Salaries in Richmond.
3,500+ roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 1.01x national average. Last updated April 2026.
3445 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$364,000
Principal AI Research Scientist
Median of All Roles
$158,000
Freelance AI Engineer
Entry Level
$32,000
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.
Richmond, VA has a cost-of-living index of 1.01x the national average. The highest-paying role is Principal AI Research Scientist at $364,000, while the median across all 3445 roles is $158,000. Richmond combines a strong government and defense sector with growing technology and financial services industries.
About the Richmond market
Richmond combines a strong government and defense sector with growing technology and financial services industries. Capital One's headquarters drives significant fintech employment. The city's proximity to Washington DC creates spillover demand for federal contractors and tech workers seeking lower living costs.
Financial Services & FintechGovernmentDefenseHealthcareTechnology
Top 50 salaries in Richmond
| # | Role | Median | Range |
|---|
| 1 | Principal AI Research Scientist | $364,000 | $284,000 – $473,000 |
| 2 | Chief Security Officer | $347,000 | $270,000 – $451,000 |
| 3 | Technical Fellow | $346,000 | $270,000 – $450,000 |
| 4 | Principal Quantitative Researcher | $346,000 | $270,000 – $450,000 |
| 5 | Senior VP of Security | $340,000 | $265,000 – $442,000 |
| 6 | Senior VP of Product | $333,000 | $260,000 – $433,000 |
| 7 | Principal Deep Learning Engineer | $331,000 | $258,000 – $431,000 |
| 8 | Principal AI Agent Architect | $331,000 | $258,000 – $429,000 |
| 9 | SVP of Technology | $331,000 | $258,000 – $431,000 |
| 10 | Chief Science Officer | $326,000 | $254,000 – $423,000 |
| 11 | Principal AI Safety Engineer | $324,000 | $253,000 – $421,000 |
| 12 | Distinguished Engineer | $323,000 | $245,000 – $411,000 |
| 13 | Chief Strategy Officer | $322,000 | $252,000 – $419,000 |
| 14 | Staff Quantitative Researcher | $319,000 | $249,000 – $415,000 |
| 15 | L7 Software Engineer | $319,000 | $249,000 – $415,000 |
| 16 | Chief AI Officer | $316,000 | $235,000 – $408,000 |
| 17 | Principal Quantitative Developer | $315,000 | $246,000 – $410,000 |
| 18 | SVP of Sales | $315,000 | $246,000 – $410,000 |
| 19 | Staff AI Research Scientist | $313,000 | $244,000 – $407,000 |
| 20 | Principal AI Agent Engineer | $312,000 | $244,000 – $406,000 |
| 21 | Chief Architect | $312,000 | $243,000 – $406,000 |
| 22 | SVP of Engineering | $310,000 | $242,000 – $403,000 |
| 23 | Principal AI Compiler Engineer | $309,000 | $241,000 – $402,000 |
| 24 | Senior Head of Product | $309,000 | $242,000 – $402,000 |
| 25 | Principal LLM Engineer | $307,000 | $239,000 – $399,000 |
| 26 | Senior Head of Security | $307,000 | $240,000 – $399,000 |
| 27 | SVP of Product | $307,000 | $240,000 – $399,000 |
| 28 | Lead High-Frequency Trading Engineer | $306,000 | $239,000 – $398,000 |
| 29 | VP of AI | $305,000 | $231,000 – $399,000 |
| 30 | Principal Language Runtime Engineer | $304,000 | $236,000 – $394,000 |
| 31 | Chief Machine Learning Officer | $303,000 | $236,000 – $394,000 |
| 32 | CTO | $303,000 | $236,000 – $394,000 |
| 33 | Principal Cryptographer | $303,000 | $237,000 – $394,000 |
| 34 | Chief Risk Officer | $302,000 | $235,000 – $392,000 |
| 35 | SVP of Marketing | $302,000 | $235,000 – $392,000 |
| 36 | SVP of Data | $301,000 | $235,000 – $392,000 |
| 37 | Staff AI Agent Architect | $299,000 | $233,000 – $388,000 |
| 38 | Principal Kernel Engineer | $298,000 | $232,000 – $387,000 |
| 39 | Senior VP of Design | $298,000 | $233,000 – $387,000 |
| 40 | Principal Applied Scientist | $297,000 | $232,000 – $386,000 |
| 41 | Senior High-Frequency Trading Engineer | $296,000 | $231,000 – $384,000 |
| 42 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $295,000 | $220,000 – $385,000 |
| 43 | Principal Machine Learning Engineer | $295,000 | $230,000 – $383,000 |
| 44 | Principal Computer Vision Engineer | $295,000 | $230,000 – $383,000 |
| 45 | Chief Trust Officer | $294,000 | $229,000 – $382,000 |
| 46 | VP of AI Research | $293,000 | $228,000 – $381,000 |
| 47 | Chief Growth Officer | $293,000 | $228,000 – $381,000 |
| 48 | Principal Distributed Systems Engineer | $292,000 | $227,000 – $379,000 |
| 49 | Senior Director of Security | $291,000 | $227,000 – $377,000 |
| 50 | Chief Legal Officer | $291,000 | $227,000 – $378,000 |
Tax considerations
Virginia's top income tax rate is 5.75%. Richmond has no city income tax. The moderate rate and reasonable cost of living create solid net compensation.
Negotiating in Richmond
Leverage DC corridor salary benchmarks. Richmond employers compete with Northern Virginia and DC for talent, especially in fintech and government contracting.
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