Salaries in Denver.
422 roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 1.08x national average. Last updated April 2026.
422 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$348,000
Chief AI Officer
Median of All Roles
$158,000
AI Data Scientist
Entry Level
$34,000
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.
Denver, CO has a cost-of-living index of 1.08x the national average. The highest-paying role is Chief AI Officer at $348,000, while the median across all 422 roles is $158,000. Denver has emerged as a secondary tech hub with strong aerospace, telecom, and outdoor industry employers.
About the Denver market
Denver has emerged as a secondary tech hub with strong aerospace, telecom, and outdoor industry employers. The city attracts remote workers and relocating companies seeking lower costs than the coasts. Salaries have climbed steadily as national employers open satellite offices and compete for Denver's growing talent pool.
Aerospace & DefenseTechnologyEnergyHealthcareOutdoor & Recreation
Top 50 salaries in Denver
| # | Role | Median | Range |
|---|
| 1 | Chief AI Officer | $348,000 | $258,000 – $449,000 |
| 2 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $315,000 | $235,000 – $412,000 |
| 3 | SVP of AI Innovation | $311,000 | $235,000 – $409,000 |
| 4 | Chief Technology Officer | $310,000 | $230,000 – $406,000 |
| 5 | CEO | $309,000 | $225,000 – $427,000 |
| 6 | Head of AI Research | $303,000 | $225,000 – $399,000 |
| 7 | Chief Revenue Officer | $299,000 | $225,000 – $396,000 |
| 8 | Chief Product Officer | $297,000 | $220,000 – $391,000 |
| 9 | Chief Algorithm Officer | $290,000 | $218,000 – $378,000 |
| 10 | VP of Engineering | $289,000 | $217,000 – $378,000 |
| 11 | Head of AI | $286,000 | $212,000 – $370,000 |
| 12 | Chief Data Officer | $281,000 | $211,000 – $367,000 |
| 13 | VP of AI Engineering | $280,000 | $212,000 – $365,000 |
| 14 | CFO | $278,000 | $208,000 – $369,000 |
| 15 | Chief Operating Officer | $275,000 | $205,000 – $367,000 |
| 16 | Chief Marketing Officer | $275,000 | $206,000 – $360,000 |
| 17 | Head of Applied AI | $270,000 | $201,000 – $355,000 |
| 18 | VP of Sales | $267,000 | $200,000 – $356,000 |
| 19 | VP of AI Product | $267,000 | $199,000 – $346,000 |
| 20 | Chief Human Resources Officer | $262,000 | $198,000 – $340,000 |
| 21 | Head of AI Platform | $262,000 | $196,000 – $344,000 |
| 22 | Director of Generative AI | $256,000 | $193,000 – $336,000 |
| 23 | VP of Product | $254,000 | $192,000 – $327,000 |
| 24 | Head of AI Partnerships | $249,000 | $185,000 – $328,000 |
| 25 | AI Transformation Officer | $249,000 | $187,000 – $327,000 |
| 26 | VP of Product Design | $246,000 | $183,000 – $320,000 |
| 27 | VP of Marketing | $246,000 | $183,000 – $325,000 |
| 28 | AI Program Director | $243,000 | $184,000 – $319,000 |
| 29 | Director of Data Science | $241,000 | $185,000 – $314,000 |
| 30 | Director of AI Strategy | $235,000 | $178,000 – $308,000 |
| 31 | Foundation Model Engineer | $232,000 | $173,000 – $302,000 |
| 32 | Director of Engineering | $230,000 | $178,000 – $299,000 |
| 33 | AI World Model Engineer | $230,000 | $171,000 – $303,000 |
| 34 | Multi-Agent Systems Architect | $229,000 | $169,000 – $303,000 |
| 35 | AI Cloud Architect | $228,000 | $172,000 – $289,000 |
| 36 | AI Systems Architect | $228,000 | $172,000 – $298,000 |
| 37 | AI Agent Architect | $224,000 | $169,000 – $289,000 |
| 38 | Director of Product | $222,000 | $172,000 – $289,000 |
| 39 | Reinforcement Learning Engineer | $220,000 | $165,000 – $286,000 |
| 40 | AI Financial Engineer | $220,000 | $162,000 – $283,000 |
| 41 | Transformer Architecture Engineer | $220,000 | $164,000 – $288,000 |
| 42 | AI Hardware/Chip Design Engineer | $218,000 | $162,000 – $288,000 |
| 43 | AI Security & Red Teaming Specialist | $217,000 | $161,000 – $284,000 |
| 44 | NLP Research Scientist | $217,000 | $161,000 – $287,000 |
| 45 | Neurosymbolic AI Researcher | $217,000 | $161,000 – $287,000 |
| 46 | AI Alignment Researcher | $217,000 | $161,000 – $288,000 |
| 47 | AI Research Scientist | $216,000 | $162,000 – $281,000 |
| 48 | Reinforcement Learning Researcher | $216,000 | $161,000 – $286,000 |
| 49 | Multimodal AI Researcher | $216,000 | $160,000 – $287,000 |
| 50 | AI Model Distillation Engineer | $216,000 | $163,000 – $283,000 |
Tax considerations
Colorado has a flat 4.4% state income tax. Denver has no additional city income tax, making the overall tax burden lighter than most coastal metros.
Negotiating in Denver
Position yourself as a remote talent anchor. Many companies pay near coastal rates for Denver based employees to save on office costs while retaining top performers.
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