Salaries in Sacramento.
522 roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 1.10x national average. Last updated April 2026.
522 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$348,000
Distinguished Engineer
Median of All Roles
$162,000
AI Embedded Systems Developer
Entry Level
$35,000
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.
Sacramento, CA has a cost-of-living index of 1.10x the national average. The highest-paying role is Distinguished Engineer at $348,000, while the median across all 522 roles is $162,000. Sacramento is California's capital with a growing tech presence as Bay Area companies and remote workers seek lower costs.
About the Sacramento market
Sacramento is California's capital with a growing tech presence as Bay Area companies and remote workers seek lower costs. State government is the largest employer, but healthcare, clean energy, and ag-tech are expanding rapidly. Salaries are lower than the Bay Area but the cost of living difference more than compensates.
GovernmentHealthcareClean EnergyAgriculture TechnologyTechnology
Top 50 salaries in Sacramento
| # | Role | Median | Range |
|---|
| 1 | Distinguished Engineer | $348,000 | $264,000 – $444,000 |
| 2 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $334,000 | $249,000 – $436,000 |
| 3 | VP of AI | $332,000 | $252,000 – $435,000 |
| 4 | Chief AI Officer | $327,000 | $243,000 – $422,000 |
| 5 | Chief Technology Officer | $325,000 | $241,000 – $426,000 |
| 6 | Chief Algorithm Officer | $314,000 | $236,000 – $410,000 |
| 7 | SVP of AI Innovation | $307,000 | $232,000 – $404,000 |
| 8 | Head of AI | $300,000 | $222,000 – $389,000 |
| 9 | Chief Revenue Officer | $296,000 | $222,000 – $391,000 |
| 10 | Chief Marketing Officer | $295,000 | $221,000 – $385,000 |
| 11 | Chief Product Officer | $294,000 | $218,000 – $387,000 |
| 12 | CEO | $293,000 | $213,000 – $405,000 |
| 13 | VP of AI Engineering | $292,000 | $220,000 – $380,000 |
| 14 | VP of AI Product | $289,000 | $215,000 – $374,000 |
| 15 | VP of Engineering | $286,000 | $215,000 – $374,000 |
| 16 | Head of AI Research | $285,000 | $211,000 – $375,000 |
| 17 | Chief Data Officer | $283,000 | $212,000 – $370,000 |
| 18 | Head of Applied AI | $281,000 | $209,000 – $369,000 |
| 19 | VP of Product | $280,000 | $212,000 – $360,000 |
| 20 | Principal Engineer | $280,000 | $216,000 – $367,000 |
| 21 | CFO | $277,000 | $208,000 – $368,000 |
| 22 | Chief Operating Officer | $275,000 | $205,000 – $367,000 |
| 23 | AI Transformation Officer | $272,000 | $204,000 – $357,000 |
| 24 | VP of Sales | $264,000 | $198,000 – $352,000 |
| 25 | Head of AI Partnerships | $264,000 | $196,000 – $348,000 |
| 26 | Head of AI Platform | $262,000 | $195,000 – $343,000 |
| 27 | Director of Generative AI | $260,000 | $196,000 – $342,000 |
| 28 | Chief Human Resources Officer | $259,000 | $195,000 – $336,000 |
| 29 | AI Program Director | $257,000 | $194,000 – $337,000 |
| 30 | VP of Marketing | $253,000 | $189,000 – $334,000 |
| 31 | VP of Product Design | $251,000 | $187,000 – $325,000 |
| 32 | CTO, AI Startup | $248,000 | $194,000 – $323,000 |
| 33 | Director of Engineering | $247,000 | $191,000 – $320,000 |
| 34 | Staff Engineer | $247,000 | $196,000 – $314,000 |
| 35 | Foundation Model Engineer | $239,000 | $178,000 – $311,000 |
| 36 | Multi-Agent Systems Architect | $238,000 | $176,000 – $315,000 |
| 37 | Transformer Architecture Engineer | $236,000 | $176,000 – $308,000 |
| 38 | Director of AI Strategy | $233,000 | $176,000 – $304,000 |
| 39 | AI Agent Architect | $232,000 | $176,000 – $300,000 |
| 40 | Director of Data Science | $232,000 | $178,000 – $302,000 |
| 41 | Agentic Orchestrator | $227,000 | $170,000 – $295,000 |
| 42 | Engineering Manager, AI | $227,000 | $181,000 – $283,000 |
| 43 | Quantum ML Researcher | $224,000 | $166,000 – $297,000 |
| 44 | AI Hardware/Chip Design Engineer | $224,000 | $167,000 – $296,000 |
| 45 | AI Cloud Architect | $223,000 | $169,000 – $283,000 |
| 46 | AI Interpretability Researcher | $223,000 | $166,000 – $295,000 |
| 47 | AI Business Development Manager | $222,000 | $153,000 – $300,000 |
| 48 | AI Financial Engineer | $222,000 | $164,000 – $285,000 |
| 49 | Autonomous Systems Engineer | $221,000 | $164,000 – $283,000 |
| 50 | AI Alignment Researcher | $221,000 | $164,000 – $293,000 |
Tax considerations
California's 13.3% top state rate applies. Sacramento has no city income tax. Despite the high state rate, the significantly lower housing costs compared to the Bay Area improve take home purchasing power.
Negotiating in Sacramento
Position yourself as Bay Area talent seeking Sacramento quality of life. Employers here are accustomed to offering 80 to 90% of Bay Area rates to attract relocating professionals.
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