Salaries in Columbus.
422 roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 0.93x national average. Last updated April 2026.
422 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$297,000
Chief AI Officer
Median of All Roles
$137,000
Unstructured Data Engineer
Entry Level
$29,000
Home Health Aide
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.
Columbus, OH has a cost-of-living index of 0.93x the national average. The highest-paying role is Chief AI Officer at $297,000, while the median across all 422 roles is $137,000. Columbus is Ohio's largest city and a growing technology and logistics hub, home to companies like Nationwide Insurance and a major Intel semiconductor fab under construction.
About the Columbus market
Columbus is Ohio's largest city and a growing technology and logistics hub, home to companies like Nationwide Insurance and a major Intel semiconductor fab under construction. The city's large university system and low cost of living attract both startups and corporate expansions. Tech salaries have been climbing as national employers establish Midwest offices.
Insurance & Financial ServicesTechnologyLogisticsHealthcareHigher Education
Top 50 salaries in Columbus
| # | Role | Median | Range |
|---|
| 1 | Chief AI Officer | $297,000 | $220,000 – $383,000 |
| 2 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $277,000 | $207,000 – $362,000 |
| 3 | SVP of AI Innovation | $268,000 | $202,000 – $352,000 |
| 4 | Chief Technology Officer | $267,000 | $198,000 – $350,000 |
| 5 | Head of AI | $261,000 | $193,000 – $339,000 |
| 6 | CEO | $261,000 | $190,000 – $360,000 |
| 7 | Head of AI Research | $256,000 | $190,000 – $337,000 |
| 8 | Chief Revenue Officer | $255,000 | $191,000 – $337,000 |
| 9 | Chief Algorithm Officer | $255,000 | $191,000 – $333,000 |
| 10 | Chief Product Officer | $251,000 | $186,000 – $330,000 |
| 11 | VP of AI Product | $247,000 | $184,000 – $319,000 |
| 12 | CFO | $244,000 | $183,000 – $324,000 |
| 13 | VP of AI Engineering | $239,000 | $180,000 – $311,000 |
| 14 | Chief Operating Officer | $237,000 | $177,000 – $316,000 |
| 15 | Chief Marketing Officer | $237,000 | $178,000 – $310,000 |
| 16 | Head of Applied AI | $237,000 | $177,000 – $312,000 |
| 17 | Chief Data Officer | $235,000 | $176,000 – $307,000 |
| 18 | VP of Product | $235,000 | $177,000 – $302,000 |
| 19 | VP of Engineering | $235,000 | $176,000 – $307,000 |
| 20 | Chief Human Resources Officer | $232,000 | $175,000 – $302,000 |
| 21 | VP of Sales | $232,000 | $174,000 – $310,000 |
| 22 | Head of AI Platform | $224,000 | $167,000 – $293,000 |
| 23 | AI Transformation Officer | $223,000 | $167,000 – $293,000 |
| 24 | VP of Product Design | $219,000 | $163,000 – $284,000 |
| 25 | VP of Marketing | $219,000 | $163,000 – $288,000 |
| 26 | Head of AI Partnerships | $216,000 | $161,000 – $285,000 |
| 27 | Director of Generative AI | $214,000 | $161,000 – $281,000 |
| 28 | AI Program Director | $209,000 | $158,000 – $274,000 |
| 29 | Director of AI Strategy | $209,000 | $158,000 – $273,000 |
| 30 | Foundation Model Engineer | $206,000 | $153,000 – $268,000 |
| 31 | Director of Engineering | $198,000 | $153,000 – $257,000 |
| 32 | Director of Data Science | $196,000 | $150,000 – $255,000 |
| 33 | AI Alignment Researcher | $196,000 | $146,000 – $261,000 |
| 34 | AI Systems Architect | $196,000 | $148,000 – $257,000 |
| 35 | AI World Model Engineer | $196,000 | $146,000 – $259,000 |
| 36 | AI Cloud Architect | $194,000 | $147,000 – $247,000 |
| 37 | AI Financial Engineer | $193,000 | $143,000 – $249,000 |
| 38 | Director of Product | $193,000 | $150,000 – $251,000 |
| 39 | AI Hardware/Chip Design Engineer | $193,000 | $144,000 – $256,000 |
| 40 | Multi-Agent Systems Architect | $193,000 | $143,000 – $256,000 |
| 41 | Privacy / Data Counsel | $192,000 | $147,000 – $250,000 |
| 42 | Reinforcement Learning Researcher | $190,000 | $142,000 – $251,000 |
| 43 | AI Safety Researcher | $189,000 | $140,000 – $247,000 |
| 44 | AI Agent Architect | $189,000 | $143,000 – $244,000 |
| 45 | Autonomous Systems Engineer | $189,000 | $140,000 – $242,000 |
| 46 | AI Interpretability Researcher | $189,000 | $140,000 – $250,000 |
| 47 | Transformer Architecture Engineer | $188,000 | $140,000 – $245,000 |
| 48 | Multimodal AI Engineer | $186,000 | $140,000 – $242,000 |
| 49 | Quantum ML Researcher | $186,000 | $138,000 – $246,000 |
| 50 | AI Infrastructure Manager | $186,000 | $141,000 – $242,000 |
Tax considerations
Ohio's income tax tops out around 3.5%, and Columbus adds a city income tax of 2.5%. The combined rate is moderate, but the city tax applies to all who work within city limits.
Negotiating in Columbus
Mention Intel's new fab investment when negotiating. The semiconductor megaproject is driving salaries upward across the entire Columbus tech and engineering market.
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