Salaries in Madison.
522 roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 0.95x national average. Last updated April 2026.
522 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$307,000
Distinguished Engineer
Median of All Roles
$139,000
Investment Banker
Entry Level
$30,000
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.
Madison, WI has a cost-of-living index of 0.95x the national average. The highest-paying role is Distinguished Engineer at $307,000, while the median across all 522 roles is $139,000. Madison is a growing tech hub anchored by the University of Wisconsin and Epic Systems, one of the largest health IT companies.
About the Madison market
Madison is a growing tech hub anchored by the University of Wisconsin and Epic Systems, one of the largest health IT companies. The city consistently ranks among the best places to live and has a thriving startup ecosystem. Salaries are competitive relative to the modest cost of living.
Health ITHigher EducationGovernmentBiotechTechnology
Top 50 salaries in Madison
| # | Role | Median | Range |
|---|
| 1 | Distinguished Engineer | $307,000 | $233,000 – $391,000 |
| 2 | Chief AI Officer | $303,000 | $225,000 – $391,000 |
| 3 | Chief Technology Officer | $273,000 | $202,000 – $357,000 |
| 4 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $269,000 | $201,000 – $351,000 |
| 5 | Chief Algorithm Officer | $269,000 | $201,000 – $350,000 |
| 6 | Chief Revenue Officer | $266,000 | $200,000 – $352,000 |
| 7 | CEO | $264,000 | $192,000 – $365,000 |
| 8 | Head of AI Research | $264,000 | $196,000 – $347,000 |
| 9 | VP of AI | $264,000 | $201,000 – $347,000 |
| 10 | SVP of AI Innovation | $260,000 | $196,000 – $342,000 |
| 11 | Head of AI | $257,000 | $190,000 – $333,000 |
| 12 | Chief Product Officer | $254,000 | $188,000 – $334,000 |
| 13 | Chief Data Officer | $254,000 | $191,000 – $333,000 |
| 14 | Principal Engineer | $252,000 | $194,000 – $329,000 |
| 15 | Chief Marketing Officer | $245,000 | $183,000 – $320,000 |
| 16 | VP of Engineering | $242,000 | $182,000 – $317,000 |
| 17 | VP of AI Engineering | $242,000 | $182,000 – $315,000 |
| 18 | Chief Human Resources Officer | $240,000 | $181,000 – $311,000 |
| 19 | CFO | $240,000 | $180,000 – $318,000 |
| 20 | Chief Operating Officer | $237,000 | $177,000 – $317,000 |
| 21 | Head of Applied AI | $237,000 | $177,000 – $312,000 |
| 22 | VP of Product | $235,000 | $178,000 – $302,000 |
| 23 | AI Transformation Officer | $235,000 | $176,000 – $308,000 |
| 24 | VP of AI Product | $233,000 | $173,000 – $301,000 |
| 25 | Head of AI Platform | $231,000 | $172,000 – $303,000 |
| 26 | CTO, AI Startup | $227,000 | $178,000 – $296,000 |
| 27 | VP of Product Design | $225,000 | $168,000 – $293,000 |
| 28 | VP of Marketing | $221,000 | $165,000 – $292,000 |
| 29 | Head of AI Partnerships | $221,000 | $165,000 – $292,000 |
| 30 | VP of Sales | $219,000 | $164,000 – $292,000 |
| 31 | AI Program Director | $218,000 | $165,000 – $286,000 |
| 32 | Director of Generative AI | $212,000 | $160,000 – $278,000 |
| 33 | Staff Engineer | $209,000 | $166,000 – $266,000 |
| 34 | AI Financial Engineer | $207,000 | $153,000 – $267,000 |
| 35 | Director of Engineering | $207,000 | $160,000 – $268,000 |
| 36 | Multi-Agent Systems Architect | $207,000 | $153,000 – $275,000 |
| 37 | Director of Data Science | $204,000 | $157,000 – $266,000 |
| 38 | Director of AI Strategy | $201,000 | $152,000 – $263,000 |
| 39 | Deep Learning Engineer | $198,000 | $153,000 – $252,000 |
| 40 | Director of Product | $198,000 | $153,000 – $257,000 |
| 41 | Transformer Architecture Engineer | $198,000 | $147,000 – $258,000 |
| 42 | AI Alignment Researcher | $197,000 | $146,000 – $261,000 |
| 43 | Quantum ML Researcher | $196,000 | $145,000 – $259,000 |
| 44 | Foundation Model Engineer | $196,000 | $146,000 – $255,000 |
| 45 | AI Agent Architect | $195,000 | $147,000 – $252,000 |
| 46 | AI World Model Engineer | $195,000 | $144,000 – $257,000 |
| 47 | AI Reasoning Specialist | $194,000 | $143,000 – $257,000 |
| 48 | Engineering Manager, AI | $194,000 | $155,000 – $242,000 |
| 49 | Quantitative AI Researcher | $194,000 | $145,000 – $252,000 |
| 50 | AI Solutions Architect | $193,000 | $143,000 – $252,000 |
Tax considerations
Wisconsin's top income tax rate is 7.65%. Madison has no city income tax. The moderate state rate is offset by the affordable cost of living and strong employer base.
Negotiating in Madison
Reference Epic Systems compensation benchmarks. Epic sets the salary standard for tech in Madison and most employers in the area compete against their packages.
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