Salaries in San Jose.
422 roles. One city.
Cost-of-living index: 1.38x national average. Last updated April 2026.
422 roles tracked
Highest Paying
$419,000
Chief AI Officer
Median of All Roles
$204,000
AI Climate/Sustainability Specialist
Entry Level
$46,000
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.
San Jose, CA has a cost-of-living index of 1.38x the national average. The highest-paying role is Chief AI Officer at $419,000, while the median across all 422 roles is $204,000. San Jose is the capital of Silicon Valley, home to Apple, Google, Adobe, and Cisco.
About the San Jose market
San Jose is the capital of Silicon Valley, home to Apple, Google, Adobe, and Cisco. The city consistently ranks among the highest paying metros in the country for technology roles. Competition for talent is fierce, with employers offering aggressive compensation packages including equity, signing bonuses, and premium benefits to attract and retain engineers.
Technology & SoftwareSemiconductorsArtificial IntelligenceNetworking & HardwareClean Energy
Top 50 salaries in San Jose
| # | Role | Median | Range |
|---|
| 1 | Chief AI Officer | $419,000 | $311,000 – $541,000 |
| 2 | Chief Technology Officer | $412,000 | $306,000 – $540,000 |
| 3 | Chief Data & AI Officer | $411,000 | $307,000 – $537,000 |
| 4 | Chief Algorithm Officer | $394,000 | $296,000 – $514,000 |
| 5 | Chief Product Officer | $388,000 | $287,000 – $509,000 |
| 6 | Chief Revenue Officer | $379,000 | $284,000 – $500,000 |
| 7 | SVP of AI Innovation | $378,000 | $285,000 – $497,000 |
| 8 | Head of AI | $369,000 | $273,000 – $478,000 |
| 9 | CEO | $368,000 | $268,000 – $509,000 |
| 10 | Chief Marketing Officer | $366,000 | $274,000 – $479,000 |
| 11 | Head of Applied AI | $366,000 | $273,000 – $481,000 |
| 12 | Chief Data Officer | $362,000 | $272,000 – $474,000 |
| 13 | Head of AI Research | $361,000 | $268,000 – $475,000 |
| 14 | VP of AI Engineering | $355,000 | $268,000 – $462,000 |
| 15 | Chief Operating Officer | $352,000 | $262,000 – $469,000 |
| 16 | VP of Engineering | $348,000 | $261,000 – $455,000 |
| 17 | VP of AI Product | $348,000 | $260,000 – $451,000 |
| 18 | Head of AI Platform | $346,000 | $258,000 – $453,000 |
| 19 | CFO | $344,000 | $258,000 – $457,000 |
| 20 | VP of Sales | $344,000 | $258,000 – $459,000 |
| 21 | VP of Marketing | $337,000 | $251,000 – $445,000 |
| 22 | Head of AI Partnerships | $334,000 | $249,000 – $441,000 |
| 23 | VP of Product | $331,000 | $250,000 – $426,000 |
| 24 | AI Transformation Officer | $331,000 | $248,000 – $435,000 |
| 25 | Director of Generative AI | $330,000 | $249,000 – $434,000 |
| 26 | Chief Human Resources Officer | $328,000 | $248,000 – $426,000 |
| 27 | VP of Product Design | $324,000 | $241,000 – $421,000 |
| 28 | AI Program Director | $323,000 | $244,000 – $423,000 |
| 29 | Director of Data Science | $303,000 | $232,000 – $394,000 |
| 30 | AI Hardware/Chip Design Engineer | $299,000 | $222,000 – $395,000 |
| 31 | AI Financial Engineer | $298,000 | $220,000 – $384,000 |
| 32 | Multi-Agent Systems Architect | $298,000 | $220,000 – $395,000 |
| 33 | Director of AI Strategy | $295,000 | $223,000 – $385,000 |
| 34 | Director of Engineering | $294,000 | $228,000 – $382,000 |
| 35 | AI Agent Architect | $291,000 | $220,000 – $377,000 |
| 36 | Foundation Model Engineer | $291,000 | $216,000 – $379,000 |
| 37 | Multimodal AI Engineer | $287,000 | $215,000 – $373,000 |
| 38 | Quantum ML Researcher | $287,000 | $212,000 – $380,000 |
| 39 | Deep Learning Engineer | $284,000 | $220,000 – $362,000 |
| 40 | Agentic Orchestrator | $284,000 | $213,000 – $370,000 |
| 41 | Multimodal AI Researcher | $284,000 | $211,000 – $377,000 |
| 42 | AI Compiler Engineer | $284,000 | $213,000 – $372,000 |
| 43 | Transformer Architecture Engineer | $278,000 | $207,000 – $364,000 |
| 44 | AI Alignment Researcher | $277,000 | $206,000 – $368,000 |
| 45 | AI Systems Architect | $277,000 | $210,000 – $362,000 |
| 46 | AI World Model Engineer | $277,000 | $206,000 – $365,000 |
| 47 | AI Research Scientist | $276,000 | $207,000 – $359,000 |
| 48 | AI Business Development Manager | $276,000 | $190,000 – $373,000 |
| 49 | Computer Vision Researcher | $276,000 | $204,000 – $366,000 |
| 50 | AI Cloud Architect | $274,000 | $207,000 – $348,000 |
Tax considerations
California's top 13.3% state rate applies fully here. While gross salaries in San Jose are among the nation's highest, the tax burden means net pay may not stretch as far as expected.
Negotiating in San Jose
Always negotiate equity alongside base salary. San Jose employers expect candidates to evaluate total compensation including RSUs, and leaving equity on the table is leaving money behind.
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