Salaries in Sacramento.
3,500+ roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 1.10x national average. Last updated April 2026.
3445 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$393,000
Technical Fellow
Median of All Roles
$172,000
AI Pre-Sales Engineer
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 Technical Fellow at $393,000, while the median across all 3445 roles is $172,000. 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 | Technical Fellow | $393,000 | $306,000 – $511,000 |
| 2 | Principal Quantitative Researcher | $389,000 | $303,000 – $506,000 |
| 3 | Senior VP of Security | $381,000 | $297,000 – $495,000 |
| 4 | Senior VP of Product | $377,000 | $295,000 – $491,000 |
| 5 | Principal AI Agent Architect | $371,000 | $289,000 – $482,000 |
| 6 | Principal AI Research Scientist | $370,000 | $288,000 – $480,000 |
| 7 | Chief Security Officer | $367,000 | $286,000 – $477,000 |
| 8 | Principal AI Compiler Engineer | $360,000 | $281,000 – $469,000 |
| 9 | SVP of Technology | $360,000 | $281,000 – $469,000 |
| 10 | Principal AI Safety Engineer | $356,000 | $278,000 – $463,000 |
| 11 | Principal Quantitative Developer | $353,000 | $276,000 – $460,000 |
| 12 | Principal Applied Scientist | $350,000 | $273,000 – $455,000 |
| 13 | Distinguished Engineer | $348,000 | $264,000 – $444,000 |
| 14 | SVP of Engineering | $344,000 | $269,000 – $448,000 |
| 15 | Senior Head of Security | $344,000 | $269,000 – $447,000 |
| 16 | Principal Deep Learning Engineer | $340,000 | $265,000 – $442,000 |
| 17 | Principal Kernel Engineer | $338,000 | $263,000 – $438,000 |
| 18 | Chief Strategy Officer | $338,000 | $264,000 – $439,000 |
| 19 | Chief Commercial Officer | $337,000 | $263,000 – $439,000 |
| 20 | Chief Architect | $337,000 | $263,000 – $438,000 |
| 21 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $334,000 | $249,000 – $436,000 |
| 22 | Staff AI Research Scientist | $334,000 | $261,000 – $434,000 |
| 23 | Staff Quantitative Researcher | $334,000 | $261,000 – $434,000 |
| 24 | Chief Science Officer | $334,000 | $261,000 – $434,000 |
| 25 | SVP of Product | $334,000 | $261,000 – $434,000 |
| 26 | Principal AI Agent Engineer | $333,000 | $260,000 – $433,000 |
| 27 | Principal Cryptographer | $333,000 | $260,000 – $433,000 |
| 28 | SVP of Sales | $333,000 | $260,000 – $433,000 |
| 29 | VP of AI | $332,000 | $252,000 – $435,000 |
| 30 | VP of AI Research | $332,000 | $259,000 – $431,000 |
| 31 | Lead High-Frequency Trading Engineer | $330,000 | $258,000 – $429,000 |
| 32 | Principal Computer Vision Engineer | $328,000 | $255,000 – $426,000 |
| 33 | Chief AI Officer | $327,000 | $243,000 – $422,000 |
| 34 | CTO | $327,000 | $255,000 – $425,000 |
| 35 | L7 Software Engineer | $327,000 | $256,000 – $426,000 |
| 36 | Chief Technology Officer | $325,000 | $241,000 – $426,000 |
| 37 | Staff AI Safety Engineer | $325,000 | $254,000 – $423,000 |
| 38 | Chief Risk Officer | $325,000 | $254,000 – $423,000 |
| 39 | SVP of Finance | $325,000 | $254,000 – $423,000 |
| 40 | Principal Machine Learning Engineer | $324,000 | $252,000 – $421,000 |
| 41 | Principal Distributed Systems Engineer | $324,000 | $252,000 – $421,000 |
| 42 | Senior VP of Design | $324,000 | $253,000 – $421,000 |
| 43 | Chief Machine Learning Officer | $323,000 | $252,000 – $420,000 |
| 44 | SVP of Marketing | $322,000 | $251,000 – $419,000 |
| 45 | Principal AI Platform Engineer | $320,000 | $249,000 – $416,000 |
| 46 | Chief Growth Officer | $319,000 | $249,000 – $415,000 |
| 47 | Principal LLM Engineer | $318,000 | $248,000 – $413,000 |
| 48 | Chief Design Officer | $318,000 | $248,000 – $414,000 |
| 49 | Chief Legal Officer | $317,000 | $247,000 – $412,000 |
| 50 | Chief Trust Officer | $317,000 | $247,000 – $412,000 |
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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