net compensation very attractive.
Negotiating in Charlotte
Benchmark against banking sector pay scales. Even non finance roles in Charlotte benefit from the high compensation standards set by major banks headquartered here.
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